We are going to research about a medical internet marketing service providing company named

MedFriend, Inc.

Executive summary

MedFriend, Inc. is a medical communications firm that focuses on pharmaceutical, biotechnical,

including medical device detailing for such advantage of doctors. MedFriend, Inc. is the only
business of this kind: it's a business built specifically for doctors and the medical community,
and it's run by professional physicians. The pharmaceutical market is one of the most profitable
industries, with revenue in excess of $96.3 billion annually [ CITATION Mat20 \l 1033 ]. The issue
that the medical business has is just time. Time for innovative work, time for marking, time for
advertising and deals, time to acquire the trust and acknowledgment of the clinical local
community. Such kind of business always needs a sort of an agency partner who would always
come handy to handle their marketing aspects. That’s when a company like MedFriend comes in
picture in a massive way because such issues of medical companies are legit and when there is a
problem, there is business. MedFriend, Inc. has created a strategy that enables all of these sectors
to profit from pre-launch promotion, brand building, and post-launch sales support–all with the
help of general practitioners. MedFriend, Inc. provides clients with the ability to market
explicitly to decision-makers. Their e-detailing service is the most cost efficient of any service
provided because it provides live conferences 24 hours a day, seven days a week, access to a
wealth of current knowledge on various pharmaceutical products, emerging biotech technologies,
and medical devices, medical chat rooms, and online marketing. MedFriend has created a good
strategy for delivering the latest and most up-to-date information to the medical community, as
well as a way for all these companies to reveal, encourage, and sell their goods via trusted
practicing physicians. Individual medical professionals profit from accessing the most up-to-date
industry details through the Internet, and they will have the ability to request samples, additional
product information, and/or a visit from a pharmaceutical company representative at the
conclusion of the e-detailing.

Services
MedFriend, Inc offers e-detailing of pharmaceutical products as well as sales force augmentation
for pharmaceutical firms. The pharmaceutical detailing industry is worth $50 billion a
year[ CITATION Joe08 \l 1033 ]. Detailing is the part of the pharmaceutical sales company that
gives doctors, physician assistants, and nurse practitioners information on new pharmaceutical
products and arranges face-to-face meetings. When new drugs are launched, precision is essential
because pharmaceutical firms must then educate medical practitioners about the medicines, their
administration methods, side effects, and a plethora of many other details. They use the Internet,
blogs, personal referral networks, conferences, and Web conferences to achieve successful
outcomes at a lower cost to pharmaceutical companies, allowing them to use e-detailing, which
has all of the advantages of traditional detailing but with this difference. Medlife, Inc uses the
Internet, websites, personal referral networks, conferences, and Web conferences to achieve
effective results at a lower cost to pharmaceutical companies. Client companies are represented
by the organization as an extension of its existing pharmaceutical sales force, not as a substitute.
As a physician-owned company, they understand firsthand how difficult it is for our clients to
meet a busy medical provider, as well as the frustration and failure that come with missed
contacts. It provides a second tool to ensure that the pharmaceutical company's message is
received and that the time spent with the medical professional is effective. The physician may
not even have patience to respond to a pharmaceutical sales manager, but will find time to speak
with a trusted medical colleague. More significantly, since the recommendation comes from a
physician, the product reviews are deemed more reliable. Physicians will communicate their
needs to them through their Internet sampling request, and they will pass the message on to the
sales representative. Both the sales agent and the physician would be more productive as a result
of this. In addition, companies that produce and sell new medical devices must be able to enter
the market quickly. This capability is available to companies that are producing, doing research
and development, or any other business that requires immediate access to the medical
community. In the future, they will expand our efforts in the marketing of service contracts.

Market analysis

The global pharmaceuticals industry was worth $934.8 billion in 2017 and is expected to expand
by 5.8% to $1170 billion in 2021 according to recent pharma market research report by The
Business Research Company. This is a faster rate than the 5.2 percent seen in the years leading
up to 2017, but it is slower than the other two major healthcare divisions, medical equipment and
healthcare services. Healthcare as a whole is rising at a rate of over 7% per year [ CITATION
Bus18 \l 1033 ]. If the target demographic is B2B or B2C, for patients, HCPs, or farther down the
supply chain, a pharmaceutical company would rarely be big enough to satisfy the entire
population, nor will it be able to reach all of them with a single message. The intensity/frequency
of interactions between pharmaceutical companies and their customers/clients is increasing from
a marketing standpoint. A market segmentation approach, which is presented in this post, is also
contributing to the call[ CITATION Gar20 \l 1033 ].

Culture’s effect on service operation

Organizational culture does effect on service operation of medical business. The impact of a
positive organizational culture on organizational change In order to make effective
recommendations, further research is needed in the private healthcare industry. Culture is a
difficult term to grasp. It encompasses people's beliefs, principles, attitudes, and perspectives on
the environment. Managing cultural differences, including traditions, is critical in medicine for
delivering high-quality health care. One issue is that patients might be unaware that they have
habits that could jeopardize their health. People who share culture are largely unaware of it. To
outsiders, though, various cultures' traditions and ways of life are sometimes obvious—and often
peculiar. Cultural knowledge is the ability to recognize and appreciate our own cultural views,
values, and practices, as well as how they influence our choices and behavior. Cultural
consciousness necessitates taking a step back and seeing ourselves from the eyes of a stranger, as
well as opening our minds to new ideas. Identifying cultural barriers to medical treatment
requires cultural sensitivity on the part of both the doctor and the patient. Patients' reactions to
illness and treatment are influenced by their culture. Different customs can cause confusion and
misunderstanding in our multicultural community, eroding faith and patient adherence. For
example, it depends upon a place when considering leaving a sick relative alone in a hospital
room. The notion of ‘visiting hours,’ which is so normal for one place, might completely foreign
in another place[ CITATION Ale19 \l 1033 ].

