A Conceptual Paradigm For Internet And Search Engine Marketing

The Internet continues to affect the relationships between business and their customers, and companies must adjust their online marketing strategy, if they want to increase revenues and market share, respectively. The emergence of the Internet over the last decade has had a major impact on the communication industry. The Internet is constantly evolving and is continually undergoing a rapid evolutionary process in both capabilities and uses. Marketing managers have begun to direct their focus and resources towards the Internet in an attempt to capture and garner new consumers. The Internet has forever changed the customer purchasing experience, and companies must alter their online marketing strategy, if they want to increase revenues and market share, respectively

Do marketing and logistics understand each other? An empirical investigation of the interface activities between logistics and marketing

The purpose of the paper is to investigate the understanding between logistics and marketing functions, to highlight specific issues relating to the interface activities between the two areas, and to discuss the impact for business processes. Findings are presented from a research-based case study with a major international food manufacturer, the results of which have helped the company to gain a better understanding between the marketing and logistics functions. The research has highlighted further implications for the supply chain. The paper discusses key findings and proposes a number of recommendations for marketing and logistics educators, practitioners and researchers

Interventions for improving medical students' interpersonal communication in medical consultations

Background Communication is a common element in all medical consultations, affecting a range of outcomes for doctors and patients. The increasing demand for medical students to be trained to communicate effectively has seen the emergence of interpersonal communication skills as core graduate competencies in medical training around the world. Medical schools have adopted a range of approaches to develop and evaluate these competencies. Objectives To assess the effects of interventions for medical students that aim to improve interpersonal communication in medical consultations. Search methods We searched five electronic databases: Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, and ERIC (Educational Resource Information Centre) in September 2020, with no language, date, or publication status restrictions. We also screened reference lists of relevant articles and contacted authors of included studies. Selection criteria We included randomised controlled trials (RCTs), cluster‐RCTs (C‐RCTs), and non‐randomised controlled trials (quasi‐RCTs) evaluating the effectiveness of interventions delivered to students in undergraduate or graduate‐entry medical programmes. We included studies of interventions aiming to improve medical students’ interpersonal communication during medical consultations. Included interventions targeted communication skills associated with empathy, relationship building, gathering information, and explanation and planning, as well as specific communication tasks such as listening, appropriate structure, and question style. Data collection and analysis We used standard methodological procedures expected by Cochrane. Two review authors independently reviewed all search results, extracted data, assessed the risk of bias of included studies, and rated the quality of evidence using GRADE. Main results We found 91 publications relating to 76 separate studies (involving 10,124 students): 55 RCTs, 9 quasi‐RCTs, 7 C‐RCTs, and 5 quasi‐C‐RCTs. We performed meta‐analysis according to comparison and outcome. Among both effectiveness and comparative effectiveness analyses, we separated outcomes reporting on overall communication skills, empathy, rapport or relationship building, patient perceptions/satisfaction, information gathering, and explanation and planning. Overall communication skills and empathy were further divided as examiner‐ or simulated patient‐assessed. The overall quality of evidence ranged from moderate to very low, and there was high, unexplained heterogeneity. Overall, interventions had positive effects on most outcomes, but generally small effect sizes and evidence quality limit the conclusions that can be drawn. Communication skills interventions in comparison to usual curricula or control may improve both overall communication skills (standardised mean difference (SMD) 0.92, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.53 to 1.31; 18 studies, 1356 participants; I² = 90%; low‐quality evidence) and empathy (SMD 0.64, 95% CI 0.23 to 1.05; 6 studies, 831 participants; I² = 86%; low‐quality evidence) when assessed by experts, but not by simulated patients. Students’ skills in information gathering probably also improve with educational intervention (SMD 1.07, 95% CI 0.61 to 1.54; 5 studies, 405 participants; I² = 78%; moderate‐quality evidence), but there may be little to no effect on students' rapport (SMD 0.18, 95% CI ‐0.15 to 0.51; 9 studies, 834 participants; I² = 81%; low‐quality evidence), and effects on information giving skills are uncertain (very low‐quality evidence). We are uncertain whether experiential interventions improve overall communication skills in comparison to didactic approaches (SMD 0.08, 95% CI ‐0.02 to 0.19; 4 studies, 1578 participants; I² = 4%; very low‐quality evidence). Electronic learning approaches may have little to no effect on students’ empathy scores (SMD ‐0.13, 95% CI ‐0.68 to 0.43; 3 studies, 421 participants; I² = 82%; low‐quality evidence) or on rapport (SMD 0.02, 95% CI ‐0.33 to 0.38; 3 studies, 176 participants; I² = 19%; moderate‐quality evidence) compared to face‐to‐face approaches. There may be small negative effects of electronic interventions on information giving skills (low‐quality evidence), and effects on information gathering skills are uncertain (very low‐quality evidence). Personalised/specific feedback probably improves overall communication skills to a small degree in comparison to generic or no feedback (SMD 0.58, 95% CI 0.29 to 0.87; 6 studies, 502 participants; I² = 56%; moderate‐quality evidence). There may be small positive effects of personalised feedback on empathy and information gathering skills (low quality), but effects on rapport are uncertain (very low quality), and we found no evidence on information giving skills. We are uncertain whether role‐play with simulated patients outperforms peer role‐play in improving students’ overall communication skills (SMD 0.17, 95% CI ‐0.33 to 0.67; 4 studies, 637 participants; I² = 87%; very low‐quality evidence). There may be little to no difference between effects of simulated patient and peer role‐play on students' empathy (low‐quality evidence) with no evidence on other outcomes for this comparison. Descriptive syntheses of results that could not be included in meta‐analyses across outcomes and comparisons were mixed, as were effects of different interventions and comparisons on specific communication skills assessed by the included trials. Quality of evidence was downgraded due to methodological limitations across several risk of bias domains, high unexplained heterogeneity, and imprecision of results. In general, results remain consistent in sensitivity analysis based on risk of bias and adjustment for clustering. No adverse effects were reported. Authors' conclusions This review represents a substantial body of evidence from which to draw, but further research is needed to strengthen the quality of the evidence base, to consider the long‐term effects of interventions on students’ behaviour as they progress through training and into practice, and to assess effects of interventions on patient outcomes. Efforts to standardise assessment and evaluation of interpersonal skills will strengthen future research efforts

