Tag Archives: #TuracozHealthcareSolutions

Significance of Publication Planning

Publication Writing, , , ,

Publication planning is that part of the pharmaceutical landscape that ensures that data from pharma companies (clinical trials, commentaries on drug/device class, and other publications supporting the efficacy of drug/device) is disseminated through medical journal articles–an important aspect of pharma companies’ overall marketing strategy. To publish a mix of editorials, primary and secondary publication, and review papers is the goal of efficient publication planning. Strategic publication planning can maximize product visibility throughout its life cycle. The launch of new drug/device in the market can be successful if the key clinical messages reach the target audience at the right time, for which publication planning is essential. The most successful drugs launched in the last 10-15 years have ridden on the back of a very well-implemented publication strategies. Overall, publication planning aids in the accurate reporting of scientific research, thereby promoting ethical transparency at every stage of medical research through the involvement of investigators, journal editors, and publication professionals.

An effective publication planning team is the key to an efficient publication plan. It is the publication planning team that creates a proactive plan to deliver client‑focused solutions and enable strategic planning and timely implementation of the publication plan. The first step in a publication plan is a “GAP analysis”, which can identify gaps in the literature. Thereafter, the team does an analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) comprising product strengths, weaknesses, market opportunities, and market threats to understand which areas need maximum focus during implementation of the publication plan. For example, if the product in question has more safety issues compared to its competitors, then the publications would mostly be aimed to showcase that the safety concerns are unfounded. The publication planning team also analyzes the Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) related to the product and various competitors available in the market. In addition, it is the responsibility of the publication planning team to discuss issues related to authorship and data interpretation, and to ensure all the professionals involved in the publication process meet scientific and ethical standards. A good publication planner gets the best key opinion leaders (KOLs), study investigators, and a publication agency (if needed) to write the papers. This allows authors to concentrate only on scientific discussion, and not on logistical issues. Moreover, it encourages transparent communication between researchers and contributors.

There are also a few ethical issues that the publication planning team needs to deal with. These are shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Ethical issues relating to publication planning

Apart from ethical considerations the publication strategy team should know the audience; whether they intend to reach out to primary-care physicians, specialists, allied health specialists, managed care specialists, hospital pharmacists, retail pharmacists, formulary managers, and calibrate their publication plan accordingly. Based on this, they should select the journals for publication. Although publishing in a top-tier journals is prestigious, and adds substantially to a product’s first impression, it should be balanced against the length of time to publication. Prestige cannot make up for a publication that arrives too late. Early publication planning helps to ensure both goals are achieved. Finally, ensuring that a publication coincides with important meetings is an important part of efficient publication planning. This can ensure that the medical representatives at these scientific meetings have evidence to back their claims regarding the drugs/devices they are promoting.

With new guidelines such as GPP3 in place, there is an increased scrutiny on publication planning. Therefore, understanding good publication practices for providing structure and ethical implementation of the publication plan are important.

Turacoz Healthcare Solutions (THS), a medical communication company, offers services to healthcare professionals in clinical research, regulatory writing, medico marketing writing, publication writing and support for conducting medical advisory board meetings. Turacoz understands the importance of a good publication which is in line with the new GPP3 guidelines. We follow the same updated guidelines for all our publications and comply with all legal, ethical and regulatory requirements. To know more about our specialization, please do visit our services section.

Are you at the risk of Breast Cancer? Read this & find out.

Health & Fitness, , , , ,

Breast cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer in women. Though it also affects men, the incidence rate is quite low. Early detection (be it any type of cancer) increases the chances of survival in case of this deadly ailment.

For better and timely diagnosis, it is very important to detect the early signs of breast cancer. In this blog we will be discussing the signs of breast cancer.

Have you ever paid attention to your breasts?

How often do you check your breasts?

Ever noticed anything unusual around that area?

These questions are very crucial when it comes to determining the signs and symptoms of breast cancer. Start with having a look carefully at your breasts.

How to check your breasts?

You don’t need any special training to check your breasts. Each woman has a different set of breasts and you should know how your breasts normally feel like or look like. When you know this, you will easily be able to spot anything unusual in your breast area.

Check the whole area around your breast including your armpits & upper chest and if you notice anything unusual, get yourself checked by a doctor.

What to check?

Check for any lumps around your breast area, upper chest or even around armpits. Lumps can be the primary symptom of breast cancer. Pain in breast can also be a sign of breast cancer but usually it is not in most cases. Pain in your breast can be due to other reasons as well but if an unexplained pain prevails over some time, it is advisable to get it checked by a doctor.

