Sources & Interactions Study, March 2014: Medical/Surgical Edition

by Client Services

Kantar Media’s Sources & Interactions™ Studies offer a detailed examination of healthcare professionals’ online and mobile activities, e-detailing experience, and exposure to (and evaluation of) information sources including traditional and emerging media, pharma reps, CME, conventions and more.

The Medical/Surgical edition, conducted every six months, reports on the media preferences and habits of more than 3,000 physicians across 22 specialties; annual studies provide similar perspective on Pharmacy, NP/PA, Eyecare, Dental, Radiology, Managed Care, and Hospital C-Suite audiences. 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.

What insights are available?

• Sources of Information - Importance & Frequency of Exposure
• Tools used for various tasks
• Frequency of Internet access
• Time spent using the Internet for professional purposes
• Degree of professional smartphone and tablet usage
• Implementation of EHR/EMR systems

How is data collected?
The data in this report are comprised of two six month data collection periods. The most recent six month cycle of data were gathered via mail questionnaires between October 2013 and January 2014 as well as an online survey in January 2014. A portion of the sample received an original mailing in October and a follow-up in December, while the other portion of the sample received an email invitation to an online survey in January.

What's new in March 2014?

This report includes two waves of data (May 2013–August 2013 and October 2013–January 2014) for increased data stability.

We added new questions around the use of EHR/EMR (Electronic Health/Medical Record) Systems, specifically how much progress has been made by the physician’s practice in implementing an EHR/EMR System and what members of the physician’s practice access the EHR/EMR System. We also added two new sources of information to the study: Videos: Instructional and Videos: Promotional; and are reporting Prescribing and Patient Record Forms with more detail, breaking out paper and digital formats for the first time.

Supplemental data on tablet/smartphone usage — due to the rapid adoption of mobile technologies by physicians, this edition of the report includes a "bonus" set of tables representing current-wave-only data on these emerging technologies.

For more information on how to get full access to the study, contact us.