NMRS ONLINE USE SURVEY

SURVEY OBJECTIVES•To provide profile data for GP online users including information about the relative weight of use by job title/year qualified

•To provide information on the different reasons for using web sites (in general and NMRS publisher web sites specifically)

•To test the provision of similar data for a competitive web site

•To quantify behavioural issues (such as use on more than one location) which may have implications for online measurement.

CONTENTS

METHODOLOGY/TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONS SAMPLE PROFILE

REASONS FOR USING THE INTERNET

USE OF SITES

AUDIENCE PROFILE/6 WEIGHT OF INTERNET USE

MEASUREMENT ISSUES

METHODOLOGYEach publisher selected 1,000 GPs at random from their registered user database Locums and trainee Doctors (who would not qualify for NMRS) were includedStandard email request was sent asking them to complete a short survey about their use of the internet for work purposes4,000 requests sent on different dates in December 2011Single mailing (no reminder) in which the Doctor could win one of four prizes for £50196 replies represents a 5% response rate14 excluded from analysis as they were not currently practicing in primary careFinal analysis sample of 182

TECHNICAL OBSERVATIONSDrawing on four databases has provided a fairly comprehensive coverage of all or most GPs

…but will mean that some GPs have up to 4 times the chance of being represented (most being on 2 or 3 lists)

The level of response means there is a significant probability of bias (probably towards more ‘online’ Doctors) which it would be difficult to counter-act by weighting

There is less ‘sample’ data available to control differential response which may also vary by publisher

The data has been weighted so that no site represents more than 30% of the overall results

7% of replies were from Doctors who were not practicing in Primary Care suggesting the lists are less clean than those used for the main NMRS

QUESTIONS ASKED

Frequency of use of the internet for a range of work related reasonsWhen last used the publisher’s web siteReasons for using the publisher’s web siteWhether used the publisher site as a registered userRecency of use of Doctors.org.uk and reasons for usingMeans of accessing the internetDemographics (comparable with NMRS).

The respective online properties asked about were any BMJ Group web site, GPOnline and PulseToday (the Elsevier request only asked about general use of online).

SAMPLE PROFILE  Main NMRS survey

Online Survey

Year Qual/Gender

Male 1990 or earlier 35% 45%

Male 1991 or later 20% 15%

Female 1990 or earlier 20% 25%

Female 1991 or later 25% 16%

Job title

GP Partner 75% 66%

Salaried GP 25% 17%

Locum 1990 or earlier - 12%

Locum 1991 or later - 4%

GP Registrar - 1%

Base: All respondents in practice (182)

REASONS FOR USING THE INTERNET FOR WORK PURPOSES

Base: All respondents in practice (182)

 Any use (Past 4 weeks)

Daily/ Almost Daily

At Least

Once a Week

For information on diseases/conditions 90% 34% 75%

To send or receive emails 88% 80% 84%

CME/CPD/formal medical education 81% 10% 55%

To check guidelines 75% 12% 49%

To provide information for a patient to use or read 66% 33% 55%

For news about political changes, commissioning and other developments in general practice

57% 12% 42%

For other general news about the medical profession 57% 16% 37%

To check information about specific drugs, products or treatments 55% 11% 35%

For prescribing information e.g. drug dosages 53% 17% 32%

For other clinical information 50% 16% 38%

For other personal professional development 46% 6% 27%

For networking/keeping in touch with other medical professionals 37% 17% 28%

20% had used the internet to look at or apply for jobs in the past 4 weeks, 17% for clinical research/trials, 13% to help with practice management/finances, 5% stating other reasons.

USE OF NMRS PUBLISHER SITES (PAST 7 DAYS)25% used today/yesterday, 51% in the last 7 days, 81% in the last 4 weeks.

  All Use NMRS sites

Sample Size 182 78

To send or receive emails 84% 8%

For information on diseases/conditions 75% 37%

CME/CPD/formal medical education 55% 54%

To provide information for a patient to use or read 55% 3%

To check guidelines 49% 14%

For news about political changes, commissioning and other developments in general practice

42% 35%

For other clinical information 38% 23%

For other general news about the medical profession 37% 44%

To check information about specific drugs, products or treatments 35% 6%

For prescribing information e.g. drug dosages 32% 8%

For networking/keeping in touch with other medical professionals 28% 3%

For other personal professional development 27% 18%

For clinical research/trials 10% 4%

To help with practice management/finances 10% 4%

To look at or apply for jobs 6% 11%Mean 2.72 of the reasons (2.61 excluding email and networking).

USE OF DOCTORS.ORG.UK (PAST 7 DAYS)30% used today/yesterday, 38% in the last 7 days, 47% in the last 4 weeks.

