Just a quick search on my iPhone App Store for ‘apps for
doctors’ brings up 2,197 results. Even if I was a doctor, wanting to get into
digital, I really wouldn’t know where to start.
Luckily, several people have done the work for the doctors by
summarising the best Apps for HCPs. One of the first things you learn, is that
whilst there are a lot of general apps, the rate of development for more
specialised roles is also just as astounding.
For example;
With downloads over 700,000 and an average of 3.5 star
rating, MedCal is one of the most prolific reference apps for HCPs. It provides
doctors with easy access to about 300 medical formulas, scores scales and
classifications. We non-medical professionals have this opinion that doctor’s
brains are like supercomputers and can hold an infinite amount of information.
But I’m sure they struggle. Which is why an app with this large and relevant
resource database comes in handy and is applicable to a large proportion of
their daily practice.
Again, if you’re a busy doctor working in a clinic seeing
perhaps 100 patients a day, it might be difficult to remember to eat your
lunch, let alone learn about any new upcoming trials. Which is why the “ACS
Trials” app is also pertinent to a doctor’s practice to convey important
information in a concise and mobile way. Cardiologists can be quickly alerted
through push notifications to a new trial and read on the go in-between patient
appointments or procedures. Thus, maximising the use of their very limited
time.
One more example that I have to mention is actually sponsored
by a pharmaceutical company. Sanofi are one of the top names in the diabetes
arena with their digital work, especially on Twitter talking to diabetes
patients and providing them with valuable therapy information. So it’s no
surprise their name comes up in the app store. Sanofi have also thought hard
about the implications of Cardiologist’s limited time and invented an ‘AFib
Educator’ app to support their customers (they have several products in this
therapy area, for example, Multaq).
Perhaps my favourite app though, is one that challenges my
assumptions about how technology can be integrated into certain professional settings.
‘EMS Tracker’ is an app for paramedics to record key events as they are
transporting a patient to the hospital. Whilst I love the idea of an app that
stores vital information such as dose of drug administered, symptoms at first
point of contact, and then email it to the treating physician, avoiding any
potential mishaps, the idea that a paramedic can be updating an app in an
emergency setting does make me a little sceptical of how far we are willing to
go in the digital takeover.
Why is this of interest to our clients in the pharmaceutical
industry?
Well, quality over quantity should be highlighted here. There
can be thousands of apps available, as we have seen, but if they don’t meet a
need for the doctors, they won’t get used. It’s as simple as that.
It’s what you can easily learn from a benefit laddering
exercise that we use in our market research interviews to uncover the most
valuable product insights for our clients.
We ask:
1. What is
unique about the app? What features does it have that differentiate it from the
hundred other apps available? Does it provide access to medical resources that
other apps don’t? Does it give more accurate heart rate readings versus other
monitoring apps? These are questions that pharma should be understanding before
they commission the creation of their app.
2. What
functional benefits does the app provide? Does it reduce the time a
cardiologist spends scrolling through volumes and volumes of papers on Acute
Coronary Syndrome? Or does it provide a cost saving, replacing more expensive
diagnostic tools? Does it decrease the amount of resource needed to perform a
certain procedure?
3. Last but
most definitely not least, what emotional benefits does the app represent? Does
it give the doctor that sense of satisfaction when he has accurately diagnosed
a patient and the patients themselves are grateful for the relief?
Therefore, the need to conduct market research into what the
unmet needs are and how a product might best meet those needs is essential for
pharma looking to develop an app to support HCPs. You might also be reading
this and thinking – that’s exactly the strategy we use offline!!
And you’d be right of course. Just because it’s digital
doesn’t mean we should abandon the basics of marketing. Although, I suppose if
we ever do forget the basics of marketing, I’m sure there will be an app
available to download…
Thanks for reading!
Written by Sofia Fionda; Research Executive
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