Science is the pursuit of knowlege by generating and then testing hypotheses with experiments (trials).
Applied sciences use knowledge from trials to achieve a benefit eg better health outcomes or better profits.
"I came into this industry when marketing consisted
of giving away golf balls. It's almost unbelievable how marketing
has changed; it's now almost as scientific as anything we
do."
- Gerald Leubach, PhD
Former President, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals
Controlled trials have been used in marketing since the 1920s at least. For example, in 1923 Claude Hopkins described a controlled trial of letters for a direct mail campaign to recriut subscribers for a magazine as follows:
"Before the publisher sends out five million letters he puts a few thousands to the test. He may try twenty-five letters, each with a thousand prospects. He learns what results will cost. Perhaps the plan is abandoned because it appears unprofitable. If not the letter which pays best is the letter that he uses. Just as men are doing now in all scientific advertising."
Hopkins CC. My life in advertising (1927) & Scientific advertising (1923). Chicago. NTC Business Books 1996 p 309
Controlled trials of that size are not yet common in medicine!
Health Care is the applied science of intervening with the aim of doing more good than harm to improve clinically important health outcomes.
"Evidence based health care promotes the collection, interpretation, and integration of valid, important and applicable patient-reported, clinician-observed, and research-derived evidence. The best available evidence, moderated by patient circumstances and preferences, is applied to improve the quality of clinical judgements and facilitate cost-effective health care." Evidence Based Medicine is the evidence based use of medicines.
Marketing in Evidence Based Health Care
Marketing has been identified as both a barrier and a bridge to Evidence Based Health Care.
A Barrier
"Large obstacles impede the implementation of evidence
based practices, such as the unethical promotion of drugs" according
to an article on Implementing research findings in developing countries.
A Bridge
An overview of systematic reviews of interventions to
promote the implementation of research findings has found that marketing is amongst the consistently
effective interventions for promoting behavioural change among
health professionals.
Marketing concepts help reseachers get
published. See:
Evans SA. Selling cheese, a beginner's guide: A workshop
that has changed my practice. BMJ 1998;317:893
( 26 September )