At least 140,000 fatal medication errors plague the healthcare industry annually, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association. These are nightmarish encounters that haunt physicians, pharmacists and nurses causing inexplicable devastation to patients and their families.
To raise awareness about this issue and proposed solutions, Bridge Medical, a Solona Beach, Calif.-based healthcare information systems/consulting firm, waged a campaign shooting straight to the heart of the problem, and then subtly mentioned the solutions it offers.
The provocative campaign tagline - "Don't assign blame. Fix the problem." - positioned Bridge as an integral partner for hospital patient safety and quality control initiatives. This 'high-road' approach to the complex and emotionally-charged issue of medication errors struck a nerve among Bridge's target audiences: physicians, nurses, pharmacists and hospital administrators.
The centerpiece of the integrated campaign, launched last Winter, was a special event at the Fox Theater in Atlanta called "Beyond Blame: Addressing America's Other Drug Problem," featuring a keynote address by former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop and a riveting video documentary.
The video presents real-life scenarios in which a physician, nurse and pharmacist made fatal medication errors. The event attracted more than 3,000 healthcare providers and the print advertising campaign sent Web site visits soaring 134 percent, to 860 in January from 360 in December.
Issue-driven Approach
The message resonating throughout the campaign, which cost well under $1 million, is Bridge's compelling argument that good, talented healthcare professionals are working with inadequate information systems where mistakes can easily occur. "Most hospitals are working with systems that are more than 20 years old and the basic quality control and patient safety mechanisms in place are no longer adequate," says Larry Watts, Bridge's VP.
To build awareness about the issue of medication errors, Watts developed an integrated pool of marketing expertise among five agencies, most of which won awards for their campaigns. From the outset, Watts took a "symphony" approach to working with the agencies by having them brainstorm and plan campaign strategy as a team - PR knew what advertising was doing and Web site developers were intimately involved with marketing execution.
The biggest uniting factor was the cause, says Alan Proctor, creative director of Corona Del Mar, Calif.-based Esprit Communications that developed the award-winning advertising campaign. The print ads, which use a combination of powerful black-and-white images and disturbing examples of medication errors, deliver a call-to-action to learn more about solutions by visiting Bridge's non-commercial Web site at http://www.mederrors.com or contacting them directly.
Changing Clinical Culture
Hospitals are where the automotive industry was 20 years ago, before Ford took a hard introspective look at its quality and safety controls and made a commitment to improving them, says Watts. "Hospitals have got to learn from other industries how to improve their systems instead of blaming human failure for mistakes and errors." He continues, "The fact is some of the best, most highly respected healthcare professionals are involved in medication errors." Bridge's issue-based marketing approach gave healthcare professionals an effective avenue to discuss a taboo subject and learn more about solving it. Soon after the "Beyond Blame" special event, 600 people requested follow-up information and the two-month trade advertising campaign generated 65 telephone inquiries and 14 letters of intent.
So far, Watts says the highest awareness is among physicians, nurses and pharmacists who are directly affected by the effects and potential for medication errors. But the decision to make a long-term commitment for strengthened patient safety has to come from the executive ranks - administrators and CEOs - where awareness is relatively low. "CEOs haven't focused on medication errors because they have huge financial concerns, particularly with managed care, and they tend to look at them as isolated clinical events," says Watts.
Once there are successful case studies to report on, involving hospitals that can tout medication error prevention through Bridge's information systems, Watts believes more CEOs will be convinced. Although the issue is disturbing, the medical industry is ultimately driven by an empirical "prove it" culture and Bridge's marketing will have to do just that.
(Esprit Communications, Alan Proctor, 949/721-2121; Bridge Medical, Larry Watts, 619/350-0100)
Integrated Campaign Gets Industry Kudos
Bridge Medical's provocative issue-based approach to marketing inspired its agency partners to crank out award-winning work. Bridge worked with five agencies to raise awareness about the issue - not the product. The strategy is working, generating hundreds of requests for more information.
The agencies and their award-winning work includes:
- Advertising: Esprit Communications in Corona Del Mar, Calif., earned international recognition with a Grand Global award from The New York Festivals.
- Public Relations: Paine & Associates in Costa Mesa, Calif., won a Prism award.
- Tradeshow Advertising: Point Zero in Marina Del Ray, Calif., won an ADDY for its multi-media "Bridge" campaign that involved an interactive bridge composed of hundreds of newspaper clippings on medication errors.
Other agency partners include Santa Monica, Calif.-based Carabiner, which produced Bridge's video and Los Angeles-based Harvest Moon, which designed the Web site.