GPs May Not be Influenced by Ads in Clinical Software

The study by Professor Graeme Miller, Ms Joan Henderson and their co-authors from the Family Medicine Research Centre at The University of Sydney assessed the effects of advertisements embedded in clinical software.

These advertisements included full screen images and 'strip messages' with or without animation.

The authors found that these forms of advertising had no apparent impact on prescribing, and may even reduce prescribing of advertised products.

"This does not exclude the possibility that such advertisements increase prescribing marginally but sufficiently to provide a competitive return on investment," Prof Miller says.

"We invite both the pharmaceutical industry and Government organisations to publish their own evaluation data that may contradict our findings."

In a related editorial for the Journal, Dr Peter Mansfield, a lecturer in general practice at The University of Adelaide, says advertisements in clinical software could become more effective in a few years when doctors have become used to them.

"Doctors are habituated to journal advertisements, but may give advertisements delivered through a new channel more attention and thus more scrutiny, rendering them less effective," Dr Mansfield says.

"Some doctors may react against advertisements they don't like. When patients also see an advertisement on the computer screen, the doctor may choose an unadvertised drug to avoid having it appear that the decision was biased."

The Medical Journal of Australia is a publication of the Australian Medical Association.

The original articles can be viewed online after the embargo date at www.mja.com.au