[Scientific information of health personnel: an approach to the sources, access, costs and research].

OBJECTIVE

To study what general sources of information health professionals working in primary care use, their access to them, expenditure incurred in health information and whether they do research and publish it.

DESIGN

A descriptive crossover study using an anonymous questionnaire.

SETTING

Primary care.

PARTICIPANTS

Doctors, paediatricians, nurses and midwives working in the primary care field in Area 13 of the Community of Valencia. 163 out of 255 people polled replied (63.9% participation).

MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS

The main sources of information favoured are courses and clinical sessions. 83.5% of professionals had done some course or attended a congress or workshop over the two previous years. 78.9% of staff had needed to look for a book or magazine outside their own library and mainly looked outside the Health Centres. 20.8% spent no money on health information. 34.4% had done research work: 24 doctors and 9 nurses had published. 14.7% felt supported always or often by their health area to do research. 64% did not have a wordprocessor and 71% did not have a library.

CONCLUSIONS

The staff surveyed prefer courses and clinical sessions as their sources of information, which might imply little active searching for information. They believe that they need material and information resources for research work, and that incentives must be offered. Workplaces contain few sources of information.