Health care marketing of robotic surgery systems knows no bounds. At the end of this piece, you can see a list of past posts on this marketing trend.
Besides the explosive use in prostate surgery, we’ve seen promotions of robotic “firsts” for:
You name the body part, there’s somebody looking to do robotic surgery on it. Remember the old saying, “To a man with a new hammer, everything looks like a nail.”
Do the big health care players feel they need to play the marketing/publicity game as well?
Johns Hopkins Medicine today sent out this news release:
At the end of the release is this special offer: “Patients who have undergone the robotic single-site procedure are eager to share the experience with the media.”
What does “among the first in the country” mean?
A brief web search for “robotic single-site hysterectomy” turned up many results, including claims by:
But beyond how you define “among the first,” I wonder what does being among the first really mean to patients?
As promised earlier, here are some of our past posts on hospitals marketing their robotic surgery systems:
Excerpt: “Aggressive direct-to-consumer marketing of the latest medical technologies may mislead the public into believing that they are the best choice. Our patients deserve and need factual information about all of their treatment options, including costs, so that they can make truly informed health care decisions. Patients should be advised that robotic hysterectomy is best used for unusual and complex clinical conditions in which improved outcomes over standard minimally invasive approaches have been demonstrated.”
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Opinions on other issues in news, journals, PR, advertising, marketing
Following a shift in journalism’s business model, a diverse ecosystem of publications, many covering science, has sprung up online. This has made it more difficult to sort out what qualifies as journalism, what doesn’t, and whether the public even cares.
https://t.co/qO2a27FiSe
Researchers and journalists do the public a grave disservice when they spin health study results to make them appear safer or more effective than warranted, says @HealthNewsRevu founder @garyschwitzer https://t.co/QIKsRbP6Ed
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