Health info in doctors' waiting rooms: be selective!

摘要

Healthcare professionals play an important role in informing the public about health issues. Are the brochures found in doctors' waiting rooms a reliable source of information for patients?Nearly 3500 brochures in 672 doctors' waiting rooms. The French consumer association UFC-Que Choisir collected 3411 brochures (1092 different ones) from 672 general practitioners' waiting rooms in 76 of France's 101 administrative districts (departements), between May and July 2013 (1).Although there were no brochures in 41% of the waiting rooms, there were 9 different brochures on average in the others (range: 1 to 61). The topics most frequently addressed in the brochures were nutrition (15%), cancer (14%) and children's health (10 %) (1).