Acceptance of a Pharmacy-Based, Physician-Edited Hospital Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee Newsletter

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To assess the level of physician acceptance and perceived usefulness of a pharmacy-prepared, physician-edited pharmacy and therapeutics (P&T) committee newsletter. DESIGN: Two separate surveys conducted after 7 and 24 months of publication, respectively. SETTING: 500-bed, university-affiliated, tertiary-care hospital. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The initial survey was mailed to physicians after 7 months of publication and they were requested to rate various aspects of the newsletter, including timeliness of articles, usefulness of articles, quality of writing and design, and overall value of the publication on a scale of 1–4: (1 = excellent, 2 = good, 3 = fair, 4 = poor). Physicians were also asked to rank different categories of articles (articles on new drugs, drug-class reviews, topical reviews, formulary news, and articles providing P&T committee information) and were encouraged to provide comments. A separate follow-up survey conducted at 24 months asked physicians to indicate whether they (1) regularly received the newsletter, (2) regularly read the newsletter, (3) found the information in the newsletter to be useful, and (4) desired to continue receiving the newsletter. RESULTS: Initial survey results yielded mean newsletter quality scores ranging from 1.54 to 1.66. Respondents preferred, in descending order, articles on new drugs, drug-class reviews, topical reviews, formulary news, and P&T committee information. The 24-month survey revealed that 96 percent of the physicians regularly receiving and reading the newsletter found the information useful and 97 percent felt that the newsletter should continue to be published. Favorable comments were also received from several prominent physicians. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate strong physician acceptance of a pharmacy-prepared, physician-edited newsletter and provide information about the types of articles preferred by physicians in a university hospital setting.