Physicians online usage varies by specialty, not by age
Nearly all physicians use the internet (99% as for the survey data compiled this year by Manhattan Research), but there are differences in the types of online activities various specialists undertake.
For example, according to Manhattan Research’s Meredith Ressi, Psychiatrists seem to be more active in social media, while Primary Care Physicians seek information to help educate their patients. Overall, Medical Oncologists and Emergency Medicine Physicians are the most advanced in their digital media use.
Regarding watching online video, about a third of all physicians accessed professional video of some type. Surgeons - including Obstetricians and Gynecologists - tend to watch online video on surgery procedures more frequently, to improve their techniques.
User-generated videos are also popular. In September 2010, there were 5,000 live surgeries available on YouTube!
European Physician Adoption of Advanced Mobile Activities continues to increase
About 50% of online European Physicians check email on their mobile devices. Nearly four in ten search on a mobile web browser. These data come from the last Manhattan Research study “Navigating the European eHealth Landscape”.
When it comes to mobile activities for medical content, Physicians are currently more likely to conduct straightforward advanced tasks, such as reading medical news or checking treatment guidelines.
As physicians' mobile proficiency continues to increase and as browsing capabilities improve, physicians will begin to perform more complex, interactive activities on these devices, such as social networking and patient monitoring.
Physicians and medical IPhone application
Applications are an important and growing part of physicians’ mobile access routines. The SDI study found that 95% of those who used handheld mobile devices downloaded applications to access medical information.
The study “The Word of Health and Medical Apps”, from MobiHealth News, found that the top medical reference applications were student study guides (19%), clinical consult apps (10%), Anatomy (7%) and drug references (7%).
Pharmaceutical Brands and Seo
According to the L2 Digital Q Index Pharma, a study ranking the digital competence of pharmaceutical brands, search engines are the primary tool consumers use to seek health information online, and research remains a digital priority for most pharmaceutical brands.
Brands strive for search engine visibility, not only for consumers seeking specific drug information, but also for those learning about a condition. Generating awareness among upper-funnel consumers helps brands in acquiring diagnosed but untreated patients.
Research found that consumers who visit a brand’s site are three times more likely to request a drug by name, and 44% of physicians prescribe the requested drug.
Weak search engine optimization by pharmaceutical brands allows health portals to dominate in organic search visibility for every disease state.
Quick Stats:
- 70% of brands engage in paid searches on Google or Bing
- 62% of brands engage in branded paid searches on Google or Bing
- Google Page Rank average for branded pharmaceutical sites is 4.75
- Pharmaceutical sites have an average of 91 inbound links
Insight from the Publicis Healthware WebMonitor
3,88 is the number of page views per visit on health related websites in September 2010.
