Profession
Black doctors view DTC ads more favorably
■ An occasional snapshot of current facts and trends in medicine.
Quick View. Posted April 16, 2007
Slightly more than 50% of black physicians believe direct-to-consumer ads benefit patients.
But only 16% of these doctors believed that such ads were more beneficial to minority patients than to nonminority patients, according to a survey of 322 physicians attending the National Medical Assn.'s 2006 annual convention. The study was funded with an unrestricted educational grant from Pfizer Inc. Further, less than half of black doctors queried said DTC ads are beneficial as educational tools for patients in underserved communities and groups. Responses from a similar project in 2001 show how black doctors' views on DTC ads have changed over time.
Source: " 'For the Good of the Patient,' Survey of the Physicians of the National Medical Assn. Regarding Perceptions of DTC Advertising, Part II, 2006," Journal of the National Medical Assn, March
