Center Launches Video-Driven Website For Patients In Research Studies

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CISCRP, clinical trials, Education, research

A non-profit that aims to educate and inform about research studies in the United States has begun a new initiative called “Speak Out, But Speak Smart.”

The Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation launched a website for the program this week. It uses interactive video to educate study participants about the influence of word-of-mouth communications – good and bad – on research studies.

Here is the new site’s premise:

The site also includes a short glossary of terms, links to more educational materials and information on the research process.

The center was founded in 2003. Its mission, as defined at its website, is to educate and inform “the public, patients, medical/research communities, the media, and policy makers about clinical research participation and the role that each party plays as a participant in the process.”

The CISCRP website includes extensive information for anyone considering participating in a research study, as well as research professionals.

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Report: Tailor Research Recruitment Materials to Hispanic Audience

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Advertising, clinical trials, research

Healthcare providers need to consider both language and the information needs of Hispanic patients when preparing educational materials for research studies, a new study showed.

The Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., in an attempt to create a DVD to encourage Hispanics to participate in cancer clinical trials, surveyed a focus group of cancer survivors and came up with some significant conclusions.

The study found that language barriers and the cultural concept that doctors – and not patients – guide treatment decisions may account for low participation in research studies among Hispanics.

Using that information, researchers developed a DVD and printed materials designed to empower patients.

“We found that Hispanic patients who prefer information in Spanish had different informational needs and concerns than non-Hispanic patients,” said study lead author Gwendolyn P. Quinn, Ph.D., scientific director of the Survey Methods Core Facility and member of the Health Outcomes and Behavior Program at Moffitt.

“Keeping that in mind, we developed educational materials using a social marketing approach, which targets a specific audience instead of creating a generic product for everyone. This approach increases the chances a patient may relate to the material, making their behavior change more likely.”

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To learn more about Synergyst, please visit the Synergyst Research website.

Making Your Meetings Useful

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Business, creativity, intelligence

Fast Company magazine recently surveyed some of the world’s most-creative people for their ideas on improving the bane of most offices – the meeting.

The report noted that the average office worker spends more than 200 hours a year in meetings, and it included the established basics for a successful meeting: Be prepared, have a leader, have an agenda, set a fixed start and end time, have a conclusion and make a plan to follow up.

But the web post looked to go beyond the mundane, coming up with 10 strategies from business leaders and gurus worldwide:

1. Pretend you’ve failed: Imagine everything that could go wrong with a new product or service, the take steps to fix problem areas.
2. Keep it novel: Have a meeting in somewhere new, to stimulate exploratory thinking.
3. Pause: Take at least a moment to meditate on the way to meetings, to open your mind.
4. Don’t squander youth: Listen to younger workers.
5. Say it in five words: Require everyone in the meeting to distill the problem to be solved in a meeting down to five words.
6. Think like a movie director: Replace the typical agenda and decorum with movie-like passion and conflict.
7. Get them laughing: A little humor from the leader of a meeting warms up the room and increases the leader’s stature.
8. Bring something to the table: Require people in meetings to be prepared to contribute, and leaders should encourage it.
9. Be like a talk show host: Leaders should realize the length of the human attention span, and plan breaks (like commercial breaks on a talk show).
10. Use the meeting to create more meetings: Never leave a meeting without getting the names of two new people to meet.

The Fast Company post was written by Camille Sweeney and Josh Gosfield, co-authors of The Art of Doing: How Superachievers Do What They Do and How They Do It Well.

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Fast Company Magazine Celebrates Creativity in Business

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Advertising, Business, creativity, Online advertising

Fast Company magazine has released its fifth annual list of the 100 most creative people in business, and it includes people from industries as diverse as television, automaking, retailing and social media.

Nate Silver, the New York Times blogger who has taken data analysis to a new level, was the top-ranked person on the list. His blog, FiveThirtyEight, had highly accurate predictions of last year’s elections, but he emphasized the need for creative thinking, going beyond the limitations of data, in an interview with Fast Company.

The top of the list also includes some familiar names, including actor Bryan Cranston from the acclaimed show “Breaking Bad,” and companies, including the National Football League, where Tracey Bleczinski, the vice president for consumer products, was mentioned for the rapid growth in women’s branded NFL apparel.

Fast Company has compiled multimedia presentations and lists of what it calls “precise, actionable ideas” for business.

“The list is just the beginning, too,” writes Tyler Gray. “Expect expanded stories, audio, and video on the people we’ve featured here and ongoing coverage of their creative endeavors, plus ongoing social conversations about the topics raised by our Most Creative People.”

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To learn more about Synergyst, please visit the Synergyst Research website.

Partnerships for Medical Practice

Discovery Clinical Trials is looking to expand its presence in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.

The San Antonio-based company works with physician groups to provide a turnkey joint venture to manage clinics’ research departments, providing marketing, legal, financial, recruitment and regulatory services to strengthen and increase physician groups’ clinical research capabilities.

Discovery Clinical Trials currently has partnerships with doctors in Arlington, Austin, Dallas, Mission, and San Antonio, as well as Orlando, Fla. (Click here to see a list of current studies and locations.)

The Rio Grande Valley market, with its large and diverse population, is a natural fit for the company, which has been recognized on the Inc 500|5000 list of the nation’s fastest-growing privately owned companies for the past three years.
Trudy Madan, chief executive officer of Discovery Clinical Trials, notes that research studies can have multiple benefits for physicians and their patients.

“Conducting a research study can supplement a practice’s income as an ancillary revenue opportunity,” she says. “It also offers opportunities for patients to receive additional healthcare at no cost, from study-related medications to lab tests.”

About 2 percent of the U.S. patient population and only 4 percent of physicians get involved with research studies each year, according to the Center for Information and Study on Clinical Research Participation.

Low participation delays the progress of bringing new medications to the market and ultimately make them more expensive, the center reported. In addition, polls show that almost 90 percent of people who take part in studies would be willing to participate again.

Discovery Clinical Trials has formed partnerships for research studies with both specialists and general practitioners. To date, the company has worked with more than 300 physicians and clinics across the nation, on an average of 150 studies a year. (Visit the DCT website for a list of specialties.)

“Our partnerships remove the roadblocks to research,” Madan says. “We have the experience to handle everything from finding the studies to recruiting participants. Our model allows the physicians to focus on the research and their patients.

“We take the hassles out of research.”

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To learn more about Synergyst, please visit the Synergyst Research website.

Survey: Consumers Prefer to See Online Ads Tailored Toward Them

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Advertising, Free content, Online advertising

More than four in 10 consumers say they would rather see online advertising targeted to their interests, rather than ads for random products, according to a new study.

The report, prepared by Zogby Analytics on behalf of the Digital Advertising Alliance, showed that 40.5 percent of the 1,000 people in the survey preferred targeted ads, while 27.6 percent said they were content to see both targeted and random ads.

Just 16.1 percent preferred random ads.

The study showed that 75.4 percent of the people in the survey would rather get free ad-supported content, compared to 9.3 percent who would rather pay for ad-free content.

In addition, 47.3 percent of the respondents opposed a law that “restricted how data is used for online advertising, but also potentially reduced the availability of free content such as blogs and video sites.”

Other highlights of the report, which is summarized at the Marketing Charts blog:

• Almost 60 percent said an online ad had helped them find a new offer or product.
• Half the people in the survey said an online ad had either helped them save money on a purchase or save time finding that item.
• More than 40 percent said they had bought something because they saw or clicked on an online ad.

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