Application of pharmacogenomics and bioinformatics to exemplify the utility of human <i>ex vivo</i> organoculture models in the field of precision medicine

Here we describe a collaboration between industry, the National Health Service (NHS) and academia that sought to demonstrate how early understanding of both pharmacology and genomics can improve strategies for the development of precision medicines. Diseased tissue ethically acquired from patients suffering from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), was used to investigate inter-patient variability in drug efficacy using ex vivo organocultures of fresh lung tissue as the test system. The reduction in inflammatory cytokines in the presence of various test drugs was used as the measure of drug efficacy and the individual patient responses were then matched against genotype and microRNA profiles in an attempt to identify unique predictors of drug responsiveness. Our findings suggest that genetic variation in CYP2E1 and SMAD3 genes may partly explain the observed variation in drug response

Healthcare providers' views on the acceptability of financial incentives for breastfeeding:a qualitative study

BACKGROUND: Despite a gradual increase in breastfeeding rates, overall in the UK there are wide variations, with a trend towards breastfeeding rates at 6–8 weeks remaining below 40% in less affluent areas. While financial incentives have been used with varying success to encourage positive health related behaviour change, there is little research on their use in encouraging breastfeeding. In this paper, we report on healthcare providers’ views around whether using financial incentives in areas with low breastfeeding rates would be acceptable in principle. This research was part of a larger project looking at the development and feasibility testing of a financial incentive scheme for breastfeeding in preparation for a cluster randomised controlled trial. METHODS: Fifty–three healthcare providers were interviewed about their views on financial incentives for breastfeeding. Participants were purposively sampled to include a wide range of experience and roles associated with supporting mothers with infant feeding. Semi-structured individual and group interviews were conducted. Data were analysed thematically drawing on the principles of Framework Analysis. RESULTS: The key theme emerging from healthcare providers’ views on the acceptability of financial incentives for breastfeeding was their possible impact on ‘facilitating or impeding relationships’. Within this theme several additional aspects were discussed: the mother’s relationship with her healthcare provider and services, with her baby and her family, and with the wider community. In addition, a key priority for healthcare providers was that an incentive scheme should not impact negatively on their professional integrity and responsibility towards women. CONCLUSION: Healthcare providers believe that financial incentives could have both positive and negative impacts on a mother’s relationship with her family, baby and healthcare provider. When designing a financial incentive scheme we must take care to minimise the potential negative impacts that have been highlighted, while at the same time recognising the potential positive impacts for women in areas where breastfeeding rates are low