Happy New Year and welcome to our first blog for 2009! January is always a busy time for us here at ZEST, as we prepare materials for our clients' cycle meetings and complete the finishing touches to new programs and educational activities that will be rolled out when the reps get back on the road.

When we talk about `next-generation' medicine, we tend to think about advances in treatments, diagnostic tools or preventative approaches such as vaccines. But what about `next-generation' healthcare providers?

The arrival of the iPhone and other smart phones has quickly changed the way we use the internet.  Email and SMS technology has been available for many years via your mobile but the ability to easily access You Tube, Google maps, Safari and a host of other content through an iPhone is revolutionary.

When you hear the term `key opinion leader', who immediately springs to mind? A specialist or GP who commonly takes the lead in a therapy area, or maybe a leading academic in a particular field of research? But do your thoughts extend to members of other healthcare professions - say nurses, pharmacists, or physiotherapists?

As budgets get smaller and pharmaceutical companies get more competitive, we are constantly striving to find different ways to market new therapies. Some companies are attempting to secure doctor and patient groups even before their therapy has received approval.

You know when you're just bursting to tell everyone your exciting news? Your daughter just took her first steps; you've got a new tattoo; the Swannies thrashed Collingwood - that sort of thing? So you make a few calls, send some emails or texts, update your blog. If you're feeling very retro you might even handwrite a letter, depending on what works best for your nearest and dearest. 

The AMA has warned that the new WorkChoices legislation allowing any registered health practitioner - including pharmacists, naturopaths and iridologists - to issue sick leave certificates could put lives at risk. "I might present to the pharmacist having needed to take the day off work because I have headache . I might get my certificate for two days but in fact I've got meningococcus and I am dead within that 48-hour period because I haven't seen a doctor," suggests AMA president Dr Rosanna Capolingua.

The Christmas lights are up and the 2007 business year is hurtling to an end. This will be our last post for this year and it's a good opportunity to stop and reflect on the past year and to look ahead at the emerging trends for 2008.

The introduction of evidence-based medicine (EBM) journal clubs into the RACGP continuing professional development program represents a new opportunity for relationship-building with GPs. By providing support for these journal clubs, pharmaceutical representatives can reinforce relationships with their key doctors.

In an earlier post I considered the likelihood that every doctor's patients were compliant to their treatment regimens (not very) and why the hierarchical connotation of the word "compliant" itself might be stopping patients achieving their best possible health outcomes. (And thwarting the best efforts of the pharmaceutical industry's marketing departments.)