Information is now a commodity that can be accessed, serviced, or traded with minimal effort and maximum ease. The Healthcare and Medical information news that keeps the provider and the receiver aware and updated about the diseases and its therapy is no different. However, that also comes with an issue of information overload for the humongous volumes of research in this field, coupled with increasing publications. As India celebrates its 75 years of Independence, we targeted to understand the evolution in the information access, consumption & utilization journey of the HCPs. A secondary research and pan India survey with 680 Healthcare professionals was conducted to uncover the trends and the evolution of healthcare information access over these years. MedShots figured as the top medical news aggregating platform, followed by MedScape. Educational/CME platforms are the preferred sources for gathering information and 64% of the respondents spent more than 10 minutes each day reading medical updates. 58.3% of respondents agreed that Digitalization and sharing of information through mobile applications is comfortable and 86.30% of survey respondents preferred content on Clinical practice guidelines and recommendations, with 57.1% also expecting such platforms to support clinical/therapeutic decision making. The results have reinforced the higher level of acceptance & adaptation in the HCPs towards digitalization of the information access. While the medical information/news aggregating platforms remain helpful in updating the knowledge of HCPs in clinical decision-making, the study provides future directions to make the experience of information access & consumption more integral to the knowledge journey of HCPs.

Background: The ever-increasing impact of drugs on the environment has added an altogether new dimension of monitoring, assessing and documenting the known and unknown drug effects on our fragile environment in the form of ecopharmacovigilance. This study was carried out to document the drug disposing behavior and awareness of the concept of ecopharmacovigilance among the medical faculty of a tertiary care Medical Hospital.Methods: A detailed, structured, anonymous questionnaire consisting of both open and close ended essential queries on drug disposal practices was prepared and response obtained from the participants which included an agglomeration of teaching faculty and the clinicians of various disciplines of the Institute.Results: 97.87% of the participants obtained drugs in excess which included a majority of solid (68.12%) and liquid (31.88%) dosage forms. The maximum medicines obtained in excess included analgesics and antipyretics (89.36%), anti-asthmatics (15.22%), and anti-emetics (13.48%). 82.8% of the respondents were unaware of the proper drug disposal technique and 94.7 % of the respondents practiced open disposal of the drugs.Conclusions: An abysmally low level of awareness about ecopharmacovigilance and unhealthy, irrational method of drug disposal was documented in our study. Appropriate training of those who handle drugs in hospitals and healthcare establishments is the need of the hour.

Internet has become essential to everyone during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown as everything went to virtual. This has made the interactions between Pharmaceutical companies and Health Care Professionals (HCPs) explore digital channels as Medical Representatives (MRs) were not able to efficiently reach the HCPs. This pioneering study was conducted to evaluate the scope of digital channels and uncover insights into the digital behavioral landscape of HCPs to reach them effectively. A proctored, PAN India survey was conducted for health care professionals across diverse specialties and the responses were collected through in-clinic visits, mobile phones (via WhatsApp & SMS) and e-mails. 407 HCPs had actively participated in this survey from across the country. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the outcomes of this research which will help to develop programs directed at the HCPs in India to enhance their knowledge, medicine practice, HCP – patient & HCP – Pharmaceutical company interactions, engagement with the medical community and highlight the areas that they face challenges while accessing information online to better fit in this fast-growing digital landscape of the health sector. This will also cover insights to bridge both physical and digital interactions as ‘Phygital interactions’ that could be followed in the hopeful Post – Covid-19 scenario.

With a nationwide lockdown imposed, there was a substantial drop in the in-clinic patient visits in 2020. Telemedicine gained momentum during the pandemic and virtual modes of teleconsultation were adopted by the health care professionals. A PAN India research survey was carried out to understand the HCP perspective on virtual consultation, ‘Telemedicine’. The survey aims to assess the behavioral shift in HCPs from face-to-face to adapting Telemedicine in clinical practice post-pandemic and foreseeing the future of Teleconsultation for Health Care Professionals in India. A PAN India survey was conducted among 154 participants. The questions were based on Telemedicine as a practice, barriers and influential factors for Telemedicine & the significance of guidelines published by the Telemedicine Society of India (TSI) in clinical practice. The survey included varied forms for the questions such as Multiple choice, Likert scale and Polar Questions. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze the outcomes of this research which will help to identify the influential factors in the uptake of Telemedicine practice by the HCPs and how the Telemedicine Society of India could help them with the guidelines. This research will further uncover the challenges faced by the HCPs during Telemedicine consultation in the post-Covid era, and identify potential platforms for teleconsultation, in a virtual environment.