What is patient centrMethods for Increasing Patient Centricity in Clinical Trials

When product-centric studies ignore patient requirements, dropout rates are high, and data integrity is compromised. A patient-centric approach to study design improves the overall experience of clinical trial participation. It leads to increased patient recruitment and retention rates, better clinical trial outcomes, and getting life-changing medicines to market quicker and on budget.

• Make information accessible

Patient centricity begins with developing readily available information, services, and support that suit patients’ informational requirements. Your participants will feel understood and supported if you use accessible language and create need-based material. Furthermore, they will have a better understanding of the study and its consequences. As a result, individuals become more involved in the study and its objective, making them less inclined to withdraw.

• Involve patient associations

Involving patient associations and their clinical trial design members helps establish a patient-centric approach before the study begins. They will be able to provide a wealth of information into their members’ life experiences and will be able to assist you in obtaining feedback both during and after the trial.

• Ensure patients feel valued

Ensuring that your participating patients feel appreciated for their ideas and concerns significantly influences patient engagement and retention. Throughout the clinical trial process, we provide patients with continuing assistance via their preferred contact channel, whether by phone, email, smartphone app, or postal mail. We remain in touch with study participants frequently, giving follow-ups after each session to ensure that any difficulties are handled before the next meeting.

• Reduce inconvenience wherever possible

Many clinical trials are not planned with the requirements of participants in mind when it comes to logistics. Participants are sometimes inconvenienced by the need to drive great distances for site visits, or they wind up out of money due to incurring expenditures, which creates irritation. If left uncontrolled and allowed to build up, these frustrations will almost certainly lead to dropouts.

Creating a hospitable and engaging environment for patients, site staff, and pharmaceutical companies to discuss current challenges of clinical trial participation and potential solutions in real-time as partners is critical and has proven to be a valuable novel engagement option for other organizations to consider adopting.

References

Gregg, Alyson, et al. “A novel collaborative approach to building better clinical trials: new insights from a patient engagement workshop to propel patient-centricity forward.” Therapeutic Innovation & regulatory science 54.3 (2020): 485-491.