What is Patient Market Research?

There is a growing recognition in healthcare that patient experience is key to every aspect of medical decision-making. At one time the science and development of medicine was the primary focus; now the patient’s experience of illness and its treatment are considered to be equally important to the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors.

"A more collaborative approach to drug developments that takes into account the patient view will result in optimised medicines with better usability for the patient and acceptability that will finally help to achieve the desired therapeutic compliance."

Hearing the Patient’s Voice

The future of medicine will empower patients to be joint decision-makers in their care. This increased control over the way their health is managed means that the voice of patients is now more important than ever before. The pharmaceutical and medical device industries are looking for new ways to enhance the experience of the patient, and this involves opening up a dialogue with them.

What Can be Learnt From Patients?

A thorough understanding of illness and its treatments requires a range of different perspectives, both theoretical and practical. Patients’ perspectives offer medical device and pharma providers:

• Recognition of patients’ expectations of a product.
• An understanding of the barriers to a product’s use.
• Suggestions for design features that would enhance user experience.
• An insight into the clarity, or not, of instructions.
• New ways to deliver value to patients.

Patients live their illnesses in a way that is often completely invisible to the people treating them. Being able to walk in the shoes of a patient with asthma, a heart condition, or cancer, provides vital data when determining the nature of their treatment.

4 Ways Market Researchers Learn From Patients

LDA Research specialises in medical market research. Given the growing importance of patient-centric market research, there are a growing number of ways that we use to hear patients’ stories of their illness. These are the 4 methodologies we use most regularly:

1. In-Depth Interviews

The advantage of the in-depth interview is that it’s flexible. It can be carried out on a mobile, landline or in-person. Dependent on the circumstances, questions can be asked straight after a consultation, during treatment, or at home. At best, an in-depth interview allows patients to provide insights from their experience, as they’re experiencing it.

2. Focus Groups

This is a tried and tested approach which allows a group of patients, all living with the same condition, to talk about and compare their experiences. At one time focus groups were a live event. Now they’re more likely to be online, offering greater geographical flexibility for moderators, and convenience for participants. Participants often talk about the benefit they derive from simply being able to talk about their experiences with people who understand.

3. Online Communities

These social media online groups can be a powerful resource for patient researchers, healthcare professionals, and patients. Often groups are focused on a specific rare disease, which means that patients are sparsely spread across the country, or the world. The group becomes a focus for latest developments and news, a place to share experiences, and offer support for those who need it.

4. Ethnographic Studies

Rather than dipping in to the patient experience at one specific moment, ethnography places an emphasis on the experience of the patient journey through a treatment process, or a period of living with their condition. Patients are asked to provide a commentary which may take the form of diary entries, or video/audio uploads.

Designing Patient-Centred Research Studies

Patient-centred market research should always begin with a recognition of the patients’ requirements. Our research studies always begin with this question: Will the patient’s age or condition impact the activities we are asking them to take part in? If we decide that they will, we work to build solutions into the research methodologies at an early stage. These may include:

• Limiting the length of interviews, or scheduling in regular breaks.
• Designing questions that involve interviewing carers/caregivers, rather than directly involving the patient.
• Arranging virtual online participation where possible, to save patients having to make arrangements to travel to a venue.
• Being prepared to change the time or date of the interview to adapt to the patient’s needs.
• Giving careful consideration to the format of pre or post interview communications.

The key to successful patient market research is remembering that the patient is your priority, and their voice needs to be carefully nurtured.

Amanda Price - Digital Content Executive and Researcher for Imagefix | After joining the Imagefix team, she brought to the business an expertise in social media, copywriting and blogging.