KEYWORDS:
Immunization education, vaccines, increasing physician knowledge.

BACKGROUND:
In 2001 a supplement to the Journal of Family Practice (JFP), dedicated to vaccine indications and schedules, safety, side effects, legal issues and immunization barriers, was published and disseminated to 86,000 subscribers of JFP.

OBJECTIVE:
To evaluate the supplement's effectiveness in increasing practicing physicians' immunization knowledge and its acceptability for this purpose.

METHOD:
Expert authors were recruited to write peer-reviewed articles. A convenience sample of 40 physicians primarily family physicians, practicing in a variety of settings and geographic regions, were asked to complete a knowledge-based pre-test, read the journal supplement and complete an open book (optional) duplicate post-test. Paired t-tests were used to compare pre-and post-test scores. Participants evaluated the specific articles and overall features of the supplement by answering 10 questions using 4-point Likert scales.

RESULT:
Participating physicians had graduated an average 15 years ago (range=2-47 years), were most frequently practicing in residency clinics (33%) and were most frequently located in suburban/urban settings (54%). The number of physicians in their practices ranged from 1-250 with a median of 6. Knowledge as measured by changes in percent correct answers significantly improved following reading of the supplement (45% pre-test vs. 82% post-test, P<.001). Most physicians rated the articles "very useful" or "useful," with only 4 people (11%) ranking one article "not useful" and 1 person (3%) ranking another "not useful." The percent of physicians rating the supplement "excellent" or "good" was high regarding ease of use (90%), color pictures (90%), practicality (95%), depth (100%) and length (75%).

CONCLUSION:
A journal supplement is an effective way to educate practicing physicians about immunizations.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
For conference attendees to take the immunization test and compare their immunization knowledge with those who participated in the supplement evaluation.