Physician's referral letter bibliographic service: a new method of disseminating medical information.

At the time this paper was written a unique trial project for disseminating medical literature to physicians had been in operation for six months (October 1971-April 1972) at the Virginia Medical Information System. Doctors in the state who referred patients to the Medical College of Virginia received short lists of references relevant to the problems of their patients as described in referral letters sent them by MCV consultants. Doctors receiving such lists were offered free photocopies of the articles cited if they could not obtain them locally. Of some 700 reference lists sent out, VAMIS received 12(1/2) percent direct responses, and 22 percent of respondents to a questionnaire reported obtaining articles elsewhere. Ninety percent of the respondents favored the service and approved of its method. Funding problems necessitated revision of the service in the summer of 1972. Presently the service is provided only on request of the referring physician.