Having conducted international research audits, interviews and field research with physicians over the past few years, I’ve noticed 5 commonalities of the physicians’ experience that seem to transcend physical and cultural boundaries. Understanding and appreciating these common themes can provide those desiring to do business with physicians with a foundation for further cultivating their knowledge of physicians and for developing a successful relationship with them.

1. Physicians seem to have a perpetual time deficit – while the reasons may differ – in the US a physician may be spending significant time finding a medication that is on his/her patient’s insurance formulary while a Spanish physician may be spending that time understanding local regulations – a common thread across regions is that physicians are being tasked with increasing responsibilities, more patients and yet there are still only 24 hours in the day. Physicians need tools and resources that help them work quickly and efficiently.
2. Medical school is not business school; practice management can be a struggle – for physicians who are intimately involved with the operations of their facility, practice management is a critical responsibility for which many feel unprepared. This is as true in parts of Europe and Asia as it is in the US. Physicians need advice, tools and resources to help them manage this aspect of their careers.
3. Physicians everywhere are worried about bureaucracy and legal troubles – malpractice and following regulations are concerns for all physicians. They constantly need to be on top of regulations, protocols and best practices so as to avoid legal or administrative issues. In an ever-changing medical and healthcare environment this can be a challenge. Physicians often feel very vulnerable with regard to these issues and value advice from trusted peers and experts.
4. Patient adherence remains a top concern – the challenge to get patients to adhere to treatment regimens is universal. Whether it is because the patient feels he or she knows better than the physician, or the patient has a misperception about treatment, or that simple absentmindedness leads to non-compliance, adherence is a major challenge and physicians take it very seriously. There is a multitude of patient education and compliance-related resources available. Physicians want efficient ways to point their patients toward the most effective information and tools.
5. Physicians are people too, and want to feel respected as physicians – physicians get the most satisfaction from their work when they are working with their patients, taking the time to understand their needs, and seeing them succeed through improved health and wellbeing – not when being marketed to or working out from under a pile of paperwork. Physicians have expressed that when they do not feel their patients appreciate their expertise, their time is undervalued, or when they are distracted by interruptions or burdened with administrative tasks, they do not feel respected and do not find their profession satisfying.  

The above form a preliminary understanding of the physician experience across the globe, but keep in mind there are also notable differences between physician experiences in different countries, shaped by local healthcare structure and medical regulation, culture, and the availability of technologies. Even within a single country there can be distinct nuances depending on the type of physician, the working environment such as hospital vs. private practice, and the region. For example physicians in the more rural regions of Italy have expressed feeling isolated as part of their jobs due to limited direct exposure to their peers, a distinct aspect of the rural Italian physician experience that shapes their dependence on online methods of peer communication. So what should companies be thinking about when developing new research initiatives involving physicians so as to ensure new research provides targeted insight and real value? Three things come immediately to mind.

 a)     Optimize what you know – use research dollars and time first to validate and then to probe further: Take advantage of findings like those outlined above and use new research as an opportunity to validate relevant findings in the context of your company’s specific challenge(s) in order to build on what is known. 

b)     Identify what you don’t know – fill in the knowledge gaps:  For example, some companies  have a deep understanding of physician online behaviors (which sites they go to, for which types of information, for how long, etc.) but may not have an equally robust understanding of what  motivates those behaviors, i.e. the “why” behind the physicians’ search for  online information. Many companies lack a thorough understanding of unmet physician needs, the physician’s physical environment, and the impact of influencers such as nurses and other office and hospital staff on physicians’ decisions. The key is to identify unanswered questions and prioritize the areas that will help ensure the success of the physician-vendor interaction.  

c)      Align and make research actionable – research with the company’s and the physician’s businesses in mind:  When forming key questions, think about what will be done with the answers to help better serve the physician. Start by mapping the company’s business goals to the known needs of the physician. With that alignment in place, clearly articulate the desired outcome of the research. Is the goal to identify a new business opportunity? To affirm or rebut existing concepts so changes can be made before proceeding? Thinking about the desired outcome helps ensure that research findings lead directly to specific actions that advance the company’s business goals and align with the physicians’ goals.

Effectively planned and executed physician research that leverages what is already known and focuses on the evolving challenges these professionals face benefits both the company and the physician. Keeping these tips in mind when conducting research drives toward a rich, holistic understanding of the physicians’ experience  and better positions the company to play a meaningful role in that experience.

