Leveraging Online Meetings in Healthcare
Digital meetings between pharmaceutical or medical device organisations and healthcare professionals could be considered as an essential tool for forming and strengthening relationships. Providing the next best thing to a face-to-face meeting, the numerous benefits to bringing people together online may explain why they’re now more popular than ever. Medical science liaisons are in constant communication with healthcare professionals, and e-meetings can really enhance this connection without the cost and disruption of travel for either party.
Keeping costs down
One of the biggest benefits to online meetings versus face to face is reducing costs. The cost of meeting online is virtually negligible compared to multiple stakeholders travelling to be in the same location. Ultimately, these cost efficiencies mean greater budget can be allocated in areas of greater use to the patient. By leveraging online, you get the benefit of an internationally recognised expert without the cost of flying them to each venue where their insight is of value.
Protecting the environment
We are all becoming a lot more conscious of our carbon footprint and the impact we, as individuals, are having on global environmental issues. A big contributor to greenhouse gases is air travel, with445 million business-related flights still taking place each year. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has estimated that air travel accounts for as much as 3.5% of human-caused climate change, so we really need to stop flying unless it is absolutely essential. Virtual meetings are a simple way to do this, without sacrificing the benefits.
Bringing groups together
These meetings don’t need to be one-to-one or large impersonal broadcasts; small groups of professionals can convene online and work together either to grow a network of stakeholders or strengthen existing relationships between medical science liaisons and healthcare professionals. While large congresses and meetings have their benefits, the small group feel can really strengthen bonds between stakeholders and fosters greater interactivity. This small group meeting can be difficult to justify if travel is required, online it’s easy to see the benefit.
Time efficient meetings
Virtual meetings don’t only save money and reduce environmental impact, they are a hugely time efficient way for disparate teams to work together. By meeting online, healthcare professionals can learn what the latest trial results mean for them and their patients or discuss specific cases rather than learning from generic written information.
Access difficult to pin down stakeholders
Within healthcare many stakeholders can be, understandably, difficult to access. They are unbelievably time-crunched, with high priority patient needs rightly taking precedence over anything else. By ensuring meetings are time- and cost-efficient you reduce the burden on each participant meaning they are more likely to say yes to taking part.
Improved technology, improved connection
As technology improves, so does the quality and functionality of online meetings. Gone are the days of old fashioned and poorly functional conferencing software. Virtual meetings are smooth, slick and easy to take part in from a desktop or handheld device.
Conclusion
When you consider all the benefits of meeting online it becomes difficult to justify a face-to-face meeting if stakeholders would need to travel to attend. As teams, even within the same organisation, are increasingly spread around the globe the internet allows the best people for the job — regardless of location — to come together and improve patient care. Find out how we can facilitate your online meeting. <link>
For more information on how The Corpus could help, contact Jan Ash (jan.ash@the-corpus.com, T: +44 (0)20 7428 2903, M: +44 (0)7970 230 197)