Results of the 2018-19 Australian Medicine reader survey are in!
The survey was open for AMA members between November 2018 until the end of January 2019.
There was a total of 414 respondents.
Results were informative and constructive, and overwhelmingly positive.
“I like reading it; up to date and concise, and succinct medical knowledge.”
“Previously I didn’t find the time. I thought of it as study or hard work. I didn’t have my mindset in the right place. Now I sit down and enjoy it from cover to cover with a cup of tea.”
“Skim through it and read sections of articles. Useful updates but lots of politics.”
“I read it regularly.”
“I read it fairly regularly because it provides a locoregional perspective that other journals lack. The digital versions are also a welcome change in a field where hard copy is often considered king.”
“Very little about my specialty.”
“Mostly politics, occasionally useful in GP practice.”
“Usually read the copies in our practice.”
By far, national health policy is what Australian Medicine readers want to know about. This is followed by articles on medical education, hospitals, medical ethics, lifestyle, public health, GP issues, and rural health.
The online edition is read the most (43.80 per cent), followed by the hard copy print version (35.28 per cent) and then the PDF download (20.92 per cent).
Readers are encouraged to read the magazine mostly because of its cover, its headlines, content and pictures, but also through fortnightly email alerts. Not so much through Twitter or Facebook alerts. Most would prefer Australian Medicine to be published monthly (53.17 per cent), followed by fortnightly (25.61 per cent), and quarterly (21.22 per cent).
The President’s column is highly read, as is the Vice President’s column. Other specific committee columns have solid readerships. National news reigns supreme.
Constructive criticisms went to layout, length of articles and the desire for more case studies and specialist news. And plenty of readers would like to see more competitions, quizzes and lighter articles.
Australian Medicine is taking it all on board and will incorporate as many of your ideas as we can.
The survey asked: How can we make Australian Medicine more interesting for you? The results were pleasing, with some excellent suggestions and lots of praise. Below are just some of the comments left in response to that question:
“More opinion columns.”
“Keep doing what you are doing.”
“I would like to read more stories about individual doctors and their challenges and how they overcame them; both personal and work related.”
“Carry on steady as she goes.”
“It is very informative. Thank you for putting so much effort in putting it out regularly.”
“It is useful for updates of the wider health setting. Sometimes articles are too long.”
“Bolder headlines for current news.”
“Keep me up to date with health issues.”
“A few more enthusiastic medical writers like Dr Clive.”
“It is difficult to cater for all specialties, but I think the current format works reasonably well.”
“A regular technology and arts column would be most welcome. Although the music column is a nice distraction from clinical work, a further extracurricular vantage would be fantastic.”
“Interesting cases.”
“Happy.”
“Plenty of stories about people and places.”
“Specific sections for each specialty. Non-medical things like travel and fellowship opportunities etc.”
“I think it is fine. I would not read cover to cover. I read everything on Indigenous health, refugee health, child health and public health, particularly climate change and health.”
“More pros and cons of political situation. Explanation of funding of different health sectors.”
“It’s fine as it is. By Drs for Drs.”
“Keep doing what you are doing. Its already interesting.”
“More modern look/greater visual appeal.”
“Chance to contribute articles.”
“It’s great in its current format.”
“More succinct articles.”
“No particular changes recommended.”
“I am pretty satisfied with the present production. I always go to President’s message and motoring straight off. (Petrol head person).”
“It’s fine as is, just get a lot of things to read.”
“More Australian research and impacts on changes in clinical practice.”
“International medical news, rural and regional health news coverage, Indigenous health issues.”
“Maybe some outside perspectives about health policy? Too often the articles are just preaching to the choir.”
“I mostly like it the way it is.”
“For me, it is the medico-political content I look for and learn from.”
“Keep it up.”
“More reference on benchmarking against other health systems.”
“More articles about current medical issues; more medical cases.”
“More competitions.”
“Good as it is. Enjoy the variety.”
“It’s pretty good as it is.”
“Medical trivia.”
“Contemporary views from regular members, especially junior ones.”
“Keep up the great work!”
“Good as it is.”
“More competitions or things to do e.g. crosswords, sudoku etc., which are great for downtime/mindfulness.”
“More current national and international medical news.”
“It’s fine as it needs to meet relevance for a broad audience.”
“Keep up the good work.”
“Less self-congratulatory.”
“Like it as is – quick and easy to read.”
“Happy with the current format.”
“I quite like it.”
“Keep providing interesting or novel articles.”
“Make it more relevant for junior doctors.”
“Continue present format.”
“Continued political influence/focus.”
“I am satisfied.”
“Mostly interested in national health policies.”
“I like to read feel-good medical stories or breakthroughs.”
“Concise, factual, to the point.”
“I like the Christmas edition. More lighthearted articles would be nice.”
“More lifestyle.”
“Expand the travel section.”
“Interesting enough.”
“I quite like the current version. Make sure there is a good mix of articles to suit the readership.”
“Horizon scanning – what will impact practice in 5-10 years.”
“More clinical case studies.”
“Continue print version.”
“Change the title to something more interesting.”
“Enable us to write in and ask questions of columnists.”
“Some light read articles mixed in.”
“It’s already good.”
“All good so far. Keep up the good work.”
“Keep going as you are.”
“The current format is good.”
“I am quite happy with present format. A good mix of readable topics of general interest.”
“It depends on the topics, but great work overall.”
“You are doing a fine job.”
“It’s already excellent.”
“More ethics and morals about how to be a better doctor.”
“More research based articles.”
* Open PDF edition to see full graph
