Two years ago, nobody would have grasped that there would be any kind of link between ‘Social Media’ on one hand and ‘Clinical Trial Recruitment’ on the other hand. But the landscape has changed. In fact, as you can see in this graph, nobody was even looking in Google for data on “Social Media and Pharma”.
However, the playing field has changed. More and more people are getting used to find information in Social Networks like LinkedIn, Facebook, and also on product review sites. Thus people are more and more expecting to find similar information in areas thus far untouched by these new tools. Clinical studies is one of these ‘untouched areas’. That is, so far, as some of the top Pharma are making their first moves into the playing field. As this YouTube add by Pfizer illustrates, there is still a lot to learn (note: don’t watch this video for longer than 30 seconds, unless you are extremely energetic):
Nevertheless, using YouTube to get video clips to a larger audience opens up completely new routes to inform the general population, or specific patient groups, on the ins and outs of specific clinical studies. A much better example is this video by Johnson and Johnson:
And what would work better to inform a patient on study details? A stressed, time-limited visit to a physician’s office, or watching a video while at home together with some family members?
Anybody who has been involved in Informed Consent procedures will understand the following anecdote. A long time ago, I worked in a large cancer hospital, and we were reviewing if Patients really understood the concept of being part of a clinical study. Despite every effort of the physician’s to explain the concept of ‘randomization’, most patients explained it to us as ‘the computer is trying to find the best treatment for me.’.
Well, sorry dear patient, the computer is just rolling a dice. So perhaps YouTube can do a better job in trying to visualize the randomization process.
If you are intrigued by these new options to recruit patient in any of your clinical studies, then please have a look at our Additional Services page.
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Tags: Clinical Trials, Patient Trial Recruitment, Social Media