Merck, Sharp & Dohme

Physician / Patient Info System
1 month TCS consulting: medical self-service site

In 1982 pharmaceutical giant Merck, Sharp & Dohme explored the possibility of providing information about drugs via simple interactive terminals that would provide immediate information access at the doctor's desk and in the waiting room.

International consulting agency Communications Studies and Planning, Ltd flew me to London, UK, to model a medical support service that could provide physicians and their patients with pharmaceutical and therapeutic information.

Bulletin Board
E-mail
Generic Medical Information Retrieval
Cross-Referenced Pharmeceutical Directory
Product Information Catalog
Clinical Trial info
Sales Support
Online Help and Tutorials
Mailbox, bulletin board, Inquiry/Response module

The site also gave physicians direct access to Merck representatives for product support and other services.

I needed to design a structure that could service each of the three target audiences: physicians, patients/public and Merck representatives.

(Right: storyboard sketches of site structure and behavior)

Skills & Techniques : Prestel mosaic format and Aregon database software, delivered on dedicated terminals.

The idea was to place terminals in physician waiting rooms and on the doctor's desktop. This would allow the public to have access to self-help information and at the same time would build a stronger direct marketing relationship with the medical community.