Monthly Archives: July 2018

‘Feedbacks’ – Key to Improvement

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“Feedback is the key to improvement.”

I wish giving feedback was as easy as it is to write down these words. But, why? Why is it that feedbacks are so feared?

During my career, what I could figure out is that giving feedback is an ‘art’. A highly complicated art that involves an exchange of views, based on facts and figures, between the employee and the manager, smartly. Learning this art can help you become a better leader, become more self-aware, understand how others see you, look beyond your own biases.

One of the best ways to improve yourself in any area of life-is to ask for feedback. I strongly believe that “You don’t get better at anything unless you get feedback.”

However, we can always make feedback sharing creative. Following tips can be helpful to receive and give feedback more effectively:

Receiving Feedback

  • Listen to the feedback given
  • Be aware of your non-verbal responses
  • Be open and receptive to new ideas and different opinions
  • Make sure you understand what is being said to you, especially before responding to the feedback
  • Assess the value of the feedback and the consequences of using it or ignoring it, and then decide what you want to do. Your response is your choice
  • Follow up on feedback

Giving Feedback

  • Prioritize your ideas and understand their value.
  • Concentrate on the behavior, not the person.
  • Balance the content. by providing comments on specific strengths, to give reinforcement and identify things the recipient should keep doing, identify specific areas for improvement and ways to make changes. Conclude with a positive comment.
  • Be realistic. Feedback should focus on what can be changed.
  • Own the feedback. When offering evaluative comments, use the pronoun “I” rather than “they” or “one”, which would imply that your opinion is universally agreed on
  • Be timely. Being prompt is key because feedback loses its impact if it is delayed too long.
  • Offer continuing support. Feedback should be a continuous process, not a one-time event.

These tips will work best for more structured feedback sessions but are worth bearing in mind for less planned conversations too.

Constructive and relevant feedback can help an individual learn the existing knowledge gaps.

At Turacoz we believe that effective feedback, both positive and negative, is very helpful and give benefits to the giver, the receiver, and the wider organization. Feedbacks are given and also taken. It helps in clarifying expectations, enable people learn from their mistakes and builds confidence We firmly believe that feedback is an essential part of training and personal development.

To know more about Turacoz Healthcare Solutions click here

 

Turacoz Healthcare Solutions workshop

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On 6th July 2018, Turacoz Healthcare Solutions organized an eventful and interactive workshop on “Best practices for Scientific Writing & Publications” in Canada. The workshop drew a gratifying response from diverse audiences and professionals.

The workshop was a synthesis of discussions, presentations and a one-on-one session on issues associated with creating an original research article, data sharing, publication writing, etc.

All sessions were highly interactive and informative. Dr. Namrata, Founder, Director & Trainer at Turacoz Healthcare Solutions went an extra mile to guide the participants on the technicalities of scientific & publication writing.

It is important for a research article to make the cut and at this workshop Dr. Namrata explained the ways one could accomplish this. The workshop also had career counselling sessions for aspiring medical writers along with the bilateral sessions, presentations & editing support for a drafted or rejected manuscript.

This workshop was a feat by Turacoz Healthcare Solutions to promote quality Medical/Scientific writing and Publication writing and to propel & steer endeavoring medical writers and researchers.

Health Economics and Outcome Research

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Health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) activities comprise of Pharmacoeconomics (PE) research and health technology assessment (HTA) activities. Health economics (HE) is applied to analyze the economic aspects of health and healthcare, with focus on the costs and consequences of healthcare interventions.

PE, a sub-discipline of HE, provides a comparative value assessment between two pharmaceutical products or treatment mix. Outcome research (OR) helps in evaluating the effect of healthcare interventions on patient-related clinical, humanistic, and economic outcomes.

Thus, HEOR is a discipline that helps the stakeholders to fully understand the product value and its potential in real-world clinical practice. In healthcare industry, the stakeholders and payer rely on HEOR to gain market access and remain competitive. For this, pharmaceutical and medical technology manufactures provide clinical development information (i.e. efficacy, safety and quality) and economic evidences to guide decision makers regarding patient access to specific drugs and services. These evidences help in determining whether the treatment is effective in the populations they serve.

Sources of HEOR Evidence

To generate outcomes to monitor and evaluate healthcare services, we need to collect evidences from different sources which can be further used for decision-making processes. These evidences can be collected from different sources as shown in Figure 1:

Health Economics and Outcome Research 2

Figure 1: Sources of health economics and outcome research (HEOR) evidence

Need of HEOR Evidences

The HEOR evidences are helpful in identifying unmet needs and addressing evidence gaps. The real-world data can be used to determine primary randomized control trial (RCT) endpoints (e.g. laboratory test results) which is considered as the most relevant clinical outcomes for physicians and healthcare decision makers. These evidences also help in promoting the patient-centered research and helps in developing and evaluating the cost containment strategies.

