Attitudes of private medical practitioners towards package inserts and other drug information sources

One thousand questionnaires were distributed to private medical practitioners by representatives of a pharmaceutical company. The 221 respondents were predominantly male (91%) and most were trained at the Universities of Pretoria (37%), the Witwatersrand (22%) and Cape Town (19%) during 1960 - 1969 (24%) and 1970 - 1979 (45%). The majority (72%) found package inserts useful or extremely useful and 70% had consulted one during the previous week or on the day that they completed the questionnaire. Reasons for consulting the package insert, in order of frequency, were for information on untoward effects (64%), indications (33%) and mechanism of action (33%). Most respondents (71%) used the Monthly Index of Specialities (MIMS) more often than package inserts and 53% used the MIMS desk reference more often than package inserts. As regards additional regular information on drugs, 67% preferred a regular book to a loose-leaf system and 69% were prepared to pay for it. We are of the opinion that there is a need for information on drugs that would be complementary to current information systems, and that this should be a joint venture between Government and private enterprise, with the consumer being prepared to share the cost.