Diffusion of innovation I: Formulary acceptance rates of new drugs in teaching and non-teaching British Columbia hospitals--a hospital pharmacy perspective.

Lag times in the diffusion of new drugs in the hospital setting have both patient care and pharmaceutical industry implications. This two-part series uses diffusion theory to examine differences in the adoption rates of new drugs in British Columbia teaching and non-teaching hospitals. Formulary addition of a new drug by a hospital's Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee was considered the adoption indicator. Time for adoption was defined as the difference between a drug's Canadian market approval date and the date of formulary addition. Surveys were mailed in September 1990 to 41 hospital pharmacies (response rate = 88%), asking respondents to provide formulary inclusion dates of 29 drugs marketed between July 1987 and March 1990. A significant difference (Mann-Whitney U Test, p < 0.0358) in median adoption time was observed between the six teaching and 25 non-teaching study hospitals, with the former adopting a new drug in 7.5 months versus the latter adopting a new drug in 12.1 months.