Right now, more than 200,000 clinical studies are going on worldwide, with doctors and researchers studying countless aspects of health and medicine like heart disease, diabetes, nutrition, cancer, drug treatments, pneumonia, childhood food allergies, even acne.
All of the studies, however, have one thing in common: At some point, the results need to be presented to the medical community and key stakeholders. And that’s where Myriad Genetic Laboratories are greatly improving the way this information is communicated and shared.
Using the Power of Video to Communicate Research
There’s no denying the power of video, which uses both sight and sound to capture the attention of the viewer, making the message concise and easier to understand. Here are a few statistics you may not know:
According to INSIVIA, viewers retain 95% of a message when they watch it in a video compared to 10% when reading it in text.
Cisco Systems estimates that by 2019, 80% of internet traffic will be video.
Forrester Research says that overall, employees are 75% more likely to watch a video than to read documents, emails or web articles.
How does all that translate to a researcher’s clinical study results? After all, doctors aren’t marketers, and they aren’t in the business of providing entertainment. However, when used as a communication tool, video can make complicated scientific information better understood, far more accessible, and can dramatically increase the size of the audience.
Validation studies specifically are important to current physicians who are using the current product; these studies help support continued adoption or expanded use.
A Move Away from Text Posters
Typically, results of clinical trials are presented in medical journals, in PDF-driven online databases and on wall posters at medical conferences. A standard poster would give the study abstract, the details and methods of the trial and the summary of results and references, primarily in dense text. The number of poster presentations at medical conferences outstrips oral presentations, but there are downsides: posters must follow a format, meet size and display requirements and deliver an immense amount of information all at once. Doctors may be on hand to stand next to their posters and discuss their work at conferences, but not always.
Even the American College of Physicians concedes that posters have limitations. “Posters that are mainly text discourage others from visiting and reviewing your work,” it says on its website. “Make your presentation as visual as possible; not only does it make your poster more appealing, but information can be transmitted more efficiently with a picture, figure, or graph.”
What if that presentation could go one step further? What if a “poster” could guarantee that the doctor would always be there to take you through the study step by step?
With video, it can.
Video Images, Sound and Graphics are the Key
For the 2016 study, Scottsdale’s DigiVid360 helped Myriad and Dr. Bishoff create a video results “poster,” a seven-minute video presentation of his research study results. In it, he talks viewers through the information, using slides and graphics in much the same way as if he were sitting in his office. Myriad is one of the first companies to present clinical study results in video in this manner.
Denise Cooper, Director of Marketing-Urology for Myriad, explains why the company wanted to try using video for this study poster. “It allowed Dr. Bishoff to speak directly to the company’s audience of other physicians,” she said, “and offers a great way for us to make a [study] poster live on.”
In the video poster, the lead investigator presents their research results, explaining what was studied and why. The results, he tells viewers, did prove that the Prolaris score of the diagnostic prostate cancer biopsy could predict the likelihood of recurrence and metastasis 10 years post-treatment.
While watching the video, a viewer can hear the inflections in lead investigator’s voice, pause the video to study a table, or reverse and re-watch a section of it for greater understanding, not to mention, share with other colleagues. Also, since the video is online, many more people can spend time with it than with a poster at a conference or even a study in a research journal. Doctors, who typically are conservative to adopt new medicines, tests or treatments, can easily share results videos among themselves to help educate and encourage adoption of new methods. Patients could even watch a video clinical study poster and get a greater understanding of certain tests, medicines or procedures that might affect their lives.
A Glimpse of the Future
In March 2016, Klemen Zupancic, who has a PhD in biomedicine and is a business development executive for BioSistemika, wrote an article for his company’s blog, Splice. BioSistemika develops software for life science laboratories. Zupancic’s article discussed what he sees as flaws in the current system of communicating scientific study results.
“It is quite remarkable that in this day and age, where everything has to be touch-friendly, responsive, interactive, mobile and so on, we rely on PDFs to distribute science,” Zupancic writes. He goes on to mention such possibilities as interactive web pages, images, and video, noting that the technology already exists, but that old habits die hard.
“It will take a technological breakthrough, driven by scientists, to change the current system that is widely accepted by the academia,” Zupancic writes. “Something like Uber was for (the) taxi industry or Air B&B was for the accommodation industry.”
An Easy Process and Satisfying Results
In making the video for Myriad, DigiVid360 used original images and information from the actual clinical study wall poster, which saved the time and money in not having to create additional assets to develop the video. Myriad’s principal investigator on the study and a paid consultant/advisor for Myriad, presents the key data points on the video.
The video took only three weeks to produce (including feedback and approvals), did not require in-person filming, and was inexpensive to create. The information featured in the clinical study video poster is presented in a way that increases retention.
I encourage all healthcare/medical marketers to start incorporating video in areas where increased comprehension, shareability, and engagement is needed. Technology has dramatically lowered the cost of video, making it more cost-effective than ever to create.
If you are new to video or would like to explore ideas about how to use video in your medical marketing environment, please contact me. I’m always happy to schedule a quick call to answer questions, collaborate or help.
Author:
Scottsdale, AZ 85250
United States
