What information do HCPs need from Pharma’s Medical Information teams?

Datapharm welcomed Medical Information and Regulatory experts for a dive into HCPs’ search behaviours when looking for information on medicines outside of, or around the fringes of, the SmPC.

Since February 2023, this information has been made accessible via emc’s SRD (Scientific Response Document) service. HCPs have been making use of the service to answer their questions which might otherwise be directed towards the Medical Information team over the phone.

How HCPs are seeking medical content

In the kind of digital world where there are so many touchpoints, it's arguably never been more important to really understand how HCPs are looking for information and where they are flocking to.

Research gathered on HCPs has revealed that the vast majority (79%) of HCPs use search engines such as Google for discovering scientific content, and prefer to consume content in their own time, on-demand. 82% of HCPs also consider global, independent, general medical websites as either critical or very important as sources of scientific content.

Reaching HCPs 'out of Med Info working hours' 

The analysis of HCPs' SRD searches on emc covered February 2023 until October 2024. The sample initially covers 20 products from 4 companies but increased to 108 products from 7 companies as the Pharma adoption of the service increased.

Analytics gathered from searches on emc show that Wednesday is the busiest day for searches made. However, the most interesting insight on search hours is that 28% of them occur outside of standard working hours (Monday-Friday, 9-5), evidencing the need to reach HCPs 24/7. 

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Search categories - what were the themes?

Analysis on the search terms typed in by HCPs revealed the top five search categories, which accounted for over 60% of all searches:

• Storage & Stability
• Undesirable Effects
• Method of Administration
• Dosing
• Special Populations

Conversely, when looking at HCPs' engagement with the SmPC, Storage & Stability was at the other end of the scale, with just 7% of Quicklink clicks on this heading of the SmPC.

But it's critical for Medical Information teams to understand whether their SRDs are able to answer these questions. While 59% of searches provided at least one result, the success of this varied between categories. An analysis showed that for searches around Storage & Stability, 61% of these returned a result, while for 'Undesirable Effects', less than 30% gave a result.

This insight gives an idea about the opportunities that Pharma companies have to work on their content, so that they can increase the rate of successful searches. 

Best practice tips: what can Medical Information do to increase success?

Wrapping up this insightful analysis, our experts presented some valuable guidance on how to engage with HCPs through SRDs:

Search success directly correlates with the number of SRDs provided

Companies that provided more SRDs, tended to have more success in bringing up a result through an HCP's search.

Smaller, specific answers are more optimal

As HCPs are often looking at specific information, consider building SRD provision into multiple smaller documents.   

When adding keywords to SRDs as metadata, consider the following:

• Medical abbreviations - what terms might someone use to identify a medical problem or theme on medicine information
• Alternate phrases for the same thing (e.g. cardiac arrest and heart attack)
• Word stemming - grammatical variations of a word (e.g. dose, dosage and dosing)
• Common mispelling or regional differences such as US vs UK English.

Proactively monitor and improve 

After going live with your online SRDs, make sure you proactively monitor the search logs and look at how to improve, add or adjust your materials accordingly. 

Companies that took a more structured approach while meeting regularly with internal teams to discuss topics achieved better results.

Online search behaviour differs to verbal or written requests

It was found that the majority of searches by HCPs were single search words (for example, 'storage', rather than 'can I store this medicine outside of the fridge for 24 hours?'). In one sense, this might be expected as in such a time-stretched profession, the speed of response is undoubtedly a vital factor in using the service effectively. 

Don't limit your answers to topics outside of the SmPC

You could assume that your SRDs should include topics which aren't covered within the SmPC, however most searches are looking for deeper information on topics covered in the SmPC.

Awareness is key

We've seen that HCPs are using the SRD search service successfully, but it's really important to educate both HCPs and Pharma companies on the availability of this valuable resource. And the more adoption of the service we see, the more we can do to improve healthcare outcomes.

Want to engage with HCPs by providing SRDs 24/7?

HCPs are time-poor and it's vital to ensure they have access to the latest information on medicines via their go-to channels.

If you would like to speak to us about making your SRDs available on emc, get in touch with our team today.

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