Last night, while watching the evening news, I saw a commercial for a company that makes prosthetic knee and hips. It was a first for me. Of course I have seen plenty of ads for drugs, prescription and over the counter. And advertisements for hospital systems are quite common nowadays. Locally highway billboards seem to be the medium of choice for hospitals and medicare advantage plans they offer. When the billboard ads first appeared a few years ago several of them featured physicians who were in the hospital system. But now the ads are more generic and one no longer sees a fifteen foot tall version of their surgeon and his group while hurtling down the highway. I did a double take the first time I saw Dr. Kai and his partners smiling down at traffic. But perhaps highway accident victims are more likely to need a referral to orthopedic surgeons than, say, cardiologists.
It's pretty common to see highway ads for emergency rooms. Some of them feature a live action clock showing how long the patient will have to wait to be seen. The waiting room time is always something like five or ten minutes. I've never seen a wait of an hour or longer on the clock but it's hard to believe it doesn't happen in real life. When I went to the emergency room due to the collapsed lung post surgery I was immediately taken back to an exam room. No waiting. But it was at least a couple hours before a doctor saw me and a couple hours more before any action was taken. Was my "wait time" one minute or two hours? By the way, I've noticed medical literature has begun to refer to the emergency room as the emergency department, ED instead of ER. Makes sense, actually. And highway ads for emergency "departments" do make sense. Hopefully, one doesn't need such a referral while traveling but it's certainly within the realm of possibilities.
I think it was back in the late seventies or early eighties that either local professional ethics or commercial law changed and advertising by physicians became legal or accepted. I think the practice was already common in big cities. Up until then a doctor was not even permitted to publish more than his name, address, phone number and speciality in the telephone book (that archaic device some of us Luddites still use to contact people and businesses). At first a few renegade doctors began to run newspaper ads and/or television spots. The "gimmick" of the era was a limousine that picked up the
potential surgical patient, transporting them to and from the doctor's office. It was considered terribly unprofessional by the traditionalists. But it worked and within a few years it was common and acceptable practice if a doctor wanted to stay competitive.
I don't remember when drug ads began appearing on television but they are certainly rife today. You cetainly can't watch the evening news without getting a dose of pharmaceutical information about blood thinners, erectile dysfunction meds, or injectable fillers for wrinkly cheeks. Obviously there is a certain age group with fairly common medical complaints that watches the network news programs. Not too many ads for acne medications, prenatal vitamins, or birth control drugs. I guess young people are getting their news - and perhaps their medical advice - on line.
Anyway, I haven't seen an ad for shoulder replacement prosthetic parts yet. I guess it isn't common enough to make it commercially (literally and figuratively) viable. I'm quite sure there is plenty of advertising directly to the surgeons and hospitals. Actually, I think that is better. I don't feel qualified to sift through the facts and fiction of a well designed commercial campaign. I would be too easily influenced by the youthful seniors playing tennis, dancing the night away, and swinging their grandchildren up in the air.
It's pretty common to see highway ads for emergency rooms. Some of them feature a live action clock showing how long the patient will have to wait to be seen. The waiting room time is always something like five or ten minutes. I've never seen a wait of an hour or longer on the clock but it's hard to believe it doesn't happen in real life. When I went to the emergency room due to the collapsed lung post surgery I was immediately taken back to an exam room. No waiting. But it was at least a couple hours before a doctor saw me and a couple hours more before any action was taken. Was my "wait time" one minute or two hours? By the way, I've noticed medical literature has begun to refer to the emergency room as the emergency department, ED instead of ER. Makes sense, actually. And highway ads for emergency "departments" do make sense. Hopefully, one doesn't need such a referral while traveling but it's certainly within the realm of possibilities.
I think it was back in the late seventies or early eighties that either local professional ethics or commercial law changed and advertising by physicians became legal or accepted. I think the practice was already common in big cities. Up until then a doctor was not even permitted to publish more than his name, address, phone number and speciality in the telephone book (that archaic device some of us Luddites still use to contact people and businesses). At first a few renegade doctors began to run newspaper ads and/or television spots. The "gimmick" of the era was a limousine that picked up the
potential surgical patient, transporting them to and from the doctor's office. It was considered terribly unprofessional by the traditionalists. But it worked and within a few years it was common and acceptable practice if a doctor wanted to stay competitive.
I don't remember when drug ads began appearing on television but they are certainly rife today. You cetainly can't watch the evening news without getting a dose of pharmaceutical information about blood thinners, erectile dysfunction meds, or injectable fillers for wrinkly cheeks. Obviously there is a certain age group with fairly common medical complaints that watches the network news programs. Not too many ads for acne medications, prenatal vitamins, or birth control drugs. I guess young people are getting their news - and perhaps their medical advice - on line.
Anyway, I haven't seen an ad for shoulder replacement prosthetic parts yet. I guess it isn't common enough to make it commercially (literally and figuratively) viable. I'm quite sure there is plenty of advertising directly to the surgeons and hospitals. Actually, I think that is better. I don't feel qualified to sift through the facts and fiction of a well designed commercial campaign. I would be too easily influenced by the youthful seniors playing tennis, dancing the night away, and swinging their grandchildren up in the air.
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