Receptive Marketing Strategies in Healthcare

Marketing (Ethical Issues)

Ethical Issues in Marketing Healthcare Products

Ethical Issues Associated with the Marketing Strategy

In the case presented above, there are the ethical and epistemic issues in direct-to-customer drug advertising, apart from other issues. There has to be a balance of ethics and purpose of work when it comes to the marketing of the pharmaceutical drugs within the health facility. It is not supposed that a member of the facility is involved in any irregular prescription, costing, and even trading with the pharmaceuticals without due directives from the senior decision makers within the facility.

As seen from the case presented, it is unethical to have one of the members, a junior member of the marketing team, to be in control of the suggestions and decisions that are taken by the marketing department in making requisite measures for the delivery of the products and services from the pharmaceutical marketing. The use of the brochures and DVDs to offer exposure and influence to the physicians to prescribe the intended drug is no issue since the universal activity has been presented for use within the health facility. Having to deal with the challenge of influencing the physicians through aspects of discounts and other attached benefits is going to the main aspect of offering protected and quality healthcare to the patients. It is also an aspect to take notice over the use of the brochures and the DVDs within the health facility. This will automatically interfere with the correct prescriptions that are supposed to be offered to the patients by the physicians. One general ethical issue concern goes to the capability of the facility to offer quality prescriptions that have not been influenced by the intentions of the junior marketing member.

It is an unethical issue to consider higher sales without considering the health status of the patients requiring drugs from the health facility. One aspect of unethical conduct here is the influence that has been directed to physicians to increase the number of sales and hence access material benefits. The number of sales comes with the diagnostic procedures and requirements that are intended to boost the health status of the patients. This, it is an issue to involve the use of material benefits as a way of influencing the higher sale of pharmaceuticals. The junior member of the marketing team has proposed the use of bonus system to be used by the sales representatives within their territories as a way of boosting the number of prescriptions that are to be made by the physicians.

In the case presented, the concerned personnel are more concerned with achieving the sales targets and not the ethical requirements that work to protect the interests of the patients. The physicians are given material benefits, like bonuses and elaborate gifts as a way of influencing them to recommend the use of a certain drug, and hence increase its sales. The recommendation for the off-label drugs is an issue that is against the ethics governing this body. It is imperative for companies to make gains after spending so much on research, development, and marketing of the new drugs to be used in the health institutions. Nonetheless, this has influenced the marketing department to try to force gains from the medical physicians. It goes against the ethics of the physicians to make decisions not based on the diagnostic exemplifications from the patient but from the marketing directives.

How to address these issues as a manager of the division

Ethical issues are critical to the management of any organization. They are the principles that guide every professional conduct and performance in a bid to deliver the best of the products and services to the people. Ethics is not limited to organizations alone since every individual is also guided by the personal aspects of ethics that play a key role in bringing harmony and peace to the people. The case presented above offers a concern of the ethical consideration, most of which must be addressed within the health facility and the marketing department. The first consideration has to be dealt with in the marketing department. This department is making everything to go wrong regarding addressing the basic aspects that are required to be considered by the marketing members. The junior member has to be informed of the dangers that are exposed when he or she engages in the practice of pursuing the economic interests of the organization oblivious of the possible dangers to the health of the patients. In a bid to have to tackle this matter, it is necessary to consider separating the marketing and drug sale department to be out of the health facility so that the prescriptions are offered at the health facility and hence be considered by the physicians.

Handling the aspect of the security of the health of the patients is critical and always needs the intervention of the drugs. The ethical considerations have to be explained to all the members, with standards set to monitor this at all situation. The measures of displaying the ethical concerns have to be presented to both the physicians and the head of the marketing department in charge of the drugs. They need to understand the circumstances under which their actions are affecting the health situations of the patients apart from interfering with the service delivery by the physicians (Wear, 2000). The prescriptions that are given by the physicians need not to be affected by the intentions of the drug-marketing department like using bonuses and other affectionate material gains. It is important to put in place measures to curb this kind of interaction between the physicians and the marketing department members. One thing that has to be ascertained is the need to have a regular check of the actions of the marketing department together with the physician body. Through these checks, it is important to consider having a regulated exchange of the drugs and services so that there is no point of controversy or interference between the two on the side of the health of the patient.