Tools for HEOR

There are several approaches which can be applied to the collected evidences through which a meaningful outcome can be achieved. Below are some tools which are used to analyze data.

  • Exploratory Data Assessment
  • Epidemiology study
  • Cost-benefit Analysis (CBA)
  • Cost of Illness Analysis
  • Budget Impact Model (BIM)
  • Cost-effectiveness Analysis (CEA)
  • Satisfaction Assessment
  • HRQL Analysis
  • Assessment of Analysis Compliance and Persistence
  • Market Assessment
  • Pricing Strategy

Types of Outcomes

Generally, the outcomes are of three types namely, clinical outcomes, economic outcomes and humanistic outcomes.

Health Economics and Outcome Research-2Today there is increased emphasis on HEOR activities due to the growing power of payers in the healthcare decision-making. This has led to HEOR professionals covering all aspects of drug development to ensure they have the right data and analysis. This growing importance of HEOR is reflected in the phenomenal increase in the field-based HEOR professionals employed by the pharma companies.

Turacoz Healthcare Solution (THS) aim to deliver the best quality and guideline compliant documents to the pharma and different sectors of healthcare industry. We are dedicated in providing scientific/medical writing support to the industry and academia. With expertise in several clinical trial related documents like Investigator Brochures (IBs), Protocols, Clinical Study Reports (CSRs) Prescribing Information (PI), and Common Technical Documents (CTDs). We also provide services for health economics and outcome research.

Maintaining Work-Life Balance for Healthy and Fulfilling Life

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People have argued about the concept of “Work-Life Balance” for decades and it implies something distinctive to everybody. Some might think that the balance is achieved when they can leave work early enough to eat dinner with family. While others might view it as having a flexible schedule, so that they can incorporate their other interests along with work like studying part-time. Yet some others might feel fulfilled spending their “free” time progressing their career.

‘Work-life balance’ is the term used to describe the balance that an individual need between time allocated for work and other aspects of life. The saying goes that ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’.

Achieving Optimal Work-Life Balance

It can be challenging to attain a great work-life balance, particularly when organizations downsize, and individuals are anticipated to take on additional assignments, or when your obligations at domestic front conflict with those at work.

The methodologies underneath can assist you achieve a balance. A few of them may suit you way better than others, so choose the ones you think will work best for you.

Here are a few ways to improve your work-life balance:

1. Work-Life Balance does not mean an equal balance, there is no ‘perfect’ balance.

When we hear “work-life balance,” we probably envision waking up early, going for work-out, getting meal, heading off to work, have lunch, come home early, cook dinner, and retiring to bed by 9 PM with a nice book and going off to sleep by 10 PM. however, that’s often not the case.

Trying to schedule equal number of hours for work and personal activities is usually unrewarding and unrealistic. Life is and ought to be more fluid than that. We should not strive for the perfect schedule but, for a realistic one. Some days, you might focus more on work, while other days you might have more time and energy to pursue your hobbies or relax with your loved ones. Balance is achieved over time and not every day.

2. Be productive at work

The more productive and efficient you are at work, the simpler it is for you to go home at a sensible time.

Make sure you like your job. If you hate what you are doing, you aren’t going to be happy and content. You don’t have to love every aspect of your work, but it needs to be exciting enough that you don’t fear getting out of bed every single morning.

3. Prioritize your health.

Prioritizing your health, will make you a better employee and individual in true sense. Your overall wellbeing should be your fundamental concern. In the event you’ve been struggling with anxiety or depression and you think any treatment would benefit you, fit those sessions into your schedule, even if you need to leave work early or take time off from other activities.

4. Flexibility

Flexibility plays a vital role in maintaining a good work-life balance. Research has shown that people who believe they have flexible jobs look more favorably on their work-life balance than those with the same workload but with no perceived flexibility. It also found that team members who think their jobs are flexible do longer hours before their workload has a negative effect on them.

Another research came to similar conclusions: you are more likely to stay and feel satisfied in your job if you have access to flexible working arrangements.

Ask your boss to permit more flexibility in your schedule. Perhaps, you could work from home occasionally, come in and leave early, or have some flexibility with your working hours. Job sharing, when two people split the responsibilities of one role, is another well-known option.

5. Finding time for yourself

Work-life balance means having time for yourself as well. While your work is important, it shouldn’t be your whole life. You should prioritize work, activities or hobbies that make you happy.

The people and the work that you love deserve your best, and you can only give it when you stay healthy and look after yourself.

To bring more balance in your life, review how you spend your time, identify and eliminate low-value tasks and try to put more efforts on activities that you believe will make difference. Be flexible and add flexibility to your schedule. Discover the reason and fulfillment in whatever work you do.

Turacoz Healthcare Solutions understands the significance and importance of maintaining a perfect work-life balance and supports its each employee to ensure that they stay stress-free and enjoy their work without their personal lives being hampered. We also urge every working individual to take charge in achieving the same. Let us all pledge to bring in the perfect blend of personal and professional life.