A new Datamonitor survey has investigated Japanese physicians’ attitudes to the Internet.
Although to date, physician Internet use in Japan has lagged behind Europe and the US, the relative youth of the eHealth market in Japan means that it is not yet inundated with value-added sites, leaving greater chances of success in drawing physician attention with content and services.
Datamonitor’s new brief on the Japanese eHealth market reveals that enhanced convenience, provision of culturally relevant disease information and communication platforms are among the features most likely to draw interest among Japanese physicians, increasing their use of pharmaceutical-sponsored content and services online.
95% of the Japanese physicians surveyed said that enhanced convenience would be the major reason to increase their use of the Internet. Improved ability to find disease information (75%) and the ability to communicate with other physicians online (65%) were also popular reasons. Increasing the use of the Internet among Japanese physicians by meeting these needs is crucial to attract their attention and enhance brand awareness and loyalty, thus online services offered to physicians should emphasize enhancements in these areas.
At the same time, a growing number of Japanese patients are approaching their physicians with treatment-specific questions and requests for clarification of information derived from the Internet. This is creating an emerging need among physicians for improved management of patient education needs.
Only 10% of Japanese physicians currently refer their patients to websites. There are not nearly as many consumer-facing websites aimed at the Japanese population as there are for consumers and patients in the US. In addition, pharmaceutical companies face greater restrictions on marketing and providing drug information to consumers outside of the US.
However, pharmaceutical companies should still provide physicians with materials to be placed on their own websites and aid physicians in building practice websites. This will ensure physician recommendation of the sites and approval of the information on the sites, thereby strengthening brand loyalty with both physicians and consumers.
