EPG Health Media are planning a new market research study into how mobile phones impact Healthcare Professionals and influence the way they practice. We welcome feedback from pharma and healthcare companies in terms of suggestions for specific survey questions, references to existing research in this field and requests to receive the report upon publication (in October) etc.

Posted 8th June 2010, 15:17:48

Something asking about what proportion of information from pharma companies they receive via mobile and what sort of information it is would be useful. Plus how this compares to receiving info through other channels.

Posted 8th June 2010, 16:44:53

Thanks Steve for your useful input. It would be good to know what are the most likely types of information pharma provide HCPs via mobile access, as then we could pose this as a multilpe choice-type question, plus 'other'. Can anyone from pharma help with suggestions? Thanks

Posted 25th June 2010, 15:23:10

AN UPDATE:

I posed the above question at the #hcsmeu tweet-up today (convenes on Twitter for one hour every Friday at 1pm CET using the hashtag #hcsmeu) and received some interesting input, including:

- Is EU's fast movement towards virtual medicine driven by Pharma (on the basis of cost) or by HCP/patient

- Does/will mobile affect the HCP/patient bond?

- Is mobile technology irrelevant without a) HCP needs assessment b)service design delivery review c) Implementation plan?

- European Mobile Health Alliance http://EuMHA.com launched on June 16th (#HCSMEu)

- Needs assessment - maybe more important to look into information needs rather than utilisation

- Do HCPs welcome mobile info from brands? If so, what type?

- How does mobile health impact Doc2Doc, Doc2Patient and Org2Doc relationships?

- Need for definition of mobile (anything portable? Includes iPad?)

The EPG research study is in the planning stages. It is our intention to conduct an online questionnaire with EPG registered doctors in mid July. Here is an idea of the kind of questions we will ask doctors;

Do you have a smart (define) phone? Type?
What percentage use is personal/professional? How much time per day?
What percentage use is for calls/texts/internet/other?
What information do you access professionally? (Patient records, drug info, images, video, medical education, CME, article/abstracts, social media etc) What frequency?
Does mobile help you diagnose? How?
Does mobile help you prescribe? How?
Does mobile help you communicate with patients? How?
Does mobile help you practice more efficiently? How?
How many health related apps do you have on your mobile? Free/paid for? Average cost?
Do you have a tablet pc (e.g. iPad)? Do you intent to get one in next 12 months?

All suggestions/feedback/interest/questions very welcome!

Thanks, Michelle

Posted 25th June 2010, 15:42:29

Hi Michelle,

Thanks for sharing - shame I couldn't join the #hcsmeu camp today! Some great discussion by the look of it.

Posted 30th June 2010, 09:43:40

It would be great to ask them what information they feel they could not get through such technology, e.g. what information still requires face to face dialogue with the rep.

I suspect the answer might be quite frightening....

Posted 30th June 2010, 11:29:02

JDS, thanks v much for the good suggestion.

Might the answer be ‘frightening’ because it could indicate that the rep will effectively become almost redundant in the eyes of HCPs with mobiles, or because the mobile cannot replace the rep and is therefore limited in its function? I assume you mean the former?

Thanks, Michelle

Posted 15th October 2010, 17:03:22

Hi all,

In case you haven't noticed, EPG has now posted an article on pharmaphorum giving highlights from this research:

http://www.pharmapho...tier-for-physicians/

Check it out!