Improving Candor with Electronic Diaries

eCOA and ePRO Offer Benefits for Patient/Physician Communications

Many people have difficulty being honest, especially about medical concerns that they need to share with their physician. If the patient is uncomfortable, they could leave out important information that the clinician needs to ensure they receive proper care. In clinical trials, this issue extends further because it limits the amount of data collected thus altering the results of the trial.

In her article, Improving Patient/Physician Interaction through Electronic PRO/COA, Dr. Susan M. Dallabrida, Vice President for eCOA clinical science and consulting services with ERT, summarizes the research findings on how the use of electronic devices promotes patient/clinician interactions and enables better care:

“eCOA has proven to enable greater patient engagement with the clinician and the study, supporting greater candor during reporting on both the number and severity of events.”

She explains how the anonymity of using eCOA and ePRO for data collection can improve communication between patients and clinical staff rather than hinder it. It also allows for constant updates and reporting so that more data is collected and the accuracy is greatly increased.

June 14th, 2017 By: Susan M. Dallabrida, PhD