RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Newsletters are marketed to physicians to provide a concise, accurate, and timely overview of the medical literature. The goal of these newsletters seems to be to present information that can be a suitable substitute for reading the original article. The purpose of this paper is to describe and evaluate newsletters pertinent to family physicians. METHODS: Newsletters appropriate for family physicians were selected by collecting newsletter advertisements and by searching newsletter directories. A 3-month sample and pertinent data were collected from the publishers. Evaluation criteria included accuracy and completeness of the abstracts, scope of coverage of the medical literature, and relevance of article sources. RESULTS: Eight newsletters were collected and evaluated. Accuracy was high for the evaluated abstracts. Abstract completeness averaged only 70 percent (range 55 percent to 92 percent). The type and source of abstracted articles varied widely among the newsletters. CONCLUSION: Newsletters available to family physicians vary widely; personal evaluation should supplement the results of the evaluation.
Assuntos
Medicina de Família e Comunidade , Publicações Periódicas como Assunto/normas , Custos e Análise de Custo , Estudos de Avaliação como Assunto , Humanos , Serviços de Informação , Marketing de Serviços de Saúde , Publicações Periódicas como Assunto/economia , Estados UnidosRESUMO
Departmental efficiency is a priority issue for hospital administration as third party payers maintain or reduce the level of reimbursement. This study validates the PHASU (PHArmacy Service Unit) model, which predicts the workload and productivity of a unit dose pharmacy. A PHASU equivalency system enabled the authors to develop a comparative standard for all pharmacy procedures. The procedure most reflective of workload is unit dose orders. Predicted productivity and staff requirements compare favorably to management engineering determinations. The PHASU model represents a reliable workload forecasting instrument that pharmacy managers can prospectively incorporate in the support of current and future pharmacy services.