State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macao, China.
School of Pharmacy, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
J Med Internet Res. 2023 Nov 17;25:e43812. doi: 10.2196/43812.
Social media has become one of the primary information sources for medical professionals and patients. Pharmaceutical companies are committed to using various social media platforms to provide stakeholders with digital medical information services (DMISs), which remain experimental and immature. In China, WeChat tops the list of popular social media platforms. To date, little is known about the service model of DMISs delivered by pharmaceutical companies via WeChat.
This study aims to explore the emerging service model of DMISs delivered by pharmaceutical companies via WeChat in China.
This study applied a qualitative research design combining case study and documentary analysis to explore the DMISs of 6 leading pharmaceutical companies in China. Materials were collected from their official WeChat platforms. Thematic analysis was conducted on the data.
The DMISs of 6 pharmaceutical companies were investigated. Themes emerged regarding 2 essential information services delivered by pharmaceutical companies via WeChat: business operation services and DMISs (ie, public information services, professional services, science and education services, and e-commerce services). Business operation services mainly function to assist or facilitate the company's operations and development trends for general visitors. Public-oriented information services are realized through health science popularization, academic frontiers, product information, and road maps to hospitals and pharmacies. Internet hospital and pharmacy services are the main patient-oriented professional services. Medical staff-oriented science and education services commonly include continuing education, clinical assistance, academic research, and journal searching. Public-oriented e-commerce services include health products and health insurance.
Pharmaceutical companies in China use WeChat to provide stakeholders with diversified DMISs, which remain in the exploratory stage. The service model of DMISs requires more distinct innovations to provide personalized digital health and patient-centric services. Moreover, specific regulations on the DMISs of pharmaceutical companies need to be established to guard public health interests.
社交媒体已成为医学专业人士和患者获取信息的主要来源之一。制药公司致力于利用各种社交媒体平台为利益相关者提供数字医疗信息服务（DMIS），这些服务仍处于试验和不成熟阶段。在中国，微信是最受欢迎的社交媒体平台之一。迄今为止，人们对制药公司通过微信提供的 DMIS 服务模式知之甚少。
本研究旨在探讨中国制药公司通过微信提供的 DMIS 新兴服务模式。
本研究采用案例研究和文献分析相结合的定性研究设计，探索了中国 6 家领先制药公司的 DMIS。从他们的官方微信平台收集材料。对数据进行主题分析。
调查了 6 家制药公司的 DMIS。通过微信，制药公司提供的 2 项基本信息服务出现主题：业务运营服务和 DMIS（即公共信息服务、专业服务、科学和教育服务以及电子商务服务）。业务运营服务主要用于协助或促进公司的运营和发展趋势，面向普通访客。面向公众的信息服务通过健康科学普及、学术前沿、产品信息和医院、药店路线图实现。互联网医院和药店服务是主要面向患者的专业服务。面向医务人员的科学和教育服务通常包括继续教育、临床援助、学术研究和期刊搜索。面向公众的电子商务服务包括保健品和健康保险。
中国的制药公司利用微信为利益相关者提供多元化的 DMIS，这些服务仍处于探索阶段。DMIS 的服务模式需要更明显的创新，以提供个性化的数字健康和以患者为中心的服务。此外，需要制定制药公司 DMIS 的具体规定，以维护公众健康利益。