Mean 2.94 of the reasons (1.85 excluding email and networking).

All UseDoctors. org.uk

Sample Size 182 67

To send or receive emails 84% 76%

For information on diseases/conditions 75% 21%

CME/CPD/formal medical education 55% 36%

To provide information for a patient to use or read 55% 0%

To check guidelines 49% 6%

For news about political changes, commissioning and other developments in general practice

42% 31%

For other clinical information 38% 21%

For other general news about the medical profession 37% 36%

To check information about specific drugs, products or treatments 35% 6%

For prescribing information e.g. drug dosages 32% 7%

For networking/keeping in touch with other medical professionals 28% 33%

For other personal professional development 27% 6%

For clinical research/trials 10% 6%

To help with practice management/finances 10% 1%

To look at or apply for jobs 6% 7%

AUDIENCE PROFILE

Base: All respondents in practice (182)

 Main NMRS

surveyOnline Survey

NMRS Web sites past 7

days

Doctors.org.uk past 7 days

Sample Size 42752 182 78 67

Year Qual/Gender

Male 1990 or earlier 35% 45% 47% 49%

Male 1991 or later 20% 15% 11% 13%

Female 1990 or earlier 20% 25% 29% 18%

Female 1991 or later 25% 16% 13%. 20%

Year qualified

1980 or earlier 21% 37% 45% 37%

1981 - 1990 34% 32% 31% 30%

1991 - 2000 27% 19% 13% 14%

2001 or later 10% 11% 11% 20%

Job title

GP Partner 75% 66% 55% 60%

Salaried GP 25% 17% 20% 18%

Locum 1990 or earlier - 12% 18% 17%

Locum 1991 or later - 4% 6% 4%

GP Registrar - 1% 1% 1%

WEIGHT OF INTERNET USE

Base: All respondents in practice (182)

  Total High* Medium* Low*

Sample Size 182 66 60 56

Year Qual/Gender

Male 1990 or earlier 45% 53% 32% 47%

Male 1991 or later 15% 16% 18% 9%

Female 1990 or earlier 25% 26% 23% 24%

Female 1991 or later 16% 4% 27% 19%

Year qualified

1980 or earlier 37% 36% 26% 51%

1981 – 1990 32% 43% 29% 20%

1991 – 2000 19% 9% 33% 17%

2001 or later 11% 12% 11% 11%

Job title

GP Partner 66% 70% 66% 62%

Salaried GP 17% 18% 17% 16%

Locum 1990 or earlier 12% 10% 11% 17%

Locum 1991 or later 4% 3% 4% 6%

GP Registrar 1% - 2% -

MEASUREMENT ISSUESDemographicsWill the site know whether the user is a GP (or another type of user)

Multiple DevicesIf a Doctor accesses a site using more than one device will they get counted by the site as:•One person using the site on 2 or more occasions•Separate users (which would inflate the number of users)

Multiple UsersIf more than one person uses the same machine (or browser) to access the same site will they get counted as:•One person using the site 2 or more times (an underestimate of the number of users)•Separate users.

ACCESS REPERTOIREMean 2.8 types of Access in Past 7 Days, 53% using 3 + devices

Desktop PC at main place of work 81%

Using your own laptop 60%

Desktop at home 54%

Smartphone (e.g. Blackberry, iPhone) 40%

Tablet device or iPad 20%

Desktop PC at other place of work 12%

Using a laptop provided by work 10%

Elsewhere (please specify) 1%

Base: All respondents in practice (182)

Number of Types of Access

1 2 3 4 or more

13% 34% 28% 25%

Base: All respondents in practice (182)

MULTIPLE USERS OF WORK PC’s

Work Use Tends to be on PCs Which Are Shared

 Normal Place of

Work

Other Place of

Work

Sample Size 159 26

Only used by you 34% 24%

Shared with other Doctors 45% 22%

Shared with other staff 20% 51%

MULTIPLE USERS OF WORK PC’sMost Use of NMRS Sites is RegisteredQ: And when you last accessed [Site] did you do so as a registered user (for example with a user name and password)?

Yes - I used a password for that site 72%

Yes - Our practice system allows me to access the site as a registered user

4%

No (did not use password) 9%

Not sure how used: Yes, the site does recognise me 8%

Not sure: No, the site doesn’t recognise me 1%

Not sure: Not sure if the site recognises me 3%

BASE: Doctors using a publisher site in the last 4 weeks

CONCLUSIONSA co-operative has worked and provided a clearer picture of what GPs use the internet for.

Results suggest that there are some variations in levels of use by