Checking your breasts for any signs of breast cancer follows a simple formula: TLC: Touch, Look, Check

  • Lumps are not visible, but they can be felt. Look for any lump or swelling in your breast, armpits and upper chest.
  • Check for any changes in shape or texture of your breasts. A change in size or shape of your breasts might be an indicator of something fishy, for instance one breast appearing larger than the other one.
  • Have a look closely at the texture of your breasts. Look for any puckering or dimpling of the breast skin.
  • Closely examine the color of the breasts. If you notice any redness or inflammation on your breasts, get it checked by a doctor.
  • Notice whether your nipples look different than usual. A change like inversion of one of the nipples if present (these are usually pointed outwards), then consult a doctor.
  • If there is any unusual discharge from your nipples, immediate action is required.
  • Check for any rashes or crusting on your nipples or the areas nearby.

If you notice any of the above symptoms (also presented in Figure 1), then go and see a doctor. It is not necessary that having any of these symptoms is the sign of breast cancer, but it is always safe to have a breast screening post consulting with a doctor. Doctor would examine and if further check-ups required, he will refer you to the specialists accordingly.

Are you at the risk of Breast Cancer? Read this & find out.

Figure 1: Symptoms of breast cancer in women

Do you need to check your breasts often?

Well, as a precautionary step or rather say to be on the safer side and to be aware of this disease you can check your breasts at regular intervals. You can check them monthly or bi-monthly or how often you feel like.

Once you start checking them regularly you will be able to identify even the slightest change taking place in them, be it due to age or at various times of a month. Your breasts can feel sore or heavy before or during your periods, heavier and bigger during pregnancy and you might notice this change if you know your breasts well.

In the similar way if anything is odd with them, it would be noticeable when you are aware of the normal/usual appearance of your breasts.

Breast cancer in men:

Men also have breast tissue, but they are very much less developed as compared to the ones of women. This is also the reason why breast cancer in men is a rare phenomenon.

But, still, we cannot feign ignorance to the fact that men too, are affected by breast cancer.

 

Signs & symptoms of breast cancer in men:

If someone in your family had breast cancer, you have some chances of getting it, but again it’s not definite that you will. Regularly checking your breast is a wise option especially if you have a genetic record of Klinefelter’s Syndrome (history of breast cancer in family).

The breast tissues in men are mostly behind the nipple area & the pigmented region known as areola. Breast cancer in men usually appears around the nipple area as a lump (Figure 2).

Are you at the risk of Breast Cancer? Read this & find out.

Fig. 2: (a) Shows changes in the look of the nipple or areola (direction change in nipple); (b) shows discharge from nipple or nipple ulcers; (c) Shows lump formation around nipple or armpit

If you find any of these symptoms, go and consult a doctor. In case cancer is detected, you can get an early diagnosis, ensuring better and faster recovery. If not, then, any other problem might also get solved in time.

Turacoz Healthcare Solutions requests every men & women to pay close attention to these specific parts of their body and help themselves in early detection of breast cancer, if present.

An early detection increases your chances for better treatment and recovery.

World Rabies Day: September 28th, 2018

Awareness Day/Month, , , , , , ,

Rabies, a viral disease that is mainly transmitted by an infected animal bite, is a 100% preventable disease. However, it is still major a public health problem with one death reported every 15 minutes worldwide. Therefore, to raise awareness regarding the burden of rabies, and to unite efforts for its prevention and control, 28th September is celebrated globally as World Rabies Day. This day also marks the anniversary of Louis Pasteur’s death, the French chemist and microbiologist, who developed the first rabies vaccine. Celebrating the World Rabies Day serves a reminder that our fight against this deadly disease is far from over.

The first World Rabies Day was observed in 2007, which was a collaboration between the Global Alliance for Rabies Control and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, USA, with the co-sponsorship of the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and the Pan American Health Organization. It proved to be an extremely successful campaign, and by 2009, nearly 100 million people worldwide had been educated about rabies and ~3 million dogs had been vaccinated (as estimated by the Global Alliance for Rabies Control). On the last World Rabies Day in 2017, several major health organizations, including WHO, OIE, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), pledged to eliminate human deaths from dog-transmitted rabies by 2030.

The World Rabies Day has been identified as an important tool that can assist in rabies prevention by educating and mobilizing at-risk communities, animal health workers, public health practitioners, governments, key opinion leaders, and experts. Today, we have safe and efficacious animal and human vaccines that can eliminate human deaths from rabies; however, lack of awareness is the major roadblock in successfully engaging communities for rabies prevention. Rabies prevention and control has two broad components: animal rabies control and human rabies prevention. Pictorial description of both are shown in Figure 1.

