double the number of MDs used Google (87%) for professional research online as the next most-used search options 

Two studies were recently released regarding the online search habits of physicians. The first, Kantar Media’s Sources & Interactions, found that double the number of MDs used Google (87%) for professional research online as the next most-used search options (WebMD and PubMed, each at 43%). Google was one of six consumer search engines pulling significant usage; each was used by an average of 23% of physicians. That’s the same percentage that used each of the six medical sites on average, the study revealed. See the details on the chart at the bottom of the post.

Age matters
Kantar discovered wide variations in reported usage based on specialty, age, and other demographic factors. Google and Yahoo! were consistent performers across most groups, generally varying only within a two or three point range of average, while other sites showed wide variance. For example, PubMed was used by only 29% of family medicine doctors but 77% of infectious disease specialists. Older users preferred PubMed and Google Scholar, while younger users more frequently used general search engines Yahoo! and Bing, as well as WebMD and MDLinx. Interestingly, the study found that almost three times as many physicians who don’t see sales reps use UpToDate, compared with those who meet with reps.

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28% of physicians use professional physician communities 

More than 65% of physicians have used at least one social media site to support their professional practice, and nearly 90% use social media for personal use. Facebook tops the list for personal use, while online physician communities drive professional use. More than 20% of clinicians use 2 or more sites each for personal and professional purposes. These are just a few of the interesting stats from a study of 4,033 clinicians conducted by QuantiaMD and Care Continuum Alliance.

Mary Modahl, Chief Communications Officer of QuantiaMD, has been an active participant in the #SocPharm tweetchats. I asked Mary what the results suggest for healthcare communication. “Physicians are increasingly comfortable with social media, particularly in private clinician communities – but these are still early days,” said Mary. “The study shows physicians increasingly connecting with each other for professional consults, learning, and secure document sharing. In the next few years, physician connection will change the face of medicine. It famously takes 17 years for a medical innovation to be adopted across the US. As physicians connect, this could fall to 17 months, and maybe eventually to 17 days.”

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When you hear hoofbeats, think horses—not zebras. 

PharmaPhorum asked Siren Interactive to write a series of blog posts about the world of rare diseases. In the six-part series, titled “Rare is different,” we’re showing how working within rare diseases is unlike other pharma markets, particularly in the knowledge and influence wielded by patients and caregivers.

I wrote the second post, “Why doctors are often stumped by rare disorders.” Physicians are trained to arrive at a medical diagnosis by starting with the potential causes that are most common. The adage is “When you hear hoofbeats, think horses—not zebras.” This is logical and effective if a patient has a common disease. But the diagnosis of a rare disease obviously requires a different approach.

Read the post to learn more about the issues that can limit a physician’s ability to effectively diagnose and treat rare disorders.

(Image courtesy of Nathan Bittinger on Flickr).

Doctors indicated strong interest in being able to access electronic medical records (EMRs) through the iPad 

Professionals across the healthcare industry, doctors in particular, are enthusiastically adopting iPads. In 2011, only one year after launch, 30% of U.S. physicians own an iPad and an additional 28% plan to purchase one within the next six months. This is in addition to the 81% of U.S. physicians who own a smartphone. This data is from the latest Manhattan Research survey of 2,041 US practicing physicians, Taking the Pulse® U.S. v11.0, and reinforces other studies that show physicians prefer the Apple device over a Windows-based tablet.

Adoption has been helped by major institutions, such as Stanford University School of Medicine, giving iPads to medical students and other physicians. An American Medical News article says the iPad has “the right combination of ease of use, size, portability, long-lasting battery power and relatively low cost of adoption. For physicians, that meant adopting a technology that was the next best thing to paper charts, for a price that didn’t break the bank.”

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Pharma support and pharmaceutical sites also did well, reaching 51% and 50% of physicians 

Four out of five U.S. physicians online visited sites for healthcare professionals (HCPs) in the first quarter of 2010 according to a comScore and ImpactRx study.

General health content sites (such as WebMD.com) attracted 75% of physicians, while professional association sites reached 67%. Pharma support and pharmaceutical sites also did well, reaching 51% and 50% of physicians respectively. According to this research, social media sites came in the middle at a solid 40%.

The data is interesting because, according to the press release, it comes from: “a unique digital measurement solution that measures physicians’ actual online and mobile behaviors.”

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62% of specialists and 55% of PCPs report having a smartphone 

More proof that doctors are just like the rest of us – they are using smartphones.

A Knowledge Networks study of nearly 11,000 healthcare professionals found 62% of specialists and 55% of PCPs report having a smartphone, and roughly 85% to 90% are using them for Internet and email. The survey showed that 17% of PCPs and 18% of specialists who have smartphones are using them for e-detailing and 29% of PCPs and 24% of specialists use them to participate in online surveys. This data is in keeping with other recent research.

Is There an App for That?
As of February 2010, there were 5,805 health, medical and fitness applications within the Apple AppStore. Of these, 27% were targeted to healthcare professionals according to the report How Smartphones are Changing Health Care for Consumers and Providers. For more about this topic, read the excellent report by the California Healthcare Foundation.

Why It Matters for Pharma
Be sure that your websites are optimized for mobile viewing. And consider a smartphone application and the mobile channel as another way of reaching doctors.

This post was contributed by Eileen O’Brien, Director of Search & Innovation for Siren Interactive. You can connect with her on Twitter at @eileenobrien.

(Image courtesy of slowburn on Flickr)

97% of all physicians are online for professional purposes 

Manhattan Research recently came out with a new data covering usage trends of healthcare professionals (HCPs). They found that:

• 99% of physicians are online for personal or professional use
• 97% of all physicians are online for professional purposes

The shift shown between 2005-2008 was definitely trending toward heavy online usage rates:

• Conferences: offline -15%; online +11%
• Journals: offline -8%; online +23%
• CME: online +12%
• Medical reference and textbooks: online +15%

Online growth is especially strong in specialty areas. Oncologists and pulmonologists are especially likely to go online during patient consults (usually for the patient’s benefit – pointing out support areas, etc.).

94% of HCPs say they see about 10% of patients bringing in health information from online sources. The result? 50%+ of HCPs say they then spent MORE time with the patient; most of the rest report spending about the same time with their patient, and only a tiny percent spent less time with patients who brought in info gathered online.

There is a definite move toward a 2-way dialogue for marketers. Right now these figure show this is moving faster on the HCP side than the patient side.

HCP participants more also likely to be:

• Primary care physicians
• Female
• Own a PDA/smartphone
• Go online during/between consults
• Slightly younger

Other notes of interest:

• In 2008, 75% of HCPs visited a corporate or product website, though the visits were sporadic. Manhattan Research suggests that these shouldn’t be the main focus of your marketing plan (to the detriment of search engines, society sites, etc).
• Physicians don’t want to totally get rid of the human drug rep.
• Online service portals need great content and integration with your overall marketing plan. Only a few excel at this, including Merck Services (where you can access a live remote rep), Nova Medlink, and Genetech BioOncology.
• eDetailing is trending downward, but HCPs aren’t requesting it less. Rather, there are fewer invitations. (Manhattan Research suggests that some companies may have been burned in past years, but that the real lack is with quality content that integrates the research/learning experience HCPs are really looking for).
• 20% of HCPs use Wikipedia.

(Image courtesy of southerntabitha via Flickr)