Surveying Medical Information across Europe: The Present and the Future

Managers from 163 European medical information departments in 30 countries completed a web-based 23-question survey. They were asked about demographics (country, company, team size, name, and reporting lines), responsibilities, training needs, and communication channels for requests. The survey included questions on their challenges, successes, and future trends. National medical information departments were compared with regional or global departments. Besides handling product requests, many departments are responsible for standard response production, safety reporting, promotional review, training, and other proactive services. Personnel are generally well trained. Some regional medical information managers identified competency gaps in copyright knowledge and professional skills. Major challenges were managing limited resources, demonstrating value, and supplying copyright-protected material across borders. Business successes included sharing information via regional databases, web-based services, and congress support. They believe the future will bring greater regulation, web technology usage, communication with patients, and organizational changes (enhanced regional or global operations and outsourcing).