Effective, and meaningful patient engagement is crucial for successful clinical research conferences, and they enable study teams to collect precise data, sufficient study power, and significant outcomes.

However, insufficient or inadequate engagement can make any study meaningless. Besides compromising data quality, poor event detection, overall validity, and low patient participation can increase timelines and expenses.

Global conferences company conducting this research are constantly looking for ways to optimize patient engagement. Despite the solid efforts of the global conference company conducting the study, patient engagement remains a challenge in clinical research conferences.

Why Existing Patient Engagement Is Not Enough?

Current approaches to integrating technology in clinical often overlook the natural behaviors of patients and what truly motivates them to participate in a study. When technology implementations prioritize the needs of study teams over those of patients, they inherently need patient-centeredness.

Even when allowing patients to use their mobile devices for study tasks, the presence of familiar technology might not ensure active participation. Moreover, many study designs need to provide more support for patients.

Patients want immediate access to trial staff for questions, concerns, or issues. While technology can offer convenient communication channels like text, email, or video calls, these avenues are often difficult for patients to access when needed, or the staff responding may lack knowledge about the specific trial.

The Right Approach to Patient Engagement

To address these challenges, the industry must understand that there's no one-size-fits-all technology solution to enhance patient engagement universally. Instead, patients require a holistic patient engagement strategy that melds behavioral science, user-friendly technology, and efficient patient support.

This strategy should harmonize with human behaviors and effortlessly navigate participants through every phase of the clinical trial journey. This method of integrating technology into clinical trials supports patient engagement in three significant ways:

  • Motivating patients to engage with the teams and complete the clinical research conference.
  • Global conferences company can reduce the factors that lead to a slower trial process.
  • Providing support to the team.

Motivating Patients to engage with a clinical trial: The 4 C’s

Before delving into the reasons behind individuals’ involvement in a study, let's establish that engagement refers to active participation in study tasks until the trial concludes.

The nature, frequency, and duration of these tasks differ depending on factors such as the therapeutic area, intervention under examination, targeted endpoints, study duration, and other variables.

Nevertheless, every trial requires minimum patient engagement to ensure precise endpoints and validity. We can encapsulate these expectations for participants as the "four Cs":

  • Comply with study protocol.
  • Correctly submit data as required.
  • Communicate with the study team.
  • Continue participation till the end.

The Primary Ways to Improve Patient Engagement

As mentioned earlier, one of the best ways to keep patients engaged in clinical research conferences is gamification, which means making the trial seem like a competition that will keep all the patients trying to do better.

Game playing, such as scoring points, encouraging competition, and establishing rules, enhances engagement with a particular activity. There are many benefits of gaming approach in many fields ranging from fitness challenges to language learning in mobile applications.

When it comes to clinical trials, bringing a gaming spirit empowers patients by instilling a feeling of autonomy over their involvement in the study, encouraging them to fulfil their assigned tasks.

Examples of this technique in clinical trials include compensation. This factor is a concrete incentive to motivate participation, even for patients primarily motivated by the desire to contribute to scientific advancement.

Research indicates that financial gain and the opportunity to access therapeutic alternatives are among the most effective motivators for participants. To implement this motivator effectively, a patient engagement the platform should incorporate:

  • Feel good messages about patients’ treatment.
  • Alerts for different parts of the clinical research conferences.

Every patient wants to hear that they are doing a good job. If patients are constantly told that they are an integral part of the study or if they feel necessary, their participation will improve. Cultivating a feeling of well-being among patients will make them feel good about the study, and consequently, their participation will improve.

Use of Technology

Various gadgets and wearables can help patients continue their daily routines while participating in the clinical research conferences. Global conferences company conducting the study can use technology to keep the patients motivated and supported. Global conferences company sponsoring the study can introduce apps or mobile programs to allow patients some flexibility while the apps record data for the research.

Conclusion

Patient engagement in clinical trials is essential, and any global conferences company can benefit from patient engagement to make any clinical research conference successful. We have discussed the impact of technology and the fundamental Cs of success for these companies to follow and ensure accuracy and effectiveness in every clinical trial.