Physician acquisition of prescription drug information.

The authors explore how the characteristics of prescription drug information sources influence the perceived usefulness of those sources. Physicians were asked in a survey to assess several prescription drug information sources and source characteristics. Their perceptions were examined statistically to determine whether they vary among physician subgroups (general practitioners versus specialists and younger versus older physicians). The results show that physician subgroups differ not only in their likelihood of using prescription drug information sources, but also in the importance they attribute to the information source characteristics. A situationally derived model of physician prescription drug information acquisition is advanced and a variety of academic and practitioner implications are discussed.