Affiliations: Departments of Pediatrics, Clinical Pharmacy, and Health Services Management and Policy, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, CO, USA | Colorado Health Outcomes Program, University of Colorado Denver, Aurora, CO, USA | Department of Behavioral Science and Community Health, College of Public Health and Health Professions, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA | Department of Epidemiology, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Elaine H. Morrato, DrPH, MPH, Colorado Health Outcomes/COR, P.O. Box 6508, Mail Stop F443, Aurora, CO 80045, USA. Tel.: +1 (303) 724 1535; Fax: +1 (303) 724 1934; E-mail: [email protected].
Abstract: Improving drug risk communication is a public health priority outlined by The Institute of Medicine to ensure patient safety. Physicians are an important audience of drug risk communication and effective communication is essential for promoting their adoption of risk management behavior. In this study, the authors explored information sources physicians prefer for keeping their drug safety knowledge current (particularly regarding new warnings). In a sample of US physicians, the authors found multiple resources were used for drug safety information with no single source used by everyone. Respondents had created a customized set of preferred resources with built-in redundancy. Participants discussed the strengths and limitations of different information sources: scientific (e.g., highest credibility), third-party (e.g., fast and electronically-delivered, but patients have access to the same information) and the drug company (e.g., legally accurate, but biased). The findings highlight the challenge in delivering a consistent, timely, and persuasive drug risk message to physicians through varying layers of intermediary messengers. The authors propose a conceptual framework of the communication flow for drug safety warnings to inform future research to optimize risk communication delivery.
Keywords: Drug risk communication, physicians, United States
