In the last few years, electronic Patient-Reported Outcomes (ePRO) has become as a fundamental tool in clinical research, revolutionizing data collection, enhancing patient engagement, and transforming the way clinical trials were being run. Let’s have a look at the benefits and impact of the ePRO in clinical research.
Firstly though, what is an ePRO?
Patient-Reported Outcomes (PROs) are the data patients provide about their health, symptoms, treatment effect, and overall quality of life. The PRO data used to be collected on paper questionnaires or face-to-face at the clinic interviews. However, these methods were time-consuming and could be affected by memory bias or errors in reporting.
The PRO’s digital sibling, the ePRO, changes the game by using electronic devices like smartphones, tablets, or web platforms to collect this PRO data. Patients now complete assessments or questionnaires on their phones or tablets, providing investigators with real-time data.
And the benefits of an ePRO tool?
- Engaged and Empowered Patients: ePRO empowers patients to actively participate in clinical trials and provide information on their health status and treatment experience. This engagement creates a sense of partnership between patients and investigators, leading to improved patient retention rates and higher quality data.
- Real-Time Data Collection: The traditional paper-based data collection often is affected by recall bias as patients may have difficulties remembering specific details over time. The ePRO allows for immediate data capture, enabling patients to report symptoms, reactions, side effects, any noticed change in their habits, medication adherence, and quality of life. Real-time data capture only brings advantages to the table: better tracking of disease progression and treatment response, which allows an informed and immediate interventions and adjustments if required.
- Increased Protocol Compliance: By capturing data in real-time and actively encouraging patients’ reported activity throughout the study, the ePRO motivates participants to comply with the requested activities and treatment according to the protocol leading to reliable data and improved clinical trial outcomes.
- Improved Data Quality: ePRO minimizes recall bias and optimizes data accuracy by capturing patient reported information at the exact moment it is being experienced. Patients can document their symptoms, adherence to treatment, compliance, and overall wellbeing in real-time, reducing the risk of forgetting relevant data.
- Cost and Time Savings: An ePRO reduces administrative burden and resources needed to enter and process data manually. Not only an ePRO collects data more efficiently, but also leads to cost savings and in some instances, eliminating the need for frequent site visits, reducing travel-related costs for patients.
Revolutionize Data Collection with Trial Online ePRO
Trial Online ePRO is specifically designed for a better patient experience throughout the study ensuring patients feel supported at every stage of the clinical trial, benefiting from visit and treatment reminders, informative guidance alerts, and progress tracking.
