In an earlier post, I reiterated the true purpose of patient engagement: to improve patient retention, enhance the timeliness and accuracy of data capture, and deliver more real-time visibility throughout a trial. In this post, I want to focus on the need for adaptiveness in the design of these platforms.
No two patients will have identical experiences in a trial, so your patient engagement strategy and platform need the flexibility to deliver personalized experiences. But it also needs the ability to adapt when there’s a hiccup in that experience.
Think about all the bumps that come with day-to-day living. Consider how they can affect a patient’s participation – and the fact that it may not take a lot for a patient to get off course.
How can you help get back on track?
First, you need to establish target metrics for patient engagement. Second, you need the ability to identify when a patient is at risk – quickly – so you can guide them back to compliance. If you don’t have visibility until months later, it may be too late to retain the patient. Third, you need to define clear tactics for re-engaging an at-risk patient.
Your engagement platform should offer strong linkages between your app and your reporting. It should separate the signal from the noise so you can:
- See when a patient’s engagement task compliance or questionnaire compliance has fallen a few percentage points below your target rate. If a patient is struggling, you can send an additional article about the importance of staying on top of these activities and/or a personalized communication offering support.
- Watch how patients are rating the resources in your patient engagement app. When a patient’s rating turns neutral or negative, you can reach out to understand why they aren’t satisfied with your content.
- Track the amount of screen time patients are spending in your mobile app. Perhaps a patient initially logged two full minutes every time they opened the app. If that patient’s in-app screen time has dropped to a minute or less, you can take a closer look to figure out why (and what to do about it).
As with any relationship, patient engagement is a two-way street, and no one appreciates a “one-size-fits-all” approach. Investing in adaptive patient engagement helps proactively identify and personally engage at-risk patients. That can yield a significant improvement in your trial’s retention. See firsthand how Datacubed addresses flexibility and adaptiveness in our platform by viewing this short video.