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When a patient is admitted to a hospital, the need for information about the medications prescribed is an important issue.

We describe here how medical journalists writing for Dutch daily newspapers use experts when dealing with medicines. Two approaches, interviews and content analysis, were used to answer the research questions. Both methods show that journalists can find relevant experts to give them information about various medicines. The pharmacist, however, is not one of them. Furthermore, the content analysis shows that two types of experts can be distinguished: the objective and independent experts who were often cited alone in an article, and the subjective experts who frequently were cited in combination with other experts.

Family magazines can play an important role in the diffusion of medical information and information regarding drugs to a ‘lay audience’. We describe what kind of drugs are discussed in the family magazines and which information regarding these drugs is given. Furthermore, we look into the information sources for journalists; special attention is paid to the role of the pharmacist: is (s)he recognized by journalists as one of the experts on drugs? Two approaches were used in order to answer the above described research questions: a content analysis of family magazines and indepth interviews of journalists. Gynaecological products as well as drugs for the central nervous system receive much attention in family magazines. The kind of information given about drugs is limited. Only part of the publications pays attention to side-effects. Patients asking questions about drugs in response to publications in family magazines know the name of a drug but are rarely informed about other aspects of the therapy, such as side-effects. In the provision of information physicians and medical specialists play an important role as sources of information for journalists. There is, however, until now no role for the pharmacist as a source of information on drugs in family magazines.

The general public has a high degree of interest in information relating to health and illness. Family magazines and daily newspapers play an important role as sources of information about these subjects. Journalists writing about medicines in newspapers in the Netherlands have been found to use a series of complementary sources to obtain ideas and information on this subject; the pharmaceutical industry is one of the sources used by them. In this paper we explore the role of the lay press as a communication channel for pharmaceutical companies. The results of this study show that information from the pharmaceutical industry to the general public has become increasingly extensive and emphatic. Pharmaceutical companies consider that it is important to inform a lay audience about their products and about the diseases for which they can be used. The lay press, both daily newspapers and family magazines, can play an important role in informing a lay audience about diseases and new or improved products. If the lay press pays attention to these products many potential ‘users’ can be reached. Pharmaceutical companies do approach mass media journalists with information about products in various ways at different moments. As long as independent and critical journalists and editors decide for themselves whether information about drugs coming from pharmaceutical companies is newsworthy enough to be published, what reaches the printed page is likely be genuine news and not hidden advertising. A journalist should make very clear to the reader which sources have been used to compile the article, so that the reader can decide for himself whether he wishes to regard the information as reliable.

Abstract: Objective:To determine to what extent general practitioners’ (GPs) prescribing behaviour is a result of repeat prescribing of medication which has been initiated by specialists. Method:During a 4-week period, pharmacists identified GPs’ prescriptions for a large group of cardiovascular drugs. Next, questionnaires were sent to the prescribing GPs to find out whether the prescriptions were in fact repeat prescriptions. If they were, the GPs were asked whether or not they had originally been prescribed by a specialist. Setting:Six pharmacies in the northeastern part of the Netherlands.Subjects:Fourty-four GPs, 39 of whom responded.Results:Of 1648 questionnaires, 1342 (81%) were returned. Of drugs for cardiovascular therapy that the GPs prescribed, 66% had originally been prescribed by specialists. Conclusions:For many cardiovascular drugs, GPs’ prescriptions predominantly originated from specialists’ prescribing. For more reliable attribution of prescription data or prescribing behaviour to either specialists or to GPs, similar studies should be made for other drug groups. Since the extent of repeat prescribing is high, qualitative studies should be made of the appropriateness of chronic medication, initiated by specialists and continued in repeat prescribing by GPs.

A model for computer-supported patient counselling and drug information in community pharmacies is described. Two types of informational need are distinguished: the subjective informational need,i.e. the informational need perceived by the patient himself, and the normative informational need,i.e. the patient's informational need according to the professional. Accordingly, individualization is defined as the fine-tuning of information to the informational needs of the participants in the process of communication. A computer-supported process of communication based on this model is defined as interactive individualization'. The task of this knowledge system is to support the interactive encounter of the professional and the patient. The process of providing information consists of two subtasks: determining the items of information,e.g. pregnancy, dosage,etc., and subsequently determining the content of information or the advice itself. Based on these subtasks several functionalities of the proposed knowledge system can be derived.