Advertisements for University Medical Centers Often Use Same Techniques as Pharmaceutical Companies, USA

Main Category: Medical Students / Training
Article Date: 30 Mar 2005 - 11:00 PDT

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Many university medical centers use some of the same advertising techniques for which physicians often criticize pharmaceutical companies, according to a study published on Monday in the... Archives of Internal Medicine, the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports. For the study, led by Robin Larson of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Vermont, researchers examined 122 ads published in newspapers in 2002 by 17 medical centers on the 2002 U.S. News and World Report list of the top U.S. hospitals. The medical centers included Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, the University of Chicago Hospitals and Vanderbilt Medical Center. According to the study, 21 of the ads promoted specific services, such as Botox treatment and laser eye surgery, only one of the ads included information on potential risks. The study also found that 62% of the ads "used an emotional appeal to attract patients" and that one-third of the ads used slogans that focused on technology, "fostering a misperception that high-tech medicine is always better," the AP/Sun reports. Larson said that researchers focused on university medical centers "because we thought they would be the best-case scenario," adding, "We thought if we find problems there, we would assume that they're only worse" at community hospitals. Johns Hopkins spokesperson Elaine Freeman said that ads for medical centers help educate the public and that the university has a review process to ensure the balance and fairness of such ads. University of Chicago Hospitals spokesperson Catherine Gianaro said, "If any institution or company didn't remain economically viable, they wouldn't be able to serve the public health" (Tanner, AP/Las Vegas Sun, 3/28).

An abstract of the study is available online.

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