Effective Direct-to-Patient Communication
Talking to patients directly is a skill – one which is taught to healthcare professionals as they train, so that their `bedside manner’ is appropriate and effective.
For those who work in marketing the ability to communicate effectively with their audience is usually seen as `a given’ – yet its appropriateness requires the same level of attention paid by healthcare professionals if it is to be truly effective.
As far as pharmaceutical marketers are concerned careful thought needs to be given to any direct communication with patients and three key questions need to be posed – is the proposed activity appropriate? (In other words, is it something patients want?) Is it delivered in a manner which they will understand? And does it fit within pharmaceutical company guidelines (the ABPI Code of Practice)?
What are patients’ health information needs?
Mark Duman, Honorary President of the Patient Information Forum, says the most important thing for pharmaceutical marketers to remember is `one size does not fit all’ and that different information needs to be tailored to different audiences. `For pharmaceutical marketers this means thinking beyond one Patient Information Leaflet for everyone,’ he says.
Mark says that patients are becoming more discerning about the information they read and that with an increased pressure to take responsibility for the management of their chronic conditions they are hungry for good quality information. `Testing information is great, but getting consumers/patients to co-create it as well, is even better.’
But Mark’s keen to point out that the whole process is not just about accessing information, `it’s about how that information encourages us to act, or not act – in other words the behavioural change that occurs as a result’.
So before starting on any activity it’s important to consider why you’re communicating directly with patients, what it is you need to say to them and what you’re hoping they will do as a result.
It’s also important to benchmark what is already available to patients and the impact it is having.
Reaching patients ethically
One of the major barriers to communicating directly with patients can be uncertainty about the regulations surrounding the pharmaceutical industry – and what patient-related activities are actually allowed.
Niamh MacMahon, Communications Manager, at the Prescription Medicines Code of Practice Authority (PMCPA), says that all marketers should make themselves aware of the provisions of the ABPI Code and `bear them in mind when working with patient organisations in any capacity’. The PMCPA runs regular training seminars and can organise training for staff in house if requested.
`The most important thing is that you declare all involvement with or support of patient organisations and have appropriate written agreements in place,’ says Niamh. `Whilst Clause 20.3 of the Code specifically deals with relationships with patient organisations, much of the rest of the Code is also relevant, particularly the clauses dealing with meetings, hospitality and disguised promotion etc.’
While there are definite restrictions around what pharmaceutical marketers can and can’t do – which collectively prevent companies from advertising directly to patients, or anything close to it – there are still opportunities which shouldn’t be ignored.
The pharmaceutical industry can be proactive in delivering valuable and useful information to patients. It needn’t be about influencing actual prescribing in a full-on, promotional way.
Direct to Consumer communications can play a useful role in helping to increase compliance/concordance, which is just as valid a way of deriving sales – while benefiting the doctor-patient relationship by helping to improve the patient’s health.
Properly formulated, non-promotional information fed through to them appropriately via clinicians and patient groups can have a powerful influence on the way they self-manage their diseases.
The key principle to remember is that patients cannot be directly sold prescription medicines. The only time to talk about a specific medicine is when you know the patient is taking that medicine and what you are communicating is in line with their doctors’ recommendations.
The root of the confusion lies with unclear terminology: communication to the public may be referred to as `Direct to Consumer’ (who may or may not be taking your company’s drug) while `Direct to Patient’ refers to information targeted at patients who are taking your product. In simple terms, DTC can be thought of as growing the market, and DTP is there to help patients.
The Consumer Media
As far as the general consumer market is concerned the media has a major role to play in communicating health messages directly. So how does the influential band of consumer journalists define their audience needs?
Hilly Janes, Editor of the Body&Soul section of The Times newspaper, says that the broadening concept of what it is to be healthy means health concerns permeate everything people do.
`There is a vast array of health information available to us, so finding trusted sources can be difficult,’ says Hilly. `At Body&Soul it’s important to us that we are trusted by our readers.’
Indeed the latest Times Reader Panel found that for general health information 98% of readers trusted their pharmacist, 77% trusted Body&Soul and 63% trusted specialist internet sites. `Readers want the science behind everyday health concerns, as well as scientific innovations made understandable and engaging,’ says Hilly.
The Newspaper Marketing Association’s Pharmaceutical Research, conducted in 2005, found that 67% of regular female readers used the knowledge gained from quality newspapers to give advice and suggestions. It also found that readers change aspects of their lifestyle as a result of what they read in newspapers.
Hilly Janes believes there are practical things that pharmaceutical marketers can do to help maintain the quality of information published in newspapers. They can identify scientists who are willing and able to explain their work in an accessible and engaging way; offer stories about positive trial results that have strong human/consumer interest; and provide information and samples of new over-the-counter products.
But Hilly is keen to point out that consumer journalists are wary of being used as PR vehicles for pharmaceutical companies: `Readers may be very sceptical about health information that appears as part of an advertisement/product placement by a drug company,’ she says.
In addition to the traditional media, the huge penetration of the web in the UK’s homes – which is second only to the US – means that the internet presents a means of providing accessible, up-to-date and targeted communications. The web is already one of the main ways in which patients access healthcare information, and it has the added dimension of providing two-way communication.