Healthy Skepticism Library item: 15789
Warning: This library includes all items relevant to health product marketing that we are aware of regardless of quality. Often we do not agree with all or part of the contents.
Publication type: news
New Research on Physician Skepticism Toward Healthcare Marketing Methods to Debut at 2009 HCEA Annual Meeting
Exhibitor News Network 2009 Jun 4
http://www.exhibitoronline.com/news/enn-display.asp?counter=7652
Full text:
A new study by researchers at the University of Mississippi finds that physicians show less skepticism toward information received at medical exhibits than other methods of healthcare marketing. The findings will be presented at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the Healthcare Convention & Exhibitors Association (HCEA), June 13-16, in Tampa.
The report is titled “Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Marketing Efforts: Messages Lost in Skepticism? Physicians’ Inherent Skepticism Associated with Marketing Messages Delivered at Medical Conventions, through Office Detailing, and Contained Within Medical Journal Advertisements.” The research was conducted by David McCaffrey III, R.Ph., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pharmacy Administration, and Suvapun Bunniran, MS, Graduate Research Assistant, both of The University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacy Administration and Pharmaceutical Marketing and Management Research Program. McCaffrey and Bunniran will present their research findings at the 2009 HCEA Annual Meeting. The study was underwritten by a grant from HCEA.
The researchers used a scale similar to a Likert scale, commonly used in survey research, to measure the degrees of skepticism with which physicians receive messages. Based on this scale, the researchers found that exhibits were viewed with less skepticism by physicians than either journal ads or field sales representatives in most cases, including the finding that medical device exhibits received skepticism scores 27.4 percent lower than device journal advertisements. Similarly, pharmaceutical exhibits received skepticism scores 12.8 percent lower than pharmaceutical journal advertisements. The study’s findings are reported separately for pharmaceutical and medical device marketing messages.
“This study provides new and important data to help answer questions about the effectiveness of healthcare convention marketing compared with other forms of healthcare marketing,” said Eric Allen, HCEA Executive Vice President. “As an industry, we need to do more to provide comparative studies in peer-reviewed literature to help demonstrate that effectiveness. HCEA is committed to helping lead that charge, and hopefully this study helps blaze a trail for additional serious research in this area in the future.”
The researchers surveyed 453 orthopedic physicians. In addition to skepticism, the survey measured respondents’ sentiments toward marketing and marketers, and the credibility of the sources of messages received through three promotional outlets: medical convention exhibits, office detailing by field sales representatives and medical journal advertisements.
The research was conducted as part of HCEA’s Research Grant Program, which was supported by grants from Catalyst Exhibits; GWF Associates, LLC; MEDRAD, Inc.; Merck & Company, Inc.; Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp.; and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.
HCEA is the only association solely dedicated to improving the effectiveness of all conventions, meetings and exhibitions for the healthcare industry. HCEA represents organizations involved in healthcare exhibitions and conventions. For more information, go to www.hcea.org.
