I found a very interesting paper (“Preventing Patient Centricity from Becoming a Fad“, Applied Clinical Trials) outlining ideas and recommendations around patient-centricity measurements in clinical trials. Proper integrations of patient centricity measurement and management in clinical trials can improve the quality and vale of clinical trials, and their success rate.
The author is concerned about many topics surrounding the spread of patient-centricity measurements in clinical trials. For example, the author is concerned that patients are not properly integrated in the design and management of clinical trials. Also, he is concerned that the proper measures are not being used, or that the wrong data is being used to extract patient-centric feedback. I was also glad to see the warning that organizations also consider what they will do when they actually measure patient centricity.
The suggestions
The author provides a three-step process to help organizations measure patient centricity in trials. The different steps focus on the features that highlight the role of the provider and patient in delivering care and the clinical trial activities. The first part, the Patient Engagement Assessment, measures how well the provider cared for patients, based on what the patient needed, basically, service quality levels. The second, the Trial Design Assessment, measures how well the needs of the patient were incorporated into the design of the trial. And thirdly, a self-assessment of Patient Activation Perceptions, measures how well the patients participated in the trial, the patient contribution to the trial success.
Next steps
The intent of the paper was to push organizations to establish a more measured and scientific approach to tracking the contribution of patient centricity to trials.
By shifting from a product-focus to a patient-focus, clinical trials will become more relevant, less costly, and more impactful. But will patient centricity ever reach its full potential? Skeptics are beginning to speculate that this approach is simply another fad. [from “Preventing Patient Centricity from Becoming a Fad”]
I found out about this paper via an article (“Made to Measure”, EyeforPharma) that dug deeper into the author’s motivations. The authors are looking for companies interested in contributing to their Patient View Advisory Board, with a goal to add more rigor to measuring patient-centricity.
Patient-centricity is an important piece of overall trial quality. If you are not responding to the need and values of patients then you are not executing a clinical trial. If your measures and endpoints in the trial are not meaningful to patients, then that will affect the quality of the clinical trial. If you are not taking care of the patients in the trial, then that isn’t a quality clinical trial. [from “Made to Measure”]
Patient engagement, both involving patient in care design decisions and also being cognizant of the patient role in their own care is central to the success of healthcare and development of new therapies. Providing more rigor to the measurement process is a good step to making patient centricity part of providing care. My thought now is how can what these authors outlined enlighten how providers deliver care in hospitals and clinics at the patient-care-giver interface?
What is your assessment of patient centricity in your organization?
Image by Alberto G.