It’s no secret that getting in front of doctors and nurses to present new products is harder than ever for pharma and medical-device firms. What’s more, even when these companies do persuade HCPs to attend a lunch or dinner meeting, the style of presentation that has been used for decades is losing its effectiveness, according to a recent article in MM&M (formerly Medical Marketing & Media).
The more tech-savvy generations of HCPs—which, as shown in the article, are also more diverse in gender and race than ever before—simply don’t respond to what one resident physician called “a playbook of effective pharma and device marketing from long ago.” As a result, the article outlines different ways that pharma and device firms should frame their presentations to HCPs to cut through the onslaught of messaging they receive every day. One example: Data coupled with real-world stories resonate strongly with today’s HCPs.
For medical associations, a recent conference for HCPs held by Columbia University’s Irving Medical Center showcased the value of “narrative medicine,” whereby practitioners listen to patients’ personal stories and validate the feelings that come not only from their ailment, but also from other aspects of their lives. “In medicine, we’ve gotten very good at talking to patients about the body,” said one presenter. “But we’ve gotten dumber about paying attention to the individual.”
This article in Columbia Magazine provides more detail about teaching HCPs the listening-focused approach of narrative medicine, and demonstrates its benefits both for treatment and for patients’ psychological approach to treatment.
