Information-seeking strategies and differences among primary care physicians

Differences in the sources of information that physicians utilize in their practice have several implications for the quality of care delivered and the dissemination of medical information. In order to examine the extent of differences in information preferences in primary care settings, 98 general internal medicine physicians and 73 family physicians were asked to indicate which of six alternative information sources they relied on most when faced with difficult medical problems. The alternatives were: journals, textbooks, informal consultations with colleagues, consultations with community specialists, consultations with outside specialists, and transfer of the patient to another physician. The results indicated that primary care internists have a greater preference for consulting the medical literature, while family physicians more often rely on colleagues and specialists as sources of information. These differences suggest that the focus of information dissemination through journals or textbooks may be more effective for internists, while colleagues or "educationally influential" physicians in the community may be more effective vehicles for information dissemination to family physicians.