Utilization of MEDFILE--a preprinted medical literature filing system

To facilitate the creation of a personal medical literature filing system, we developed MEDFILE, a noncomputerized, preprinted medical literature filing system. A graduating medical school class that had access to MEDFILE and a control group of incoming interns were studied to ascertain satisfaction, usage, utility, and implementation of MEDFILE in comparison with traditional literature filing systems. Data were obtained from 52 recent graduates of the site school and 25 graduates of other institutions. MEDFILE users had a significantly higher satisfaction level (7.3 +/- 1.5 vs 4.5 +/- 2.7, p less than .0001, two-tailed t-test), a more extensive filing system (p less than .02, chi square), and greater confidence that their filing system would remain useful during residency (p less than .0001, Fisher's exact test) than new graduates who had created their own filing systems. The data indicate that MEDFILE is an efficient, effective, and inexpensive method of organizing medical reprints. It may be particularly useful for physicians entering primary care disciplines that require information processing over a wide range of clinical topics.