But when it comes to medicines, users prefer the human relationship
The situation in Italy
In Italy, with the legislative decree 219/2006 no medicinal product can be placed on the market in Italy without having obtained authorization from the Italian Medicines Agency or from another Community authority. Therefore, if there is careful and active legislation regarding medicines, how do we approach scientific information?
The UK case
In Great Britain there is a special register for online sales with an electronic medical prescription. But how far is this service useful? Numerous sites offer pharmacological solutionseven on serious diseases. And so the proliferation of "do-it-yourself medicine", together with the possibility of buying medicines online, impose a serious and in-depth monitoring and control activity.
At the beginning of the last decade, in England, the first pharmaceutical companies developed Health Care Professional "self-service" platforms, defined as “medical information websites”. The initial idea was to provide a fast and clear multi-channel path for accessing information. Providing medical-scientific information 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, with a simple click of the mouse, would have allowed many health professionals to speed up their activity by avoiding visits to thepharmaceutical representative.
The portals allowed "the customer", through the search page, to consult certain aspects of the drug. Users were required to register and confirm their role in the healthcare sector before accessing the site, in order to avoid inappropriate access to product content and features.
The reasons? Probably the new technologies did not help the website from which it could only be accessed through the desktop and not, for example, through a mobile platform such as a smartphone or i-pad. Furthermore, very detailed questions corresponded to a high percentage of "failed searches".
The needs are complex and often require very specific answers. "Personalised" explanations are required and a "standard document" is not enough. Much of the work ofmedical informant consisting of managing the expectations of healthcare professionals and providing useful information for a specific case, cannot be replaced by "standardized and automatic responders". A document with lots of data but no explanation is of little help to everyone. It is almost obvious that it is easier for an operator in the sector or a potential customer to pick up the phone or send an e-mail to the pharmaceutical manufacturer of that given drug to get adequate answers.
Medical information sites seem to find little appeal and users prefer a physical approach over a digital one. But more up-to-date technology (such as a medical information website with data from various companies) could be the next frontier.
Ed.: Ricordiamo che l’informazione scientifica sui farmaci da prescrizione può essere fatta solo agli operatori sanitari autorizzati a prescriverlo o a dispensarlo (art. 119, Legislative Decree 219/06) secondo le norme stabilite dalla legge, l’informazione presso i farmacisti dei medicinali vendibili dietro presentazione di ricetta medica è limitata alle informazioni contenute nel riassunto delle caratteristiche del medicinale. La limitazione non si applica ai farmacisti ospedalieri (art. 121).
L’informazione sui medicinali può essere fornita al medico e al farmacista dagli informatori scientifici (art. 122).
Ogni altro tipo d’informazione sui farmaci è fuori legge!
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