HCP surveys remain a core tool for understanding physician attitudes, stated preferences, and self-reported behaviour. They are well-established, methodologically understood, and useful for capturing declared intent and opinion at a point in time. But they are inherently limited in ways that matter for companies trying to understand what clinicians actually need — rather than what they say they need.
Surveys are retrospective — asking about past behaviour, filtered through memory and interpretation. They capture declared behaviour — what clinicians say they do, which decades of behavioural research shows differs systematically from what they actually do. They are episodic — conducted periodically rather than continuously, missing the real-time dynamics of clinical practice. They are influenced by response bias — respondents may over-report behaviours they perceive as desirable and under-report those they do not. And they capture opinion at a moment — which may not reflect the clinician's behaviour during the clinical moments that matter most.
Clinical-intent data is fundamentally different. It captures what clinicians are trying to understand at the moment of clinical uncertainty — the question asked during a busy clinic, the guideline checked before a prescribing decision, the drug interaction verified before dispensing, the risk calculator run during a ward round, the red-flag list checked during safety-netting. This data is real-time (captured during the clinical moment, not recalled afterwards), behavioural (showing what clinicians actually do, not what they say they do), continuous (captured every time the clinician uses the platform, not at periodic research intervals), and clinically specific (revealing the exact decision point where uncertainty occurs, not just the broad topic area).
The Doximity Signal
Doximity's DocInsight is a public signal that behavioural engagement data from clinician platforms is becoming a strategic commercial asset. When a platform with 800,000+ active prescribers, 3 million+ registered members, and engagement growing 30% year-on-year knows what clinicians search for, what drug monographs they access, what clinical AI answers they engage with, what PeerCheck-certified content they trust, how they use documentation tools, and which workflow features they return to daily — the aggregate pattern creates intelligence that surveys cannot replicate.
The 2026 State of AI in Medicine report provides survey-level insight into physician AI attitudes — 94% using or interested, 71% concerned about accuracy, 63% actively using AI (up from 47%). DocInsight goes further: it uses the continuous behavioural data from daily platform engagement to inform life-sciences strategy, medical education, evidence planning, and product positioning. The data is always on, always current, and always behavioural.
The Missing Layer: Clinical Questions as Intent Signals
Within the broader category of clinician behavioural data, clinical questions occupy a specific and uniquely valuable position. They reveal clinical uncertainty before action. That timing distinction is critical.
Prescribing data tells you what the clinician decided (after the uncertainty was resolved). Claims data tells you what was billed (weeks after the clinical decision). Survey data tells you what the clinician thinks they do (when prompted to reflect). Educational attendance data tells you which events the clinician attended (not what they learned or what they still do not know).
Clinical questions tell you what the clinician needed to understand at the moment the decision had to be made. That is the moment where knowledge infrastructure either works or fails — and mapping that moment at scale produces intelligence that no other data source can provide.
The question "Can I prescribe methotrexate in a patient with eGFR 28?" reveals uncertainty about renal dosing thresholds during a real prescribing decision. The question "What monitoring is required for amiodarone?" reveals uncertainty about a specific monitoring protocol during a clinical encounter. The question "When should I refer suspected axial spondyloarthritis?" reveals uncertainty about a referral threshold that directly affects a patient's care pathway and diagnostic timeline.
Each question is a signal of clinical need. In aggregate, these signals map where the knowledge infrastructure — guidelines, formularies, SmPCs, training, CPD, clinical AI tools — is serving clinicians well and where it is failing them. That mapping is intelligence.
The UK Opportunity for iatroX
iatroX processes clinical queries from UK clinicians and healthcare professionals across primary care, secondary care, pharmacy, exam preparation, and CPD. In anonymised aggregate form, these queries reveal where UK clinicians need help — and where they do not. The patterns are commercially and clinically valuable for partners who need to understand UK clinical practice, educational needs, knowledge gaps, and adoption barriers.
iatroX Insights provides this clinical-intent intelligence through UK clinical query trend reports, therapeutic-area question maps, guideline-friction analysis, and opt-in clinician research — all anonymised, aggregated, and ethically governed.
Ethical Use Cases
Non-promotional medical education design — identifying where educational content is most needed based on real clinical query patterns. Guideline implementation assessment — understanding where published guidance is not translating into confident clinical practice. Product validation — testing whether a clinical AI tool addresses the questions clinicians actually ask. Unmet educational need identification — mapping knowledge gaps by specialty, care setting, career stage, or therapeutic area. Evidence-strategy support — informing evidence generation priorities based on real-world clinical uncertainty. Research prioritisation — directing academic research toward questions practitioners cannot confidently answer.
Off-Limits Use Cases
Individual clinician profiling. Patient-identifiable data. Undisclosed promotional targeting. Clinical answer manipulation based on commercial relationships. Any use that compromises the independence of iatroX's clinical answers.
Use iatroX Insights for ethical, UK-focused clinical-intent research →