[Analysis of the debate on the general practice list system on the Eyr]

The most heavily discussed subject on Eyr, the Norwegian mailing list for general practitioners, has been the introduction of a general practice list system (GPLS).

All messages in the GPLS debate were recorded from its start in August 1996 up until the GPLS was introduced nationwide in June 2001.

During this period, 243 different persons posted 2,153 messages about the GPLS, 232 of the participants were physicians, 203 of them GPs. Mean age was 46 years; males were strongly overrepresented (87%). 80% of the participants posted ten or fewer messages, 10% posted 11-20 messages, and 10% posted more than 20 messages. GPs sent most of their messages in the evenings, academics and public health officers sent most of their messages during work hours. Mean length of the messages was 179 words, 72% were responses to earlier messages. Most of the messages were neutral regarding the GPLS, 207 (9.6%) were negative, and 181 (8.4%) positive. Academics, public health officers, and participants in a GPLS trial were heavily overrepresented with positive messages.

It is concluded that this debate has been fairly balanced. Participation greatly exceeded what would have been possible in traditional media.