SOAP: How Doctors Present Clinical Data to their Peers

In my last blog we learned that doctors need clinical data in order to make a decision to use your product.  All clinical studies are organized according to a template known as SOAP.  SOAP is a common template used by all healthcare professionals to present clinical information in a formatted and concise way.  It is also an easy way for doctors to present, understand, and remember clinical information.  SOAP is also used to create notes in a patient chart, general patient communication, presenting patient cases, diagnosing/treating patients, and presenting clinical studies.  Clinical studies are organized based on the SOAP template as described below. 

 1.  Subjective 

Subjective information in the study can be found in the introduction and background section of the abstract.  The subjective information includes the problem the study investigates.  Doctors solve clinical problems every day and will be looking for a problem that this study addresses.  They will find that information in the introduction or background sections of the study or study abstract. 

2.  Objective 

The objective information comes from the study design and outcome measures section of the study or study abstract.  The objective information builds credibility for the study by including data sources and detailed information about the author, and the journal where the study was published.  Objective information in a clinical study might include the author, the journal, date of publication, where the study was published, the number of patients, and whether it was random, double blind or placebo controlled.  It is this information that will help the doctor decide how much weight or credibility to place on the study.  If this information is strong, the doctor is more likely to alter their behavior and follow the actions of the study authors in hopes of getting the same outcome.

3.  Assessment

The results section of the clinical study or abstract assesses the outcome measures that solve the problem in the subjective statement.  This information is very important to doctors because it is an unbiased measurement of the product in the studies performance.  This section usually contains numbers and percentages, and can be very direct and to the point.      

4.  Plan

The author's conclusions or recommendations are found in the discussion or conclusion section of the study or abstract.  The author’s recommendations are listed in the Plan section of SOAP because it is where the authors give their recommendations similar to the way doctors recommend a treatment plan to patients in their office.  This statement is usually vague in nature and does not overly endorse a product.  An example might be, “The authors found that Product X was well tolerated and might be suitable for patients experiencing side effects from other medications.” 

Doctors need clinical data in order to be able to change their behavior and begin to use our product.  All clinical studies are written in an abstract that follows the SOAP template.  The SOAP process is the way doctors read and process clinical information and can be used when detailing the clinical data in your sales aids.