It’s become part of received wisdom that today’s patient isan active partner in his or her medical care. Since we all accept this as fact,we don’t think it’s worth questioning.
But perhaps it is: a new research study concludes that mostof today’s supposedly empowered patients don’t ask the doctor what theirprescriptions are for or about the benefits or risks. Only rarely do they evenanswer questions with more than a “yes” or “no.” No dialogue, hence noparticipation.
And here’s another shocker: The standard DTC call to actionof “ask your doctor” doesn’t work. There’s data to show that 97 out of 100 ofyour prospects do no such thing.
Hearing these conclusions caused listeners to sit up intheir chairs in surprise at a Coalition for Healthcare Communication meetingearlier this year where Joe Gattuso, the director of strategic insight for the13 CommonHealth agencies, Power-Pointed them.
For years we have relied on studies, such as those byPrevention magazine, that show that DTC promotion works. And so it does. Buthow? What actually goes on in the doctor’s office when patients exposed tothese ads see their doctors? Do they say, “doctor, I saw this ad” or do theyask for, or about, a specific brand? Do they, in fact, give any indication ofhaving been “empowered?”
CommonHealth set out to answer these questions, Gattusoreported, and now has a database of more than 2,500 transcriptions ofvideotaped doctor/patient encounters. For this particular study, they analyzed440 office visits, covering 35 therapeutic categories, looking for eitherdirect or indirect mentions of DTC advertising by either party. In addition,they identified all direct statements regarding product benefits or risks madeby the physician.
Concentrating on three conditions (allergy, elevatedcholesterol, and hypertension) that were being widely promoted through major adcampaigns at the time, they then followed up with post-visit interviews withboth the doctors and the patients. Patients were asked, “Were there questionsyou felt the doctor didn’t answer? Or issues you wanted to know more about? Ifso, why didn’t you ask?”
“I didn’t know whether I should ask that,” they responded.As for the doctors, reviews of the transcripts showed that 60% of the time theyprovided neither risk nor benefit information, and that, for their part, theyfelt sure their patients had left the office satisfied.
Clearly, while we have had evidence that DTC works, wedidn’t know why or how. Says Gattuso: “What is most significant [about] thesestudies is that they point the way to a new and expanded vision for DTCadvertising—one which we believe will encourage and increase the kinds ofdialogues we want [between] physicians and patients, resulting in moreefficient, robust, and appropriate outcomes.”
He cites specific examples of how CommonHealth has appliedits findings. Ads for Topamax, for instance, wind up: Tell your doctor yourstory. Other taglines might be: “Be sure to ask your doctor what your Rx isfor,” or “Ask about the risk if I don’t take this medicine.” Anything to openup a dialogue.
That approach could lead to real empowerment—and to bettercompliance that will improve both sales and patients’ well being.
Warren Ross is editor at large of MM&M
From the April 01, 2008 Issue of MM+M - Medical Marketing and Media
