GOALS
A medical affairs team based in Eastern Europe wanted to engage a group of physicians for a sleep disorder advisory board to better understand the ramifications of certain disorders.
The team’s objectives for the meeting included:
- Understand how sleep disorders affect patients’ health
- Identify obstacles to providing better care to patients with sleep issues
- Assess medical viewpoints on a specific treatment
SOLUTION
It was impractical for the medical affairs team to conduct a live advisory board meeting due to a variety of obstacles: limited budget, participants based over a large geographic area, and several participants who worked with underserved rural populations and were too busy or simply not inclined to travel. The team decided to use Within3’s insights management platform to allow participating physicians to contribute to the discussion over a period of several days, whenever it was convenient for them, from a computer, tablet, or smartphone. Questions included “What is your opinion regarding the epidemiology of sleep disruption in this region?” and “Please specify the situation regarding diagnostic approaches and barriers to treatment in this region.”
RESULTS
The virtual engagement approach was well-received by the participating physicians. Results included a number of key takeaways about treatment patterns, preferences, and patient education and support needs. The medical affairs team reported that they would use the information gathered during the meeting to make critical internal decisions. Based on the success of the virtual approach, the team plans to implement the Within3 platform as a standard mode of stakeholder engagement for future programs involving patients, HCPs, and healthcare systems.
