The challenge
An industry leader in gout treatment recognized a disconnect between patient needs and physician care. While patients suffered in silence, assuming pain was inevitable, physicians often under-educated patients and failed to optimize long-term treatment. In partnership with the Arthritis Foundation, the client sought to bridge this gap and empower patients to advocate for the relief they deserve.
Given the disconnect between two, we knew that talking to each group in isolation couldn’t fully uncover the rational and emotionally-nuanced aspects of the gout treatment dynamic.
The method
We facilitated “aha” moments for both physicians and patients through a two-part immersive approach:
Bridge Groups: We led mini-groups with each target while the other watched. Then, they debriefed on how they felt about what they heard, providing an opportunity for them to help brainstorm solves for communication challenges real-time.
Emotionally-charged patient stories motivated physicians to dig deeper to understand their patients’ needs.
Logic-driven physician perspectives helped patients understand the importance of speaking up and pushing back.
Exam Room Simulations: We guided patient actors to portray different gout patient archetypes – based directly on our patient conversations – to role play a treatment check-in.
Physicians were able to self-reflect on the conversational triggers that lead them to make certain treatment recommendations.
The team was able to see real-time how the space between what is said and unsaid can influence patient care.
The impact
The foundational insights were adopted by the Arthritis Foundation to establish a new gold standard for patient-physician dialogue. By hosting these resources on their national platform, the output of this research now serves as a primary toolkit for thousands of gout patients and rheumatologists across the country.
“This program is generating a lot of buzz, and there’s even interest from external folks to participate in interviews regarding the process, findings, and recommendations for patients!
Thanks for all of your work on this project – it has been very well received!”
Insights Manager, Top 15 Global Pharma
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