Physicians have long been the primary focus of pharmaceutical marketers when it comes to professional marketing. With access to this target market becoming more difficult and healthcare delivery evolving, however, marketers are starting to look for opportunities among alternative market segments. Nurses, for example, have emerged as a group attracting increased interest in the industry, and for good reason. While physicians generally remain at the top of the healthcare professional hierarchy, the nurse-patient relationship, including the impact that nurses have over patient decisions, should not be overlooked.

Taking the Pulse Nurses from Manhattan Research tracks the media preferences, professional resource mix, and digital behaviors and attitudes of U.S. nurses and physician assistants. The second version of the study was just released in June 2010, and uncovers a few key trends for marketers to note as they watch and potentially target this segment:

Nurses are digitally advanced

Much of the medical field is shifting online, and nurses are no exception. Nurses are similar to physicians in terms of the amount of time they spend using the Internet per week, and once online, nurses are comparatively a digitally savvy group. The majority of online nurses uses social media sources, downloads audio files, and watches video online. Additionally, the majority of nurses online for professional purposes use the Internet multiple times throughout the workday, with the uptake of smart mobile devices fostering an “always on” culture in the medical field.

When it comes to researching professional information, nurses, like their physician counterparts, rely on a fairly diverse resource mix, including sources like blogs, conferences, drug references, healthcare professional portals, search engines, podcasts, pharmaceutical Websites, sales representatives, continuing education, and many more. In particular, nurses have shown considerably strong adoption of email newsletters. Nurses also frequent similar Websites as physicians, such as Epocrates, the American Medical Association, and Medscape, likely due in part to the limited availability of nurse-directed Websites and other online resources. Though nurses have far from eschewed offline resources, the fact that they are shifting online for professional information suggests that digital marketing is a viable and potentially more cost effective promotional channel for marketers to consider.

Nurses go online for pharma information

The research also found that nurses are interacting with pharma companies online. Nearly 90% of online nurses have visited a pharmaceutical, biotech, or device corporate or product Website in the past year, with Merck and GlaxoSmithKline leading the pack in terms of visitation.

To date, most pharma companies do not offer nursing-focused content on their healthcare professional Websites. Some companies, seeing the opportunity this market represents, have recently launched initiatives targeting nurses specifically. For example, the Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future recently launched an interactive online video game that allows players to navigate real-life nursing situations. Sanofi-Aventisoffers InvolveNursing.com, a Website with resources and customizable patient tools designed for oncology nurses and nurse practitioners. Also, this past May, Eisai debuted Nsider, another portal where oncology nurses can create individualized patient education materials.

While nearly all online nurses visit pharmaceutical Websites, general professional medical Websites garner higher retention rates among this audience. As a result, marketers should be looking for promotional opportunities on third-party Websites in addition to investing in developing their own properties.

Nurses are social

Nurses have also proven to be relatively strong adopters of social media online. The vast majority of online nurses use social networking sites for personal reasons, and as with physicians, a relatively small share are using social networks or communities for professional reasons. However, there is strong interest in using this type of professional resource in the future.

These findings suggest that pharma should at least be aware of the types of conversations their target audiences are having and how their brands are being discussed online.

Nurses are influential over patients

The Taking the Pulse Nurses research also found that nurses are strong proponents of patient education, especially when it comes to recommending online resources to patients. More than 80% of online nurses direct patients to health-related Websites for additional information. Additionally, nurses impact patient healthcare decisions. A majority of online nurses report that they are influential over their patients’ adherence to treatment regimens.

The American Association of Nurse Practitioners is advocating for state laws to make it less difficult for nurse practitioners to practice and prescribe medications in some areas. Healthcare reform legislation also potentially allows for nurse practitioners to fill more primary care roles, which could increase their influence on patients, especially in some rural areas where nurses play a larger role in healthcare delivery. These trends, among others, suggest the influence of nurses on patients will likely increase in the mid-term.

The impact that nurses have on patients and their likelihood to recommend online resources suggest that marketers could evaluate their online condition and treatment education offerings and how these materials speak to this segment. Additionally, nurses are more likely to recommend general health and government Websites to patients than online pharmaceutical properties, so marketers should understand where their target nursing segments are directing patients and determine if there is value in sponsoring educational content on third-party Websites.

Maureen Malloy is a healthcare marketing analyst for Manhattan Research.