I. Who is Using Physician Communities?

• Figure 1-1: Use and Interest in Using Online Physician Communities
• Figure 1-2: Profile of Physician Use/Interest in Online Physician Communities
• Figure 1-3: Age Differences in Use/Interest in Online Physician Communities
• Figure 1-4: High Prescribers are the Most Likely to be Using/Interest in Online Physician Communities
• Close-Up 1-1: Posters vs. Lurkers

II. Physician Communities

• Large Physician-only Online Communities
• Sermo
  • Close-Up 2-2: Sermo Offerings
  • Close-Up 2-3: Sermo Content
  • Figure 2-1: Sermo Users Most Likely to Visit Weekly
  • Figure 2-2: Sermo User Interest in Using Online Clinical Sources
• Medscape Physician Connect
  • Close-Up 2-4: Medscape Physician Connect Content
  • Close-Up 2-5: Other Physician-only Online Communities
  • Close-Up 2-6: Specialty-specific Online Communities
  • Close-Up 2-7: Student and Resident Online Communities
  • Close-Up 2-8: Physician Communities within Social Networking Sites

III. What Does This Mean for Pharma and Others in the Healthcare Industry?

• Sermo for the Client
• Medscape Physician Connect for the Client
  • Close-Up 3-1: Medscape Connect Client-facing Application
• Physician Opinion Regarding Pharma Involvement in Communities
  • Figure 3-1: Physician Expectations of Pharma Not Too Far Off from Desires
  • Figure 3-2: Interest in Online Community Services

IV. Key Takeaways

Excerpt

It used to be that if a physician had a patient who wasn’t responding to treatment, or a question about an off-label use of a product, she was usually limited to calling or emailing colleagues, or searching through other traditional information resources for possible answers. 

But with the web, all of that has changed. At first, there were email groups and listservs for physicians. Then there were blogs. And now, the latest trend in the medical community, as with most communities, is online social networking.

Social networking was certainly the hot topic in 2008. Hardly a week went by without a story about the marketing potential for sites like Facebook or MySpace. But a new kind of social network has been gaining traction among doctors – namely, physician-only communities where doctors can exchange ideas, opinions, and information about treatments with their peers.

As social media has expanded into the medical field, doctors now have the opportunity to exchange medical advice and opinions with tens of thousands of other colleagues instantly as part of a professional online community.

One of the examples of the benefits of harnessing collective wisdom online can be seen in a sample thread that Sermo often uses when talking about the benefits of the community. An ER doctor posted on Sermo about a patient who had a small saw goes through his thumb. If the surgeon were to move the saw one way, the serrated blade would further damage the finger. To move it the other way would mean extending the wound on one end.  Luckily, one of the doctors in the community had an answer: to slit a drinking straw down the middle and slide it in over the blade, then guide the saw out while protecting the finger from the teeth of the saw.

As seen in this example, the potential value of this type of social network is in the numbers – there is a greater pool of opinions, insights, and answers, which can lead to better-informed decisions and improved patient care. 

Plus, for today’s increasingly busy physicians, there is another advantage – namely, replacing (or complementing) the accustomed forms of networking that traditionally takes place at conferences and society events. This is critical, as we’ve seen in our recent research that many physicians are beginning to eschew offline conferences in favor of viewing conference proceedings online – and why not? They can view the content from the comfort of their living room. All they were missing were the lunchtime conversations with colleagues – and now that can happen just as easily online.

Finally, it is important to highlight the benefits of these sites to those not directly part of the medical community. Communities such as Medscape Physician Connect and Sermo both offer clients in finance, healthcare, or other interested parties the ability to monitor, and sometimes engage in, these discussions online for the purpose of gathering information about doctors’ experiences with various treatments. 

This improvement in information distribution has a number of potential benefits for society at large: if doctors are discussing a relatively unknown off-label use for a product, or a new side effect, or a clinical trial, interested agencies and companies now have the opportunity to be on the front lines, listening to this emerging wisdom. This information cycle used to take months, or even years. But now, these findings can be disseminated and put to use much faster.

It is critical that companies understand the value of these types of communities, as well as the profile of physicians who use them. In the coming years, it will become the norm for physicians to turn to these types of sites for counsel, or to discuss their own clinical findings. By the same token, though many companies are still skittish about monitoring user-generated content online, we will soon see a time when companies are thought to be irresponsible for being unaware of the content of these conversations – making it imperative that companies start to understand their role in these conversations now, before the conversation gets away from them.

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