Nurses and Physicians Assistants are Almost as Valued as Doctors to Consumers

by Michele Deutschman

Despite the fact that most adults get some healthcare information from a digital source, doctors still remain the most valued source of healthcare information to the majority of consumers, according to Kantar Media’s 2014 MARS Consumer Health Study.

In the last four years, the number of adults who value their doctor as a source of healthcare information has hardly budged. Similarly, most adults (55%) rate their relationship with their PCP as excellent or very good.

What has changed is that more adults place a higher value on nurses and physicians assistants as healthcare information sources. There has been a 9% increase in the percent of adults who value these information sources since 2011. Almost the same percent of adults that value NPs and PAs (64%) value doctors (72%).

Alternative and holistic medical practitioners are still not highly valued among most adults. Only 22% say they very much/somewhat value them as info sources. More adults (27%) actually value drug company or other health websites compared to these professionals.

How adults value pharmacists hasn’t shifted much in the last two years.

But the number of adults who value magazine articles as healthcare information sources has actually dropped 6% since 2011 and newspaper articles have dropped in value by about 13%. Whether that is because there are more sources for information than ever before due to the rise of the Internet and digital devices remains to be seen.

Using data from this study can help agencies and marketers understand ailment sufferers, treatment and how to best reach them. For more information about accessing full study results, contact us here.

Kantar Media’s MARS Consumer Health Study helps agencies, marketers and media make better healthcare media and marketing decisions. It ties multimedia consumption to medical ailments, pharma brands, attitudes and opinions about healthcare and many other data points. A large sample of about 20,000 respondents provides stable and reliable information across categories and brands. Gain insights into category and product usage for 500+ OTC and Rx remedies, detailed information for 70 health conditions, including treatment options and much more.