Share:

1, July 2022

How Pharma Professionals Can Engage the Healthcare Sector in an Increasingly Digital World

Written by PeakPharma

These days, due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, there’s been a great shift in the way people work, including healthcare professionals. Many of the services offered by healthcare professionals have moved to the digital realm and the increasing popularity of telemedicine services has made it even easier than before to treat patients and get them the help they need, as well as to share prescriptions and vital health information.

But how has this shift affected pharmaceutical sales representatives? From the PEAK Pharma Solutions perspective, although the digital shift has changed the way pharma reps engage with their HCP audiences, it has also opened up new innovative doors for sales reps to conduct virtual events, especially in terms of planning, managing logistics, and efficient expense management for these virtual events.

Virtual Events Impacted

Currently, there are a wide variety of events available to healthcare professionals virtually, that require pharma reps to adapt such as virtual symposiums, advisory boards, medical conferences, as well as training programs, and cross-functional, internal meetings. Of course, this does not mean that certain in-person meetings will completely transition to virtual, it just means that there has been a focused shift to proactively design effective formats to engage with participants and facilitate valuable feedback in a virtual setting.

Ideal Virtual Platforms

For those considering moving their meetings, training solutions, and anything else online, it is important to choose the right virtual platform. There are several options and each one will have different benefits – at a minimum, one will need documentation and screen sharing, chat boxes, and of course, audio/video conferencing with breakout room flexibility. For example, some of the best online tools most conducive to virtual meetings include Zoom, Cisco WebEx, and Microsoft Teams.

There are certain types of software that allow attendees to access a collaborative environment while working at their own pace, like ExtendMed and MedThink. It also allows medical professionals to participate in a collaborative environment at their convenience during specific timeframes.

Pre-Meeting Planning

Planning for successful virtual events is critical to ensure the event is engaging, informative, and most importantly, efficient – since overextended on-line modules can be overwhelming and even distracting for your attendees. To achieve this goal, one must perform a test event or dress rehearsal to ensure everything runs smoothly. Event leaders need to feel comfortable without worrying about the technical functionality, so whether one is running the event on their own or has a production team available, it is critical to plan ahead.

Effective Audience Interaction

It is especially important when hosting virtual live events, to ensure that one obtains the most out of your audience. Some tips to increase audience engagement and interaction include:

• Employing tools that facilitate interaction such as quizzes, polls, surveys, and feedback
• Working from shared documents
• Using a whiteboard or other technology to collaborate in real-time
• Breaking up into smaller groups for a discussion period  

Contact us today for more pharma solutions!

For those needing flexible and strategic pharmaceutical solutions, the PEAK Pharma Solutions team offers expert advice and assistance, so contact us online today or call 1 (888) 226-0052.