Another example of cultural changes would be there are plenty of dietary customs from various
cultures: Kosher, Halal, and vegetarian menus, seaweed soup being served to Korean women
after giving birth, and attention paid to the hot and cold properties assigned to various foods in
traditional Chinese healthcare. This is something that is really intriguing about various cultures
and it directly impacts on healthcare sector. Cultural bias can lead to a wide range of health
preferences and perceptions. Cultural competence refers to the ability to recognize and negotiate
certain gaps. This viewpoint enables health-care professionals to inquire about particular views
or sources of care, as well as to integrate new knowledge into diagnosis and treatment planning.
MedFriend, Inc also suffered some of the bit of such cultural problems but with time, they have
improved with some serious strategies and grinding with the test of the time.

Some of the examples of cultural issues in medical care are:

 What patients and health care providers believe about the causes of disease? For example,
some patients are unaware of germ theory and may instead believe in fatalism. They may
not accept a diagnosis and may even believe they cannot change the course of events.
Instead, they can only accept circumstances as they unfold. That is an example or a
similar sort of instance that happens more often than not.
 What illnesses or disorders are stigmatized, and why are they stigmatized? Depression is
a widespread stigma in many cultures, and seeing a doctor is regarded as “crazy.” In
some cultures, being "strong" (or "overweight," as they call it in Canada) means having a
reserve of energy in case of drought, and "strong" women are attractive and safe.
 Also in the face of extreme pain, stoicism is the rule in some cultures. People in other
cultures freely display moderately painful emotions. It is possible that the degree to
which pain should be investigated or treated varies.
 In many cultures, not having direct eye contact is a sign of respect, but a caregiver might
wonder if the same behavior means her patient is depressed.
 The degree to which patients recognize and follow treatment recommendations made by
health care professionals who do not share their cultural values. Some patients conclude
that a doctor who doesn't give them an injection isn't paying attention to their symptoms.
 How patients and providers perceive chronic disease and various treatment options might
also varies from culture to culture.
Strategies to overcome cultural challenges

Overcoming language and cultural barriers has become an increasingly difficult problem for
hospitalists who depend on good contact with their patients as the country's demographics
shift and the number of people who do not speak English increases. Language barriers aren't
just a source of frustration for doctors and patients; new research shows that they can have a
significant impact on patient care, including readmission rates.
Some of the strategies to overcome from such barriers are:
 Hire a bilingual staff: Healthcare providers also use the patient's family and friends as
interpreters, which can trigger a slew of issues. Such interpreters can lack the
necessary language skills and medical terminology knowledge. Having a provider on
staff who speaks the same language as his or her patients will go a long way toward
bridging the gap in communication.
 Use universal healthcare symbols: It would be more successful in assisting all patients
in navigating hospitals, regardless of their native language. 
 Avoid cultural assumptions: Many doctors and nurses have developed stereotypes
about different cultures over time, mostly as a result of a profound lack of accurate
cultural education. Both nurses and patients face particular challenges as a result of
cultural stereotypes and a lack of cultural awareness. So, it is never a good idea to
have a pre conceived notion of any sort or any kind of assumption and prejudice
about particular culture and a group of people because it can always backfire in a big
way.
 Build trust and rapports: Regardless of ethnic or racial origins, physicians must
establish faith with their patients. However, treating culturally diverse patients
necessitates a higher degree of confidence, which can be difficult to achieve when
there is a language and cultural barrier.
 Educate patients about medical practices: Every patient must give informed consent
for any medical procedure, regardless of their cultural or racial context. Healthcare
workers are also in charge of explaining why a procedure is required and what to
expect during and after the procedure to patients who are unfamiliar with medical
practices. It can tremendously help to reduce the cultural and communication gap.
  Practice active listening: Any patient, regardless of their cultural or ethnic
background, must give informed consent for any medical procedure. Patients who are
unfamiliar with medical procedures should rely on healthcare workers to clarify why
a procedure is necessary and what to expect during and after the procedure.

Conclusion
I have attempted to research about a medical service providing business and try to sneak
a peek into the way they do business and how they are handling and they should be
handling some major cultural barriers that come in the way of these businesses. With that,
I have tried to formulate strategies that might work in the favor of medical business to
reduce a massive gap that are prevalent as far as cultural notions are concerned.

References

Business Research company . (2018, 5 16). MarketResearch. Retrieved from

https://blog.marketresearch.com/: https://blog.marketresearch.com/the-growing-
pharmaceuticals-market-expert-forecasts-and-analysis

Green, A. (2019, 2 14). QualityInteractions. Retrieved from

https://www.qualityinteractions.com/: https://www.qualityinteractions.com/blog/cultural-
awareness-in-healthcare-checklist

Lexchin, J. (2008, 1 5). PMC. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2174966/

Mikulic, M. (2020, 11 5). Statista . Retrieved from https://www.statista.com/:

https://www.statista.com/topics/1764/global-pharmaceutical-industry/

Roberts, G. (2020, 7 8). OrinetationMarketing. Retrieved from

https://www.orientation.agency/: https://www.orientation.agency/insights/pharmaceutical-
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