INFORMATION FROM READING A JOURNAL
IS NOT WELL RETAINED
AND DEPENDS ON
THE MOTIVATION OF THE READER
Catherine Kellett,1 Alisa Hart,1 Christopher Bulstrode,1 and Philip Fulford2
1Nuffield Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The Trauma Service, John Radcliffe II Hospital, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK; 1Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery, London, UK
Objectives: (1) To ascertain the recall performance of journal-browsing doctors. (2) To determine whether the motivation of the reader affects the information retained.
Design: A group of 140 doctors representing all medical specialties was recruited from a teaching hospital. They sat, under exam conditions, a negatively marked multiple-choice questionnaire on a recent issue of the British Medical Journal. In addition, a group of 21 specialists was sent true/false questions on the most recent issue of the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. Candidates for the specialty qualifying exam were advised that the written paper would be based on critical evaluation of recent articles appearing in the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery. The questions required in-depth reading of the papers and tested retention only of those results presented in scientific papers that challenged current dogma. Five of the editors of Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery were sent the same exam as the candidates without prior warning.
Results: Seventy-five percent of doctors claimed to have read the papers in the British Medical Journal. However, only 48% of these readers could correctly answer the questions sent. In the group of exam candidates, retention of information and understanding were good with a mean score of 44% (range, 12%-63%) despite negative marking. The editors of the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery also scored well, achieving an average score of 63%. However, only 1 of 21 of the journal-browsing doctors of the Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery could recall any information presented in the articles.
Conclusions: Information was poorly retained by journal-browsing doctors. However, readers with high motivation and incentive recalled information well.
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