How satisfied are you with the quality of meetings your practice has with life science reps? With everything facing a modern medical practice, the last thing physicians have time to deal with are ineffective rep meetings. Decision Resources Group recently found that 54% of medical practices restrict access to life science reps, siting ineffective meetings and administrative burden. However, the study also found that 74% of those same physicians want to meet with more life science reps. Why? Because of the incredibly useful information reps deliver regarding product updates, peer opinion research, clinical guidance, and more.
So, how can practices work to close this unintended education gap? After all, given the increasing rate of innovations in the field, ongoing education is more critical than ever. We’ve examined a few trends that practice managers are using to keep their physicians and staff on top of clinical updates by leveraging life science reps and resources.
1. Less focus on products.
63% of physicians agree that in-person meetings with life science reps are most valuable when resources other than products are discussed, according to a recent study. This could mean helping physicians determine whether a product is well-suited for a particular patient, signing up patients for clinical trials, discussing recent research, answering questions about a recently-published medical journal article, and more. Use of computer tablets during these meetings also drives physician satisfaction, the study found.
2. More patient educational materials.
Because of consumer marketing and advertising, patients often come to appointments full of questions. Specifically, patients want to know more about medications and side effects. Oftentimes, this is due to the confusing nature of these ads and the exhaustive nature of side effect listing. When asked about these ads, a cardiologist with 21 years of experience stated, “Most of the medications are important and necessary; the side effects info is mostly confusing and inappropriate.”
While these ads are under strict legal scrutiny, physicians can look to life science reps to provide more educational materials for their patients. In fact, 31% of physicians agreed that additional patient education can combat some of the confusion, according to a recent survey. Asking reps to provide these materials and other patient-centric resources, such as online patient awareness and drug education programs, will provide a huge benefit to your practice and patients.
3. Require topics in advance of meetings.
When surveyed, physicians reported that 51% of the time, sales reps present redundant information. Medical oncologists who see reps reported redundancy in 68% of their meetings, and dermatologists came in at 62%.
Redundancy is a busy physician’s biggest nemesis. After all, the value of rep meetings comes from the new information they are able to provide about medications, protocols, devices, and clinical trials. In order to combat redundancy, many practices are requiring reps to submit topics in advance of meetings. This ensures that the meeting will be productive, and allows reps time to prepare for the meeting by gathering new research data or setting up devices for staff to test out.
Thinking ‘beyond the pill’ to engage physicians with new and useful information will help reps maintain positive relationships with physicians. When physicians and reps have quality interactions, patients are the ones who benefit most from cutting-edge treatments and technologies.
Talk one-on-one with an RxVantage expert
Our team is standing by to answer your questions
