Multichannel: the essential European revolution

Boosting the digital component in Europe’s multichannel engagement strategy

The mature markets of the US, Japan and Europe are still at the heart of growth for companies with innovative and protected products.

But with constrained budgets for sales forces and specialist doctors as customers, marketers must leverage state-of-the-art technology and information management systems to deliver rich content and services to their clients.

We see Europe significantly lagging behind the US and Japan in terms of the volume share and relative impact of digital contacts with prescribers. While digital by no means encompasses all of multichannel, it’s impossible to imagine a mature multichannel model without digital.

Although overall, traditional doctor engagement, that is, existing channels such as face-to-face rep interaction, is maintained, if not elevated in the US and Japan, in Europe we see the number of minutes of traditional engagement fall by almost 20%, whereas digital interaction increases by just a tiny fraction. European doctors, in line with their colleagues elsewhere, have moved online, but they aren’t communicating with companies digitally as much as they could.

In terms of digital share and impact, just four countries out of the 12 we looked at in Europe have a share of digital activity which exceeds 10% of all volume activity: Poland, Belgium, the UK and France. Poland, in fact, has a marginally higher share of digital contacts than the US, and is Europe’s digital pioneer.

Binary comparisons of the impact of digital versus traditional channels of promotion aren’t the way to assess a campaign’s multichannel impact. Nevertheless, a very significant disparity in the impact on doctors’ intentions to prescribe a product using digital or traditional communications is a warning that the process is not optimally effective.

The implications of our findings in terms of boosting digital as a component of a multichannel strategy are important for two reasons:

1. Europe’s leading markets aren’t necessarily digital pioneers

Other, smaller markets might be better markets to prove concepts, test approaches and build the case for a wider investment in digital.

2. The reasons for being a digital pioneer are complex

A combination of doctors’ trust in digital channels, and a willingness of companies to expand their breadth of channel use is crucial.

Multichannel marketing can work very effectively in Europe, if the right circumstances are complemented with the right approach. There are three key success factors:

1. Successful integration

The first step in successful multichannel is to discard the notion that it is about measuring the success of traditional channels versus digital. Rather, there must be a critical mass of use of alternative channels, with a focus on the effectiveness of the overall integrated multichannel approach.

2. Reps must engage with the digital journey

Sales forces can see digital as a threat – a potential substitute for their activities. We found that many successful multichannel programmes engaged the reps in the roll-out of digital. These reps could see that digital channels could be used to broaden and extend their relationships with their doctors.

3. Content is king

Doctors are just like anyone else in the digital world – they will seek content that interests and is useful to them. If digital communications fail to provide that, or sell too overtly, they will be a turn-off, and without digital engagement, there’s no multichannel. Marketing departments, therefore, have to respond to a multichannel environment by upping their game. Digital provides a highly effective feedback loop on the content doctors value and use. This should be studied intensively.

Multichannel, and a true expression of orchestrated customer engagement, has a long way to go to reach maturity across Europe. However, the example of pioneer companies shows that careful choices and introductions of digital and multichannel initiatives can generate measurable impact and push customer engagement to a new level. Europe will emerge from this particular revolution with a transformed commercial model.

Source PMLive http://www.pmlive.com/pharma_thought_leadership/multichannel_the_essential_european_revolution_1089529

Multichannel: the essential European revolution

Nurse-led technology helps to improve patient experience and outcomes

Hospitals in Manchester are using nurse-led technology to identify sepsis and other life-threatening conditions.

 Catherine Jourey (left) and Sarah Ingleby use nurse-led technology daily. Picture: Neil O’Connor

Sarah Ingleby, lead nurse for the acute care and hospital at night teams at Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (CMFT), says the Patientrack electronic system has helped staff identify, manage and treat sepsis.

‘When a child comes in, you think ‘sepsis’ and then move on to other things. We need to think ‘sepsis’ every time. With this system, combined with clinical observations, it is less likely to slip through the net.’

Avoidable deaths

In the UK there are as many as 200,000 cases of sepsis, resulting in up to 60,000 deaths each year *. According to health secretary Jeremy Hunt, about 12,000 of these deaths may be avoidable.

In 2000, CMFT implemented early warning scores (EWS) to identify deteriorating patients. However, it was found that staff sometimes lacked the confidence to manage very sick patients and senior staff were not always alerted to deteriorating patients as quickly as they should have been.

‘There were different reasons why people were reluctant to escalate, such as “I think I’ve done everything I can” or “I want to escalate, but I don’t want to bother the doctor”,’ says Ms Ingleby.

Handheld devices

The trust introduced Patientrack in 2009, having considered many other systems. So how does it work in practice?

‘The observations are entered at the bedside using a handheld device,’ says Ms Ingleby. ‘If someone is a bit poorly, it bleeps the nurse in charge. If they get sicker it bleeps the junior doctor, if they become very sick it bleeps the senior doctor and critical care.

‘Therefore the nurse never has to leave a deteriorating patient to chase round looking for a doctor. She knows that the doctor will respond.’

Nurse training

Ms Ingleby is keen to stress that clinical judgement is also essential. ‘We cannot rely on electronic systems 100%. They are only one part of an overall approach.

‘You also need to make sure that staff have the correct level of expertise and critical care skills. That is why in every ward I have a nurse who has been on an acute illness management course.’

