Marketing in health care

Marketing in Health Care

Problems Faced by the Stroke Center

Some of the problems faced by the Stroke Center are caused by lack of information and knowledge acquired by stroke patients and their families in the course of heart attacks, and the financial capability of the Stroke Center to build up more teams that can specialize in the administration of heart attack patients.

The foremost problem of the Stroke Center is the limited knowledge of heart attack victims and their families in managing a heart attack event, especially knowledge on TPA and the immediate medical attention required by victims to be administered with TPA. Such lack of knowledge results to the victim missing the chances of overcoming the battle against the consequences of a stroke such as disability. It also results to a very low percentage rate of heart attack victims who get TPA treatment.

Another problem the Stroke Center faces regarding lack of information on TPA is the criticisms they get which demands that every stoke victim must receive the same quick attention being given to TPA eligible patients.

The best method the Stroke Center should respond to these problems is by providing the public with enough information and educating them regarding the proper procedures a stroke victim and his family must follow when symptoms of a heart attack appear. Further, increasing the number of medical teams specializing in TPA can speed up the process of administering TPA to heart attack victims without compromising their chances of survival when a member of the team is not immediately available. Although, this solution still presents a problem to the Stroke Center due to the expensive cost of educating and staffing more stroke specializing teams.

No Need for Marketing: "We are all professionals here, and we know what the public needs."

It is quite ironic that a health care official made such statement. I believe that the need for marketing in health care is essential. It does not only benefit the medical professionals and institutions but the public as well. Perhaps, the best medical marketing are those whose purpose and goal is to educate the public about their health.

Marketing in health care doesn't only provide the means of promoting a health service. Also, it is important to include the provision of health information to the public. The Parkview and the National Stroke Association demonstrate good examples to this as indicated in the article.

The effort at Parkview includes informational advertisements about the center itself, says Kellis, as well as talks with community organizations like the PTA and Rotary Club.

The National Stroke Association also makes literature available for distribution to physician offices, which complements a hospital brochure on the stroke center