Clinical trials are essential in driving advances in pharma and healthcare and can lead to better outcomes for those who will ultimately receive the improved results – i.e. the patients. However, there is a persistent challenge faced by teams worldwide; high dropout rates. Ask any clinical trial coordinator and they will share in their frustration at participants who can become disengaged over time, leading to incomplete data, delays and additional costs – heavily impacting the trials effectiveness or leading to massive delays.
In recent webinars exploring the value of empathy and understanding patients in clinical trials there has been a consensus that it is all too easy in traditional trial management to reduce patient experiences into data points, translating symptoms and lifestyle changes into numbers and statistics, leading to an easy disconnect from the condition to the impact on an actual person’s life.
Consider this: A patient enrolled into a trial for new medication and during the trial experienced side effects that impacted their life. However, given these effects were quantified and overlooked, due to the rigidity of the process, the participant felt frustrated and ultimately disengaged with the trial. This is exactly what happened to one of the individuals who contributed to our A Life in a Day experience.
Listening to Patient Narratives
Traditional trials often miss out on the patient story. By listening to the narratives of patients you can pick up a deeper understanding of the needs and challenges that go beyond a simple presence of a side effect but are instead something that can impact their sleep, daily life or mental well-being.
Whilst moving from an established approach to something more qualitative could be a daunting change, the benefits are many:
Better Trial Design: In better understanding, or preparing for, patient experiences, trials can be designed in a much more accessible way with flexibility or less rigidity that allows for better management of side effects. Patients have shared how they are more likely to remain in a trial that they feel cater for their needs, leading to better retention and results.
Enhanced Patient Engagement: When patients feel heard, they become more committed to the whole process. This naturally leads to better retention (and we have spoken to patients that have moved trials for this very reason) but also leads to better feedback, resulting in…
Higher Quality Data: When putting data into a neat category, as in traditional approaches, we often miss the fuller picture on how treatment affects real life. As an industry, we are often interested in the ‘unmet needs’ and these can often be uncovered by truly listening to your patients.
As highlighted in a recent report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), there’s a need to move beyond traditional data collection methods and capture information that reflects patients’ daily lives for the development of more effective treatments.
Involving Patients in your Journey
We are fortunate to be able to speak to many patients about their experiences of clinical trials and the consensus is clear: engage with patients throughout the trial, from the initial design phase to data collection. Involving patients as active participants fosters a sense of ownership and empowerment, leading to more meaningful contributions.
Driving Empathy and Understanding
A Life in a Day provides professionals working in pharma and life sciences a unique experience that places them into the shoes of an individual with a chronic condition. Getting as close to the conditions, at a holistic level, as possible has been proven to drive empathy and understanding leading to some amazing results amongst our clients.
Want to see how we help drive better outcomes for your clinical trials? Get in touch to have a conversation to explore how professionals such as yourself have used A Life in a Day’s immersive experiences in improving retention and efficacy of their clinical trial data.
