Brand awareness low with retail clinicians

Whether it is the autonomy, providing convenient affordable health care to patients, having more flexible hours—or all of the above—job satisfaction among healthcare practitioners working in retail-based health clinics remains extremely high, according to Drug Store News’ sister publication Retail Clinician’s third annual readers survey. In fact, in all, 97 percent of Retail Clinician readers described themselves as satisfied with their current jobs. Almost 84 percent saying they were either “extremely” or “mostly” satisfied.

“I find it most rewarding having time to explain illness and treatment to patients,” one respondent noted. “People appreciate the little time I spend educating them about their health and their habits.” Judging from their answers, however, it is clear that many in-store healthcare providers are not quite so satisfied with their knowledge of the full range of OTC medication options available to treat the complete scope of illnesses and conditions that typically present in a retail clinic environment.

More than half of the respondents said they did not consider themselves up-to-date on the full range of over-the-counter treatment options for common ailments and symptoms, even though they reported recommending OTC products for treating symptoms to an average of 58.5 percent of the patients they see. Meanwhile 84.3 percent said they frequently write prescriptions and recommend an OTC remedy for a patient.

At the same time, 70.2 percent said that they interact with store pharmacists six to 20 times a week, and 66.7 percent consult with their stores’ pharmacists on patients’ specific drug therapies. Of those, almost all said they would like more information, though slightly more than half said they consult with pharmacists on OTC product recommendations.

This creates an opportunity for manufacturers to increase brand awareness among nurse practitioners because many common ailments that respondents reported encountering at retail clinics are treatable with over-the-counter drugs, including sore throat, colds, allergies and cough.

Respondents who recommend OTC products most often said that they suggest nationally advertised brands rather than store-brand or private-label products, despite the price advantage of the latter.

However, nurse practitioners said that they tend to think in terms of a drug’s active ingredients rather than its brand name. In fact, almost 80 percent of respondents reported that they make decisions regarding over-the-counter products on their own, as opposed to using pre-established treatment protocols.

The online survey was sent to 2,500 readers in July, and 121 readers responded within a 72-hour period.