[How do general practitioners keep up-to-date on pharmacotherapy?].
BACKGROUND
Traditional methods for dissemination of knowledge, such as lecture-based courses and distribution of guidelines, have shown only modest effect on improving the quality of GPs' prescription practice. We aimed at assessing GPs' own views on various sources of knowledge within pharmacotherapy, and their attitudes to a potentially effective educational method: audit and feedback.


METHODS
A questionnaire regarding the use of and views on various sources of knowledge concerning pharmacotherapy was sent to GPs in continuing medical education (CME) groups participating in an intervention study on quality improvement of prescription practice.


RESULTS
302 of 479 GPs (63 %) responded. The Norwegian Pharmaceutical Catalogue was the most widely used source of information on drugs. Industry- based sources were generally regarded as less useful and without great influence on prescription practice, but were nevertheless often mentioned as a source of information in specific prescribing situations. The GPs rated CME groups as useful and influential, and 94 % viewed the exposure of own prescription data in the CME group as unproblematic.


CONCLUSIONS
Audit and feedback in CME groups seems to be a suitable educational method in pharmacotherapy. Industry- based information sources are rated as being of low value, but seem to have influence on prescription practice.
Høye
Sigurd
S
sigurd.hoye@medisin.uio.no Antibiotikasenteret for primaermedisin Seksjon for allmennmedisin Institutt for allmenn- og samfunnsmedisin Universitetet i Oslo Postboks 1130 Blindern 0318 Oslo.
Straand
Jørund
J
Brekke
Mette
M
D002380:Catalogs, Drug as Topic; D016265:Conflict of Interest; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D004345:Drug Industry; D004346:Drug Information Services / Q000592:standards; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000592:standards; D004502:Education, Medical, Continuing; D005194:Family Practice; D006801:Humans; D010821:Physicians, Family / Q000193:education; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires