Electronic detailing (e‐detailing) of pharmaceuticals to physicians: a review

Medical Representatives’ User Acceptance of Remote e-Detailing Technology: A Moderated Mediation Analysis of Technology Acceptance Model

Objectives: E-detailing methods have steadily evolved toward more contactless and interactive channels, which have received considerable attention during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis. Based on the technology acceptance model, this study attempted to identify medical representatives’ perceptions and attitudes towards individual innovativeness that affected users’ intentions to adopt new e-detailing devices utilizing information and communication technology.Methods: The subjects of the current study were medical representatives at three major multinational or domestic pharmaceutical companies that operate in South Korea. In total, 300 questionnaires were distributed and 221 were returned. The survey elicited information on respondents’ perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived usefulness (PU), personal innovativeness (PI), and user acceptance (UA) of remote e-detailing technology, in addition to demographic information and occupational characteristics. Structural equation models were fitted to the data. Separate analyses were conducted for different platform types, PCs and mobile devices.Results: PEOU showed a statistically significant positive association with PU. PEOU, PU, and PI were associated with UA, and PI was a statistically significant moderator. On average, PEOU explained up to approximately 45% of the total variation in UA of remote e-detailing.Conclusions: The analysis supports the framework of the technology acceptance model. PEOU was a substantially strong direct predictor of UA, and PI had a statistically significant, positive moderating effect between PU and UA. Medical representatives with pro-innovative attitudes are more likely to play the role of early adopters of remote e-detailing if they find this technology to be more useful.

Influences on interactions between physicians in the public and private sectors and medical representatives in Yemen

Objective

This study aims to assess the relative importance of attitude and subjective norms as well as physicians' characteristics and practice-setting factors in predicting the outcome of physicians' interactions with MRs.

Methods

A cross-sectional survey was conducted among a convenience sample of 602 physicians in Sana'a, Yemen. The data were analysed using descriptive and inferential analyses. The t-test/Mann–Whitney test and ANOVA/Kruskal–Wallis test with post hoc analysis, principal component analysis, correlation analysis and regression analysis were applied at an a priori significance level of 0.05.

Key findings

The response rate was 76.5%. Results showed that physicians who see a greater number of MRs per week or have academic affiliations were significantly more likely to have received high/low-value promotional items than were those who saw fewer MRs or have no academic affiliations (P values < 0.001 and 0.021, respectively). Also male physicians and physicians who have private clinics were significantly more likely to have received high-value promotional items (P value < 0.001). Three out of five hypotheses were supported (physicians' belief in the appropriateness of accepting high/low-value pharmaceutical companies' promotional techniques relate positively and significantly to their behaviour of interactions with MRs, and physicians' attitudes towards pharmaceutical companies relates positively and significantly to their interactions with MRs).

Conclusion

Physicians in Yemen consider most of the promotional techniques as normal practice. The article provides empirical evidence for policymakers in developing countries in general, and Yemen specifically, to develop suitable policies and regulations for drug promotion.

Do consumers perceive their doctors as influenced by pharmaceutical marketing communications?

Purpose

– This paper aims to explore whether and how consumers perceive the impact of pharmaceutical marketing on their own doctor’s prescribing behaviors, and subsequent responses toward their doctor’s advice.

Design/methodology/approach

– Three experimental studies were conducted. Studies 1 and 2 are based on text-based manipulations and undergraduate student research participants. Study 3 uses image-based manipulations and average adult consumers.

Findings

– Study 1 demonstrates that consumers can be quite skeptical about their doctor’s motives for prescribing certain brand-name drugs; in particular, consumers can construe doctors as agents of persuasion for prescribed brands. Study 2 shows that this can result not only in choosing generic drugs over prescribed brands but also in opting out of pharmaceuticals altogether by choosing alternatives like natural remedies. Study 3 further demonstrates that these effects can be easily triggered by visual cues in a non-student sample.

Originality/value

– This research builds on the existing literature on pharmaceutical marketing communications, and extends the theory of persuasion knowledge into healthcare settings.

Technology-enabled academic detailing: computer-mediated education between pharmacists and physicians for evidence-based prescribing

BACKGROUND

Academic detailing (AD) is the practice of specially trained pharmacists with detailed medication knowledge meeting with physicians to share best practices of prescribing. AD has demonstrated efficacy in positively influencing physicians' prescribing behavior. Nevertheless, a key challenge has been that physicians in rural and remote locations, or physicians who are time challenged, have limited ability to participate in face-to-face meetings with academic detailers, as these specially trained academic detailers are primarily urban-based and limited in numbers.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the feasibility of using information technologies to facilitate communication between academic detailers and physicians (known as Technology-Enabled Academic Detailing or TEAD) through a comparison to traditional face-to-face academic detailing (AD). Specifically, TEAD is compared to AD in terms of the ability to aid physicians in acquiring evidence-informed prescribing information on diabetes-related medications, measured in terms of time efficiency, satisfaction of both physicians and pharmacists, and quality of knowledge exchange.

METHODS

General Practitioner Physicians (n=105) and pharmacists (n=12) were recruited from across British Columbia. Pharmacists were trained to be academic detailers on diabetes medication usage. Physicians were assigned to one of four intervention groups to receive four academic detailing sessions from trained pharmacists. Intervention groups included: (1) AD only, (2) TEAD only, (3) TEAD crossed over to AD at midpoint, and (4) AD crossed over to TEAD at midpoint. Evaluation included physician-completed surveys before and after each session, pharmacist logs after each detailing session, interviews and focus groups with physicians and pharmacists at study completion, as well as a technical support log to record all phone calls and emails from physicians and pharmacists regarding any technical challenges during the TEAD sessions, or usage of the web portal.

RESULTS

Because recruitment was very low for the cross over groups, we analyzed the results in two groups instead: AD only and TEAD only. 354 sessions were conducted (AD=161, TEAD=193). Of these, complete data were available for 300 sessions, which were included in analysis (AD=133, TEAD=167). On average, TEAD sessions were 49min long, and AD sessions 81min long. Overall, physicians enjoyed both modalities of academic detailing (AD and TEAD) because they received information that both reinforced their existing diabetes knowledge and also provided new prescribing insights and approaches.

CONCLUSION

The results suggest that TEAD is an acceptable alternative to AD for providing physicians advice about prescribing. TEAD is more time efficient, facilitates effective knowledge exchange and interprofessional collaboration, and can reach those physicians virtually where face-to-face AD is not possible or practical.

LIMITATIONS

Due to logistics, physicians were allocated, rather than randomized, to receive AD and/or TEAD.

A new debate for Turkish physicians: e-detailing

The study presents an empirical analysis of the attitudes of Turkish physicians towards e-detailing practices compared to face-to-face detailing. The findings reveal that although physicians have positive attitudes toward e-detailing, on some points they are still undecided and/or have doubts. The structural model revealed that affect, convenience, and informative content influence their attitude in a positive manner, whereas the personal interaction was found to be a negative factor. Physicians' age and frequency of calls received from representatives are moderators. The present study can be seen as an addition to pharmaceutical marketing, an underresearched study field in Turkey, and e-detailing particularly.

The state of the journal: four years of publication

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the development and progression of the International Journal of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Marketing and include comments on its future direction.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper takes the approach of an essay format.

Findings

The journal has published key papers in pharmaceutical and healthcare research and continues to develop an interdisciplinary character with contributions from scholarly and practice‐oriented sources.

Originality/value

The paper provides a contemporary appraisal of the status and positioning of the journal.