Crafting your burning questions?

crafting-your-burning-questions

I’m fresh back from an inspiring and brilliantly organised Genesis 2021. Great job @OneNucleus - I’m now brimming with ideas!

In the life science industry we always talk about focusing more on customers: Customer Centricity - trying to understand their needs and wants better. One of the really memorable sessions at Genesis 2021 was called “Driving Real World Patient Centricity”

Summary of the session:

To start with a striking fact - Phillipa Brown of Astra Zeneca, a member of the panel, reported that there are around 450 clinical trials ongoing at AZ, in all areas from respiratory to renal and from monoclonal antibody development to vaccines.

A critical challenge is public engagement in clinical trials. A staggering 70% of those eligible to participate choose not to.

The reasons for that are wide ranging; lack of trust, safeguarding data, unclear benefits, lack of awareness and scepticism are just some.

The panel featured experts from areas including Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, neurological disorders and dementia. They mentioned several challenges - the key one is about precise communication. How to effectively explain the technology involved in the clinical trial? How to ensure that consent to participate really is informed? How to embed representative patient involvement into the design and full implementation of the trial?

A question is formulating:

Are you the one in the room who asks questions and goes for it?

During the day there was reference to imposter syndrome and the fear of asking “a stupid question”. My 17 year old son shares this concern. Perhaps he was day dreaming or thought his friends had a better understanding of the topic. He thinks some people ask questions to be disruptive and put the spotlight on themselves. Maybe that’s you? Or do you ask rambling questions that are somewhere between making a point and asking a question? (Hands up, that can be me if I’m careless).

The question:

“My son’s 17 and his provisional driving licence has appeared, along with a donor card. He’s made the choice to be a donor, as part of applying for the provisional license. There’s growing engagement in citizen science, for example counting garden birds each year. What is the panels view of changing how we look at the challenge of being patient-centric and perhaps considering earlier engagement – a citizen-centric approach perhaps? A citizen isn’t a patient yet. Should we speak about being citizen-centric over patient-centric?”

The panel was nodding as I developed the argument. My heart was beating-fast - I had to take 3 deep breaths before speaking to avoid sounding breathless (150 in the room!). Their reassuring nods indicated agreement with the premise, and it got me rolling. (Reading the room is trickier on Zoom, isn’t it?).

I’d spent 5 minutes or so, thinking about this question. I’d noticed an amazing panel in the weeds of their details and daily lives. I hope this fresh perspective helped. While figuring out my question I’d decided to make a point and ask a question. I mapped it out in my head – the story/ example of my son and donor cards – the trend to citizen science – earlier engagement through awareness and applied learning – volunteering – framing the question more broadly.

No stupid questions!

I’ve been lucky in having some good mentors and one (Phil Sefton) gave me the view that there are no stupid questions. I’m not sure I was entirely convinced at the time. Phil encouraged that culture and behaved to support or clarify questions in a safe environment. I’m sorry that 20 years later that this perception still exists. Let’s normalise all constructive questions, right now! In the big room and the small room. It can help to think the question through more, to ask it a clear question. Maybe write it down in bullets or even a script if that works for you. Don’t let it pass you by though. There’s nothing to be gained by not asking your question - oh and don’t forget to listen to the answer!

Release Life Sciences and Diagnostics Ltd (RLS) helps individuals, inventions, teams, technologies and organisations to release their full potential and achieve growth.

After understanding your unique situation, our mission is to enhance capabilities and increase capacity fast, and when you need it the most.

We do so by providing interim leadership, expertise and resources in Commercial, Product Management, Marketing, R&D, Operations and Programme Management.

Author: Simon Walker, Founding Director, RLS. December 2021.

Reference:

1) Genesis 2021, 9th December, 2021 – “Driving Real World Patient Centricity” authors notes taken during a session chaired by Mike Ward, Global Head of Thought Leadership, Clarivate with participation from Mark Avery, Director of Health Informatics & Operational Director for Gut Reaction Health Data Research Hub, Eastern AHSN; Phillipa Brown, VP, Head of Development Operations, AstraZeneca; Natalie Wilson, Business Development Manager, NIHR Clinical Research Network (CRN); Paresh Malhotra, Imperial College, London; John Gallacher, Professor of Cognitive Health, University of Oxford.

 

#CustomerCentric #PatientCentic #CitizenCentric #YourQuestion #Genomics2021

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