Nurses need to do more than simply respond to a bleep. ‘You have to be taught how to manage a person who may not trigger the EWS,’ she says. ‘For example, they may be on beta blockers so their heart rate might not be so fast even though they are dehydrated.’

Staff engagement

Several other trusts have installed the system. NHS Fife was the first health board in Scotland to introduce Patientrack at the Victoria Hospital, Kirkcaldy. And in March, cardiac arrests had fallen by two thirds after only 6 months of using the technology. It is also being hailed as a great success at Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust.

Patientrack has now been embedded in all inpatient areas in 55 wards in adult and children’s hospitals across Manchester.

‘Engagement of staff was key to getting this right but they were convinced very quickly,’ says Ms Ingleby. ‘It was the alerts and the fact that doctors are central to the system that got people on board.’

Over time the company has worked with staff to develop Patientrack’s use for a number of different assessments that have come from the wards.

Robust reporting system

The system is also popular with patients who like the fact that staff are automatically alerted when they are ill.

Ms Ingleby says there are other benefits. ‘There is a screen on every ward where you can see who has triggered an alert,’ she says. ‘If I come on night duty, I can go to a patient and say “I see you have been feeling poorly”. Also, critical care can send a patient to the ward and then keep an eye on the screen to see if the patient has got a bit sicker.’

She says all this is backed up with a robust reporting system. ‘I can see on the screen if someone has not responded. Response rates are reviewed each week and staff are held accountable.’

Data collection

Since Patientrack was introduced, the trust has seen a 50% reduction in cardiac arrests, reduced critical care length of stay and reduced risk of mortality for out of hours’ admissions. The length of stay for patients with sepsis has reduced by more than 50% and morbidity in emergency departments as a result of sepsis has also reduced.

Data are also being collected from several thousand observations on a daily basis, which means that CMFT can see how different wards are responding to patient needs and all sets of patients’ observations are maintained for the duration of their stay.

Ms Ingleby says: ‘6 months ago we reviewed our mortality over the 7-day week. There was no difference between weekdays and weekends, and we believe this is due to the fact that we now have systems working 24/7 to pull nurses and doctors to patients’ bedsides whenever they are needed.’

Ms Ingleby says she has no doubt that electronic observations will be introduced nationwide in the near future.

Bedside observations still vital

‘We have made such a big difference to the patient experience and to patient outcomes, you could never take it away. And when you speak to nurses, feedback is always “We love it. We know that patients are safer because they are always responded to quickly”.’

Ms Ingleby, however, does not think that nurses are going to be replaced by machines any time soon. ‘There has been some talk about automatically uploading blood pressure results, but I am not in favour of this,’ she says.

‘We should be at the bedside with our patients to check their pulse rate, to see if their skin is clammy. When you are doing clinical observations the hands-on bit is important so that you hold on to that level of understanding about your patients.’

* According to the National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD) published in November 2015.

Patientrack

 

UK Sepsis Trust’s six most common signs

1. Slurred speech or confusion


2. Extreme shivering or muscle pain


3. Passing no urine (in a day)


4. Severe breathlessness


5. Patients saying: ‘I feel like I might die’


6. Skin mottled or discoloured

Source Nursing Standard https://rcni.com/nursing-standard/features/nurse-led-technology-helps-improve-patient-experience-and-outcomes-61361

Nurse-led technology helps to improve patient experience and outcomes

Microsoft-backed doctors network expands in Europe

Among Doctors officially launches in the UK and Spain

Online networking and collaboration network Among Doctors has launched in the UK and Spain.

The Athens-based online physician community is supported by the Microsoft Innovation Center and aims to connect doctors with colleagues across the globe.

Now officially launched, the Greek company says it started signing up UK doctors in January and says more than 10% of its users currently come from Britain.

Among Doctors’ difference from many of the online physician communities currently online is that it intends to remain independent from the pharmaceutical industry.

No part of the site will be sponsored, or observed by sponsors, the company notes, adding “no students, pharma, nurses or patients are allowed on the platform”. However, for doctors, access to the site is free.

Among Doctors has been live in public beta since November 2015 and already counts its first hundreds of doctors from over 38 countries, mostly in Europe, and 42 medical specialties.

The firm is funded with seed capital by angel investors. In April 2014, Among Doctors was awarded the 3rd prize at the Investors Pitch Showcase Contest by MIT Enterprise Forum of Greece.

Elena Barla, co-founder and CEO, said: “Doctors are increasingly interested in using social media for professional purposes, in order to network, share knowledge and get in touch with the international medical community.

“Knowledge should be shared across countries and economies, especially when it comes to saving lives. Among Doctors provides a global exclusive network of reliable, well-screened and quality profile licensed physicians, helping them exchange views and advice, as well as build their global referral base and network in a reliable and meaningful way.”

The online physician market has is becoming increasingly busy of late. In the last year Merck & Co reorganised its Univadis healthcare professional communities, Sermo continued its European expansion, Medscape opened doors on its first London office and new mobile-first community MedShr launched.

Source PMLive http://www.pmlive.com/blogs/digital_intelligence/archive/2016/july/microsoft-backed_doctors_network_expands_in_europe_1080731

Microsoft-backed doctors network expands in Europe