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At time of writing, Drug Information Resident School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana now, Clinical Pharmacist Veterans Affairs Northern Indiana Health Care System Marion, Indiana 46953 fax 765/677-5158 laurie.brokowski{at}va.gov
Associate Professor of Pharmacy Practice School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Purdue University
Published Online, October 20, 2009. www.theannals.com, DOI 10.1345/aph.1M340
Seventy-eight state pharmacy associations in the US were contacted between February 2 and March 14, 2009, and requested to forward a link to an electronic questionnaire (Appendix I) to their pharmacist members. Forty-two percent (33/78) of the state pharmacy associations, representing 66% of states (33/50), participated. A total of 38,110 emails were sent, and 1067 questionnaires were completed, resulting in a 3% response rate. Eleven questionnaires were excluded because they were from students. Fifty-four percent (572/1056) of respondents were male, the mean age was 48 years (range 23–86 y), and mean time in practice was 23 years (0–65 y). Of the respondents, 52% had a bachelor's degree, 40% had a PharmD degree, and 9% had other degrees (eg, PhD, Master's). The majority of respondents did not have residency training (78%), with most practicing in either retail (40%) or hospital (37%) pharmacy settings.
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Thirty-five percent (369/1056) of respondents reported use of Wikipedia. Of the 687 who did not report use of Wikipedia, 51% (351/687) indicated that they do not use Wikipedia because they have other resources available. Other reasons for not using Wikipedia included lack of trust (27%; 183/687) or lack of familiarity with the site (11%; 75/687). In regard to their perception of Wikipedia, 19% (69/369) of users reported that they trusted Wikipedia, 12% (43/369) indicated that they would recommend Wikipedia to other pharmacists, and 7% (25/369) would recommend Wikipedia to consumers/patients.
In terms of using Wikipedia specifically to obtain drug information, 28% (105/369) reported using it for this purpose, with the majority of these respondents reporting use of Wikipedia to identify medication indications. Of concern, only 28% (29/105) of the respondents who reported using Wikipedia to obtain drug information were familiar with who edits and manages the Web site. This study is limited by a low response rate and the fact that only pharmacists who were members of state pharmacy associations received the survey; also, not all areas of pharmacy practice were represented.
In conclusion, although the majority of respondents reported that they do not use Wikipedia as a drug information resource, only one third of pharmacists who reported use of Wikipedia for drug information were aware that anyone can edit the information. These results warrant an effort to educate pharmacists about the limitations and appropriate use of online resources for drug information.
Footnotes
Financial disclosure: None reported
References
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