The Patient Centric Approach to Preparing Trial Sites for Rapid Patient Engagement

It's no secret, that when a new drug is approved, pharmaceutical sales reps are given extensive training about the science and pharmacology of the drug, in order to communicate key information to prospective prescribers. Such information needs are determined by pharmaceutical marketing teams based on conducting market research among medical professionals, and not based on supposition.

In clinical research, the scenario should be the same (albeit with different players); physicians and study coordinators should be given training on what patients want to know about a specific clinical trial, and how best communicate this information so that patients will understand. The information needs and desires of patients must not be based on invalidated assumptions, but instead based on insights gleaned directly from patients themselves. The only way to prepare sites to successfully engage with patients and earn their trust, is to know what matters most to each individual patient; and often it is not what appears obvious.

Preparing sites to uncover a patient's hidden concerns and give them the tools to proactively address these, is a fundamental step in patient engagement for clinical trials. It is the responsibility of clinical teams and pharmaceutical companies to equip study sites with the necessary patient-centric tools to effectively dialogue with patients about their specific clinical trial.

In conducting effective patient-centric site training programs, important planning must first ensue. The planning process requires that patient insights be expeditiously collected from a range of patients, since patients don't have one voice about their disease state or clinical trial options, but many. Therefore, tapping into different types of patients for insights is essential. For example, we include "professional patients," those actively involved in organized disease associations, (who work and live their disease), individual "solo patients" who are not members of any online or organized patient association, "collective patients" who converse and spontaneously share insights online with like-patients, and "focus group patients," those invited to explore more deeply and or validate specific insights collected.

It takes experienced leadership to prepare and execute patient engagement workshops for sites.  The performance objective is not to simply have site staff attend a workshop, but rather to acquire a new skill or competency that fosters trust and understanding between clinical investigators and patients for clinical trial participation, and in turn accelerate patient engagement in a clinical trial. Importantly, the performance output of these workshops is measurable and their effectiveness proven.

For more information about these workshops please email LizMoench@patientDTC.com Driving Site Performance in Clinical Trials