By Cássio Rossetti*

Independently on the segment of the pharmaceutical product – prescription, OTC, hospital, surgery, nutrition, etc – or the physician’s specialty - we can state that the raw material we work with is communication.

When we are aware of that we can reach results more efficiently no matter our position in the pharmaceutical industry, the director or the sales rep.

According to Claude Shanon’s book, “Mathematical Theory of Communication”, it is crucial to know the three structure levels of communication and which elements cause an impact in each one of them. Each element works as a strategic and sensitive point within the communication system that also represents probabilities of causing side effects due to unclearness and message misunderstandings and consequently lower efficacy.

See the table below:

We find three distinct levels that support the structure of any communication channel : The mental level (A and A’); the structural level ( B and B’); the operational level (C and C’), which represent a mirror between the sender / receiver and turn into six different vectors:

In the mental level:
   • A = mental elaboration of the message;
   • A’ = evaluation, interpretation of the message;

In the structural level:
    • B = codification of the message;
    • B’ = decodification of the message;

In the operational level:
    • C = transmission of the message;
    • C’ = receiving the message;

We can infers through Semiology which elements of communication strongly impact in each of the three levels mentioned above thus allowing preventive actions aiming at ceasing or cutting down on likely side effects and consequently increase the efficacy of the message sent.

Such message provides in the medical detailing process, through accurate information, the maintenance or the alteration of the physicians’ prescribing habit.

Let’s take a look at the elements of communication and their influence in each level:

:

• During the first level ( mental ) there is a great influence in the content that lead us to creativity, as from that moment the message will be designed by the sender and analysed by the receiver. In order to be able to access the creativity level we must know deeply the issue we will approach. It becomes clear the importance of studying the products, training, getting to know competition and the market better, for the more we master an issue the more we become creative about it.

• During the second level ( structural ) the impact is provided by the code, for the message mentally elaborated needs to be codified in order to be transmitted. We all own a group of appropriate codes according to the media used. In the case of medical detailing we have the ‘human media’ which strongly acts focusing on the verbal code and on the gesture together with the ‘paper media’ represented by the promotional leaflets towards the written, graphic and figurative code. Both (audio and visual) need to be supported on the correct code, that is, the medical jargon of each specialty and segment to avoid problems in the sender codification and the receiver’s decodification.

• Finally, though not less important, the operational level where the sending and the receiving of the message will take place. This way we have the link between the most impacting element of communication for the receiver’s syntony is essential to a better or worse efficacy of the message. Efficacy that may be affected by the existence of the element called noise. Noise can be understood as any thing or fact that disturbs or interferes in the communication. From the unexpected breaking in of a phone call during the medical detailing to the physician’s impatience when answering it.

Therefore, it is clear that the increase in the efficacy of communication with physicians is directly proportional to the quantity of problems that we are able to eliminate in each level.

The antibody for that, fortunately, is the planned use of another element of communication: the redundancy. It works as a guarantee of receiving appropriately a message (isn’t it why we knock at the door repeatedly?).

That’s why we simulate cases exhaustively.
That’s why we check the knowledge of the teams exhaustively.
And that’s why we visit our medical board repeatedly.
And that’s exactly why..... someone by any chance turned to the concept ‘frequency and sequence’?

It is clear that the correct ratio must be: “frequency, frequency, frequency and sequence”.

(*) Cássio Rossetti is a Marketing and Quality Management professor in the Post-graduation course at UMC and director president of Rossetti Mk Sales Reps

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