Healthy Skepticism Library item: 3210
Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.
Publication type: Journal Article
Peay MY, Peay ER.
Differences among practitioners in patterns of preference for information sources in the adoption of new drugs.
Soc Sci Med 1984; 18:(12):1019-25
Abstract:
The major aim of this study was to identify coherent patterns in doctors’ preferences for potential sources of information about new drugs and the characteristics of the doctors who display them. One hundred twenty-four general practitioners and specialists evaluated and reported their use of a number of potential sources. Overall, commercial sources were cited more often than professional ones for providing first information about a new drug, but the reverse was the case when the doctor was actively considering prescribing it. The primary professional sources received more favourable evaluation than any of the commercial sources, but results suggest that usage does not necessarily follow the doctor’s opinion of a source. Relationships between reported use and evaluation reveal two coherent patterns of source preference: ‘journal’ and ‘commercial’. The commercial pattern is particularly sharply defined, identifying a subset of doctors who can be designated justifiably as ‘commercially-oriented’. Evaluation and use of particular sources varied with age and differed between specialists and general practitioners. Results indicate that differences in patterns of preference are systematically related to characteristics of the doctor in combination with the stage of the adoption process.
Keywords:
*analytic survey/Australia/primary care doctors/specialists/source of information/new drugs/INFLUENCE OF PROMOTION: PRESCRIBING, DRUG USE/PROMOTION AS A SOURCE OF INFORMATION: DOCTORS
Adult
Age Factors
Aged
Comparative Study
Drug Information Services/utilization*
Drug Utilization
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Physicians*
Physicians, Family
Private Practice
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
