| Summary: | 碩士 === 臺北醫學大學 === 醫務管理學研究所 === 104 === Background: Colombia is located in the northwestern part of South America, and it is the 4th largest country in South America after Brazil, Argentina and Peru. Colombian medical market profile is growing rapidly and its high-tech segment is almost entirely supplied by imported devices, while domestic manufacturers cover some share of the lower-end segment. The demand for instruments and electro-medical devices remains one of the leading drivers. The private sector is the largest buyer of higher-quality technology and it counts on modern facilities in the main urban areas. The medical device studied in this research paper is an oximetry sensor, which is the measurement of transmitted light through a translucent measuring site to determine a patient''s oxygen status. Due to the increasing awareness and enhancement of healthcare workers’ efficiency through the adoption of reliable detection algorithms, there is more and more demand from the hospitals and clinics for the pulse oximetry monitor and its accessories, and therefore, there is a need for market assessment. This research paper seeks to assess, for the first time, the current SpO2 market situation in largest second city in Colombia (Medellin), revealing the main push and pull factors influencing the decision and how the hospital organizational structure and country’s legal environment affects the decision making process.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted to assess the intention to buy SpO2 culture in
Medellin hospitals from the perspective of healthcare professionals (Decision makers and Advise
makers). The survey instrument was an online questionnaire survey with key respondents approach.
The primary sites of this research were the hospitals and clinics of the metropolitan area of Medellin.
Respondents were reached through the email with the request to fill out the online questionnaire form.
120 emails were sent to the healthcare facilities with the request to fill out the online questionnaire
form, and 81 representatives fitting the criteria responded to the request, which resulted in 67.5%
response rate. The data was collected between December 2015 and April 2016. SPSS PC Statistical
Package version 23.0 was used for the data analysis that included descriptive and inferential statistics.

Results: The study was comprised of 81 respondents who filled out online questionnaire for the period from December 2015 to April 2016. We found the following associations between predictor variables and intention to choose: there was a negative relationship between the professional background of the buyer and the intention to buy the High End Brand (β = -0.279, p = 0.019). Following the correlation analysis, our regression results also showed that the different options of brands presented by SpO2 sensor supplier predicted the intention to choose the High End Brand (β = 0.356, p = 0.016).
We did not find any significant predictors for the buyers’ intention to buy the Middle End Brand SpO2 sensor.
Regarding the intention to purchase Low End Brand!SpO2 sensor, we found that, in accordance with the correlation analysis, the factor of quality presentation can predict this variable (β = 0. 362, p = 0.017).
Conclusions: This study can help the future market researchers to create new marketing and sales strategies, in accordance with these findings. As an example, if the company would like to introduce the new product in this type of market in Medellin, Colombia, it would be useful to try approaching low-cost strategy, with high quality and very good commercial presentation of the product.
Conducting a national wide survey could be more relevant with regards to the relevant medical device market operation in Colombia. Further thorough and broad research of the SpO2 market in Colombia is necessary in the near future to obtain more details and data about how hospitals and clinics purchase medical devices in Colombia.
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