South African private practising clinical dietitians’ perceptions of the relevance of service-specific healthcare marketing principles and communication elements

Abstract

South African private practising clinical dietitians' perceptions of the relevance of service-specific healthcare marketing principles and communication elements IntroductionAccording to Borra, "dietetics professionals are the public's leading sources of food and information on nutrition and services", and the overriding goal for the dietetic profession should be to increase the demand for dietetic services. 1 Dietitians in clinical private practice are faced with the challenge of introducing themselves to the public as a source of sound scientific information on nutrition. They compete with the media and other less scientific sources. Therefore, considerable time, money, and expertise should be invested in marketing their profession and practice. 2,3 Though many of these dietitians are professionally sound in their practices, often they do not have sufficient business skills, including marketing skills, to optimise the practice. 4 A dietitian needs to have good business skills and strong self-assurance for the practice to be an overall success. 4 The current status quo for private practising dietitians is as follows:• As dietitians compete with many sources to supply the public with information on nutrition, marketing is essential for the promotion of both private practices and the dietetic profession in South Africa.• The marketing of all healthcare services is legislatively controlled by the Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA). All marketing efforts need to adhere to their guidelines.• Knowledge, perception and attitudes influence the marketing approach followed by private practising dieticians.• Guiding information on the marketing of products is easily available, and much simpler to implement than the marketing of services, especially professional services, Therefore, it is essential for private practising dietitians to be aware Method: Data were collected by means of an electronic questionnaire. The response rate was low (16.8%), and the results could not be generalised. Results:The dietitians seemed more focused on the science of nutrition, than on marketing their profession and individual practices. There was an overall awareness of the need for marketing in the dietetic private sector, but the importance and implementation thereof did not receive the amount of attention that it justifies. A number of service-specific healthcare marketing principles received "slightly relevant" or "not relevant" ratings. Conclusion:For the dietetic profession to reach its full potential in South Africa, and for dietetic private practices to be successful on all levels, dietitians need to focus more of their time and energy on business-related aspects such as marketing. By integrating the theory from the literature with the findings from the study, a profession-specific marketing flow diagram and recommendations could be proposed.Peer reviewed. (Submitted: 2011-07-19. Accepted: 2011.) © SAJCN S Afr J Clin Nutr 2011;24(4):192-198 193 Original Research: SA private practising clinical dietitians' percepti...