Needs Assessment in Medical Communications Isn't a Formality But a Purposeful Check

Start your medical communications strategy with the patient or the provider in mind, not the project. Every product management, marketing, sales and support team in healthcare and health tech must do a needs assessment in medical communication before touching the keyboard.

Without that?

You're building a house, not a home. Today we will understand needs assessment health from the perspective of 'communication.' So now you can create content thta is technically sound and NOT emotionally blind.

What Is a Needs Assessment Health?

In clinical practice, we do this all the time. Before we treat, we diagnose. Before we diagnose, we ask. Before we ask, we observe.

Medical communications deserves the same rigour.

A needs assessment in MedComms is building a strategy from key observations; by simply asking:

• Who exactly is this for?

• Where are they emotionally, cognitively, and contextually?

• What’s the real goal of this communication?

• What do they already know or misunderstand?

• And most importantly, what do they avoid?

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Because medical communications without understanding 'need' is like prescribing without diagnosis.

Here is My Personal Experience on What Happens on Skipping Needs Assessment in Health Communication

We create fluff.

And noise.

To produce generic ideas for every team in the industry and the end users.

Also, we risk:

• Talking down instead of supporting.

• Overloading with jargon building complexity.

• Missing the opportunity to build trust and guide action.

• Creating content that looks pretty but performs poorly.

And, lastly, build strategies on 'assumptions,' NOT insights. In healthcare, assumptions can cost trust and sometimes, even health outcomes.

Once, in my early days, a client and I built a content calendar for PCOS in women for a women' health app. As a freelancer, I participated in their projects whenever they requested my assistance.

Little did I know that I was missing out on major observations.

We had skipped the needs assessment, and here's what happened.

The audience wasn’t every woman. It was chronically underserved, fatigued, gaslit women who had seen 5 gynaecologists and still didn’t have answers.

They didn’t need more ideas and tips from a guru. What they needed was empathy and real-life scientific solutions to problems that are doable at home - options.

What a Good Needs Assessment in Medical Communications Includes?

But first, whose job is Needs Assessment Health?

The client's or the MedComms Expert's?

Both, I'd say...

Often, even the client doesn’t fully know what the audience needs; and he may not be fully aware of the science.

They might hand over a brief that barely briefs; it is generic and with unrealistic goals.

That’s your job as a MedComms Expert with a scientific clinical background, to ask better questions. To zoom out before you zoom in. To honour not just the data, but the end user’s lived experience.

What can it include?

• The target audience's Psychological & Emotional State: The content tone must match mindset. Whether it's internal content for teams or external posts for users, alignment is key.

• Literacy: Are we writing for clinicians or laypeople? Do we explain terms or link them out? Never assume, always calibrate.

  
  

• Stage of the Audience's Journey: Each phase needs a different type of messaging

• Barriers to Action: Where is the problem currently?  Cost? Language? Lack of clarity? Your job isn’t just to inform but to gently move someone forward.

• Desired Outcome: Sometimes the brand wants conversion, but the users just want clarity. Find the bridge by overcoming the bias.

Benefits of a Good Needs Assessment in Medical Communications

A strong needs assessment helps healthcare companies, practices and health tech powerhouses in:

• Reducing overheads on repeats, revisions and corrections.

• Building teams who are aligned to the company's vision.

• Improve engagement within the teams and with the end user.

• Build trust

• Deliver ROI for the brand

Sleep at night knowing you didn’t just check a box; you made a difference for the client.

Needs Assessment in Medical Communications, Start Now!

In an age of fast content, AI-generated posts, and algorithm-chasing strategies, needs assessment health can be the differentiating factor.

Needs assessment is that invisible work that makes a visible impact. It’s not glamorous. It’s not loud. But it’s the heartbeat of truly effective health communication.

If you are looking to build your own unique space in the healthcare industry internally and with yoru customers, I am ready to discuss YOUR needs assessment. today!