But I’ve gotten ahead myself.  This has been a long time coming. The last 10 years have certainly heralded our arrival.  Starting in 2000 with a butterfly ballot design that was the cornerstone of a disputed election, “usability” was bandied about in the public lexicon.  The years that followed were nothing short of revolutionary: a smorgasbord of digital media, online commerce, immersive gaming, mobile madness and social networking; all of which contributed to the radical and permanent change in the way most of us live and communicate.

Seismic shifts in our behavior, spread across a diverse global audience, have by natural extension brought the tenets of user-centered Experience Design as a strategic imperative to a growing number of companies ranging from LEGO to Ford to Merck.  Even at C-level, the role of Chief Experience Officer is far less exotic than it was just 5 year ago.  And as a portentous bookend to this first decade of the millennium, US News and World Report declared “User Experience Specialist” as one of the 30 Best Careers of 2009. Defining the evolution of this industry in a paragraph will never do it justice; suffice it to say it’s been a fun, exciting and enlightening ride thus far.

So, what makes me say that 2010 is so special?  We’re just two weeks into January and I’m seeing TV – yes, the 800 pound one-way push media gorilla - speaking to the same interactive XD principles I’ve been talking to clients about all these years.  Things like know your audience and undertand the broader context of the experience you’re designing.

The first example: a Domino’s Pizza commercial where they revealed … get this…customers think their pizza tastes terrible.  Their commercial hits you straight between the eyes, directly referencing customer feedback as the key to driving them to change. Executives hang their heads in shame watching focus group sessions where regular folks make acidic comments about how awful Domino’s had become.  And you can see it all, and the resulting “new” media buzz on the website they created to allow other media outlets’ and the general public’s commentary to continue.  Call it standard market research and a smart cross-channel marketing campaign if you want, but Domino’s didn’t just say “Check out Domino’s new spicier recipe.”  They let their customers do the talking…and they listened.

The second example is way more compelling.  About 10 minutes after seeing the Domino’s commercial, I was watching 60 Minutes.  The first story was Steve Kroft’s look into the multi-billion dollar Mexican border security project for the Department of Homeland Security.  Three years ago, Boeing won a project to implement a high-tech, virtual fence solution.  It involves towers, video imaging technology, field support laptops, and monitoring stations in a monumental three year effort.  The 2000 mile system was to be completed this month, but to date only 28 miles is complete, and that is still considered a prototype.  A typical 60 minutes expose, but what struck me was the punch line: the core reason cited for the failure of this project was squarely put to the lack of border patrol personnel involvement in the design.

To quote Mr. Kroft, “The biggest problem, and you might find this hard to fathom, was that no one at the Department of Homeland Security or the engineers at Boeing bothered to ask the people who would actually be using the surveillance system what they wanted, or how they wanted the system to work.”

I admit I was practically screaming at the screen when the new project director admitted, “We didn’t iterate with them…we didn’t do that and it should have happened.”  Steve Kroft saying, “That’s a pretty big mistake.”  And the director saying, “It’s a huge mistake!”

Later Kroft says, “Isn’t that one of the first things you ask?  What does the customer think?  What does the client want?” And the government auditor answers, “Well, you would think so.”

To illustrate one problem, Kroft shows a ranger in the field with a laptop installed in his SUV.  “If anyone had asked the agents, they would have learned that laptops are hard to operate bounding through the desert, and the dust would prove inhospitable to the equipment, and that the agents would be unable to get a signal over vast stretches of the desolate region.” Amazing -  Check out the story here. If you don’t have time to watch the whole segment, skip to minutes 8 through 10 of the archived show (after you watch the mandatory commercials, of course).

For those of you on large enterprise initiatives where your advocacy for iterative involvement of the people who will be interacting with your systems is still seen as a ‘nice to have’, I suggest you send this link to whoever owns the launch of your product, service or application.  When venerated TV journalists can speak the way we speak, encapsulating the core of what we do, calling out those responsible in such an elegantly public way, you can’t help but feel something good is coming.

NBC had a slogan to describe a solid lineup of shows: Must See TV.  I welcome the coming decade where more and more companies will introduce products, services and applications designed using methods that seek to create the best possible experiences for the people that will use them.  I call it “Must See XD” - Bring it on.