Doctors Most Likely to Refer to the Internet Regarding a Patient Condition after a Consult versus Before or During
Doctors consult Internet-based resources regarding a specific patient conditions immediately before a patient consult an average of 3.7 times per week, according to the Sources & Interactions Study, March 2014 – Medical/Surgical Edition. More than half (58%) of the physicians use the Internet before a patient consult at least once or twice per week.
Physicians are much less likely to consult the Internet during a patient consult. 29% say they never do. Of those that do, 16% said they do so at least once or twice weekly. On average, physicians say they consult the Internet during a patient consult an average of 2.8 times per week.
On the other hand, doctors do tend to consult the Internet more often after a consult. Doctors say they consult the Internet immediately after a patient consult about 4.5 times per week on average. About 27% say they do so once/twice weekly while 21% say they do less often. Very few respondents (4%) never use Internet-based resources immediately after a patient consult.
Trend data shows that mean weekly usages before, during and after a patient consult have remained steady year-over-year.
The Sources & Interactions™ Study is a detailed examination of doctors’ online and mobile activities, e-detailing experience, and exposure to (and evaluation of) information sources including traditional and emerging media, pharma reps, CME, convention and more. The study is conducted every six months and targets more than 3,000 physicians annually across 22 specialties, exploring their media preferences and habits. Sources & Interactions was designed to help marketers and their agencies cost-effectively allocate resources to their overall promotional mix, and provide publishers with specific insight about where their offerings fit into physicians (and other healthcare professionals’) information inventory.
If you need specialty-specific data, let us know. We study physician media behaviors and preferences annually across 22 specialties.
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