AZ launches US digital tool ‘DoctorsNotes’ in US

AstraZeneca has launched a new online tool in the US called DoctorsNotes to help medical professionals keep better up to date with their areas of study.  

Launched this month, DoctorsNotes is a new online tool that aims to make online reading accessible, shareable and social via the Google Chrome browser.

With DoctorsNotes AZ says on its corporate blog that medical professionals can annotate and organise their online reading and if they choose, they can also discuss and compare notes with their peers.

In particular, those researching or working in hospitals and institutions can use it to establish communities around specific areas of interest or study.

AZ says it has created this new tool after they found that medical professionals now have less time than ever to keep up-to-date with the most relevant literature in their given field, even though they are required to do so by their regulators.

DoctorsNotes BETA is now open and free to install in the US with other markets expected later this year. Those in the US can sign up for the service here: www.doctorsnotes.co.

This is the first product to be launched by DIG, a collaboration between AstraZeneca and global marketing and technology agency DigitasLBi.

AZ has a history with digital initiatives that include the creation of the AZ Health Connections blog (where it posted the launch of DoctorsNotes), as well as having a fairly large presence on Twitter, and launching several iPhone apps over the past five years.

This latest foray into digital will see AZ gain closer relationships with doctors whilst also helping them with their continuing medical education (or CME).

Many pharma firms sponsor CME programmes but this is a slightly less direct way of helping doctors organise their medical learning.

Ben Adams