Pharmacist-physician co-operation at a regional level

In the Dutch region of "Betuwe" the hospital pharmacists and community pharmacists together provide short drug letters about new drugs, which are sent bimonthly to all the practising general practitioners (n = 83) and medical specialists (n = 50) in this region. A survey was conducted among these physicians in order to investigate their opinion about and reported use of the drug letters in comparison with other drug-information sources. The majority of the responding physicians (response rate 68%) was found to read the drug letter frequently and evaluated the drug letter as a useful source of information about drugs, especially its section about the advantages and disadvantages of the new drug compared to other drugs. With respect to the different stages of the drug-adoption process, the drug letter was found to be the most frequently used information source at the decision stage. At the introduction stage the pharmaceutical industry representative seems to be the most frequently used source of information, while at the information stage it is the "Geneesmiddelenbulletin" (Drug Bulletin). The majority of the responding general practitioners reported to participate in local group meetings with pharmacists. However, in only 20% of these group meetings attention is given to the drug letter. Since it is known that written information has only a limited influence on the physician's behaviour, the influence of the "Betuwe Circulaire" may increase when attention is paid to it in the local contacts between pharmacists and physicians.