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[Trust of primary care physicians in the reliability of the vade mecum]
T Nieto-Hernández1, J Altimiras, F Buitrago
1Centro de Salud Universitario La Paz, Unidad Docente de Medicina Familiar y Comunitaria.
Objectives:
To assess the reliability which doctors grant to the International Vademecum as a source of information, up-dating and on-going training in pharmacotherapy; also to find their knowledge of the presence of Saccharose as an excipient in the composition of several pharmaceutical products commonly used in primary care.
Design:
A descriptive, crossover study using a self-filled postal questionnaire.
Setting:
Badajoz health sector.
Patients And Other Participants:
Primary care doctors (general and paediatricians) from three health areas in the province of Badajoz.
Measurements And Main Results:
A total of 178 doctors filled in the questionnaire (57.6% of the 309 doctors from the health centres). All the information in the Vademecum is considered useful and trustworthy by 68.2% of the doctors. Nor were there any significant differences in the assessment of the Vademecum between doctors with MIR (intern) training (63.6%) and without (71.1%). The Vademecum is used as a source of updating and on-going training in pharmacotherapy by 33.7% of doctors. Its use increases in line with the doctor's age and the time worked in primary care. Knowledge among doctors of the presence of saccharose as one of the excipients in the five pharmaceutical products analysed varied between 21.2% and 46.4%.
Conclusions:
Widespread acceptance and use of the Vademecum by primary care doctors and scant knowledge of the presence of Saccharose as an excipient in the pharmaceutical products analysed.