A Doctor’s Name as a Brand: A Nationwide Survey on Registered Clinic Names in Taiwan

Abstract

In countries where the private clinics of physicians can be freely named, registering a clinic with a physician’s name is one way to make patients familiar with the physician. No previous study had investigated how clinics make use of this method of personal branding. Therefore, the current study analyzed 10,847 private physician Western medicine clinics in Taiwan. Of those clinics, 31.0% (n = 3363) were named with a physician’s full name, 8.9% (n = 960) with a surname, and 8.1% (n = 884) with a given name. The proportion of clinics registered with a physician’s name was lower in rural areas (37.3%) than in urban (48.5%) and suburban areas (49.2%), respectively. Among clinics with only one kind of specialist, a physician’s name was used most frequently in clinics of obstetrics and gynecology (64.9%), otorhinolaryngology (64.1%), and dermatology (63.4%). In Taiwan, fewer than half of clinics used a physician’s name as a brand. The sociocultural or strategic factors and real benefits of doing so could be further studied in the future for a better understanding of healthcare services management.

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“…A shift from the old-school word of mouth to the new way of searching for information about particular doctor, forced many physicians to pay closer attention to the marketing techniques in order to be properly recognized online for their identity and work. [5,6] With open and free accessibility of the Internet [7], any person can now build his or her own brand, however, the same way this brand can be misrepresented or misleading to the general public. Any practicing physician should take this particular issue seriously, as it can trigger a multitude of unwanted results in terms of personal branding.…”

In the Name of Family Medicine: A Nationwide Survey of Registered Names of Family Medicine Clinics in Taiwan

“…As such, clinics seek ways to stand out from other clinics in order to attract their target patients or clients. Relatedly, the registered names of clinics are regarded as important means by which clinics can promote themselves, build their brands, and enhance their advertisements [17].…”