The growing online presence of clinicians, coupled with their heightened demands for real-time consultation and evidence, are changing the evidence dissemination paradigm from the traditional one-way push of information to a real-time circulation of knowledge.
Online clinician communities for medical information sharing – both open social media channels (e.g., Twitter, LinkedIn) and physician-only digital platforms (e.g., Doximity, Sermo, epocrates, Figure 1) – have evolved to become top destinations for clinicians to discuss clinical evidence, network with their peers, and extend their own reach and “influence” within the health care community.
Clinicians are becoming more comfortable seeking and reviewing clinical information (including, but not limited to, peer-reviewed journal articles) and anecdotes online – especially as their traditional information access from pharma representatives, conferences, and traditional channels have been restricted due to Covid-19. Further, the pandemic spurred questions about drugs, vaccines, and conditions faster than researchers could generate evidence, so clinicians relied on crowdsourced answers from experts all over the globe. While the digitization of medical information has existed for years, Covid-19 and the acceleration of online information exchange have made medical consensus-building more transparent and accessible than ever.
As HCPs are increasingly debating evidence studies and engaging in rich discussions with their peers online, those conversations are directly informing treatment selection and care decisions -- becoming part of a dynamic body of evidence in the process. This is creating fundamental shifts the evidence communication paradigm, moving it from one traditionally focused on evidence dissemination to one focused on the circulation of evidence at unprecedented scale. As a result, evidence dissemination is no longer a static, one-way street from life sciences organizations to HCPs.
Implications for life sciences leaders
Changes to the evidence generation and dissemination paradigm will require many life sciences leaders to re-think their traditional medical information dissemination strategies – including publications, conference presentations, use of key opinion leaders (KOLs), and use of MSLs. No longer is evidence dissemination a static, one-way activity – and life sciences leaders need to understand and capitalize on the discussions surrounding their studies, and the subsequent consequences these discussions have on how clinicians practice medicine.
As interest in online clinician communities grows, life science leaders must recognize that such discussions can create new opportunities for real-world evidence generation and insight about unmet medical needs, physicians’ clinical decision-making processes, and gaps in research/clinical evidence. For example, online debates can provide insight into physicians’ perceptions of standards of care and treatment options, how clinicians decide what medical products to use, and how the current evidence base (or lack thereof) informs actual treatment decisions.
However, life science leaders must also prepare for the unintended ripple effects these platforms create. With Covid-19 accelerating the pace of evidence generation, researchers and HCPs are now demanding new data and evidence at an unprecedented pace. Whether life science leaders can keep up with these heightened demands, or will need to temper their customers’ expectations, remains to be determined.
Further, the rapid pace and proliferation evidence discussion means that conversations are happening outside of life science leaders’ control – making medical misinformation or disinformation more likely to arise. As clinicians typically congregate online by specialty or background, some clinicians may start to resist changing their perspective or opinions as online “echo chambers” of discussion can amplify preexisting biases or opinions. To adapt, life sciences leaders need to not only actively monitor these communities and the influential voices on them, but also understand how discussions impact product use, perceptions, and decisions.
Questions to consider
- How are clinicians engaging with your evidence in online clinician communities? Where are discussions about your company’s products or therapeutic areas happening?
- What opportunities exist to use data mining and social listening to generate real-world evidence in online clinician communities?
- How can you use conversations from online clinician communities to better understand HCPs’ uses and perceptions of your products as well as current evidence needs?