Co-creating an expansive and innovative multichannel medical education program

The challenge

Psoriatic Arthritis (PsA) is underdiagnosed in dermatology clinics in individuals with psoriasis and can create delays in treatment. Our client, a top 10 pharma company, wanted dermatologists to own the conversation on PsA, and become confident in diagnosing the disease. Deep insight mining through qualitative research, patient journey analysis, and interviews were needed to understand the unmet need and provide key actionable insights to develop a strategy for an educational program.

The solution: Hands On

• Through a combination of key insights synthesized from physician surveys at AAD and patient ethnography, we uncovered a clear unmet need in the dermatology community – critically, the need for education relating to joint examinations and the confidence to perform them.
• Because patients and HCPs use different lexicons, we bridged the gap by bringing the patient voice to life in educational settings.
• We worked together to co-create an expansive and innovative multichannel medical education program with our two co-chairs, Dr Joe Merola, and Dr Alice Gottlieb, called “Hands On” – an augmented reality-based, peer-to-peer program on the management of psoriatic arthritis.
• Hands On was disseminated via symposia at society congresses, immersive booth experiences, remote programming via an AR application accessible from the Apple/Android App Store, and through The Joint Effort, a field-based program.

The value created

This transformative program drove awareness of the importance of earlier diagnosis and increased skills and knowledge for dermatologists on how to confidently perform a joint exam to assess their patients with psoriasis for signs of PsA. In addition to the content co-created with our leading medical experts, the program was endorsed in partnership with associated centers of excellence.

• Rolled out at 10 major dermatology congresses, including disease-state presentations, symposia, booth installations and standalone peer-to-peer programs.
• We captured booth visitor and experience metrics by activity and educational content, which we used to deliver recommendations and impactful insights to improve and refine the program.
• Initiated by US but adopted globally.
• Over 3,000 HCPs educated, changing practice globally; significant increase in comfort level for recognizing/ diagnosing PsA; 73% HCPs plan to include a screening tool.

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