 

 

Figure 1          Rabies prevention and control

The World Rabies Day campaign has a centralized online platform where groups can register their World Rabies Day events and download resources, in print and online, that can support their message for rabies prevention. Moreover, since rabies is a disease that can easily cross borders, especially in wild animal populations, the campaign encourages trans‑national collaboration of rabies control and prevention. The World Rabies Day logo represents the complexity of rabies, which can infect human beings, wildlife and domestic animals, and therefore, needs an interdisciplinary approach to control it.

Overall, the World Rabies Day is a campaign for education, awareness, and action to encourage organizations across all levels-international and local-to increase the spread of messages for rabies prevention. With this blog, Turacoz Healthcare Solutions (a medical communication company) aim to raise awareness about rabies prevention and highlight progress in defeating this animal transmitted viral disease.

A guide to Alzheimer’s care: Tips for daily tasks

Drugs and Disease, , , ,

It is estimated that nearly 44 million people worldwide have Alzheimer’s or related dementia. The total number of people with Alzheimer’s is projected to almost double every 20 years.

What really scares me is Alzheimer’s or premature senility, losing that ability to read and enjoy and to write. And you do it, and some days maybe aren’t so good, and then some days, you really catch a wave, and it’s as good as it ever was: – Stephen King

Patience and flexibility are of most importance in Alzheimer’s patients care. Practical tips to be considered by caregivers when handling patients with Alzheimer’s are illustrated in the figure. This helps maintain a sense of independence, dignity and boost their confidence as the patient becomes dependent on caregiver for his/her daily needs.

A guide to Alzheimer’s care: Tips for daily tasks

Figure 1: Tips for caregivers’ family and friends of patient on how a person with Alzheimer’s disease should be cared.

Handling patients with Alzheimer’s disease

Caring for patients with Alzheimer’s disease is challenging, and in many instances the caregiver also falls into depression if they are not supported by friends and family. One of the major challenges a caregiver faces is the change in behaviour of the patient. Both the patient and the caregiver find it difficult to manage the daily basic activities like bathing, eating dressing etc.

  • Tackling communication challenge in Alzheimer’s Disease

Communicating with a patient with Alzheimer’s can be challenging as both understanding and being understood pose a problem. Thus, always try to communicate in simple words and short sentences, avoiding distractions. In many cases the patient finds it difficult to frame sentences to communicate. Have patience and provide them the words he/she is looking for. Give them enough time to respond.

  • Tips to reduce bathing and showering challenge in Alzheimer’s disease

Plan bathing or shower for time of the day when the patient is calm and is ready for bathing. Try to make it a routine. The patient must be made comfortable. As the patient is sensitive to temperature, test the water temperature before bath.

  • Dressing a person with Alzheimer’s disease

Try to get the patient dressed same time each day and make it a routine. Give the patient time to dress and encourage the patient to dress himself/herself.

  • Getting a Person with Alzheimer’s disease to Eat

Try to maintain familiar meal time routine. Ensure a calm, relaxed environment free of distractions during meal time. This helps to reduce confusion and anxiety of patients. Caregivers must ensure that patients are drinking enough water to avoid dehydration. Routine oral check-ups have to be done.

  • Exercises and Activities for people with Alzheimer’s disease

Always watch for agitations. Simple and easy activities which will enhance his/her skills will be more effective than teaching them something new. Exercises can improve the patients’ health and help them to sleep better.

  • Incontinence in patients with Alzheimer’s disease

This is a common problem faced by the patients as the disease progress. Limit fluids containing caffeine and other diuretics.

  • Sleep Problems for Caregivers and a Person with Alzheimer’s disease

Many patients with Alzheimer’s faces ‘sundowning syndrome’, where the patient gets agitated and irritated during bed time. Exercises and physical activity with minimized day time naps helps the patient to get a sound sleep during night.

  • Hallucinations and delusion in patients with Alzheimer’s disease

In most cases hallucination and delusions are signs of physical illness. In such situations avoid arguing with the patient and distract the patient attention to some other topics. Check whether the patient has access to any dangerous objects that can cause harm to others and the patient himself/herself.

  • Wandering: A problem for a person with Alzheimer’s disease

People with Alzheimer’s tend to wander away from their home. Always ensure that the patient carries some sort of identification. Notify local authorities in advance regarding this problem. Always try to keep the doors locked.

Turacoz is a medical communications company, providing customized and cost-effective services in regulatory writing, publication writing, medico-marketing writing, and support for conducting medical advisory board meetings.

Turacoz healthcare solutions, aims to increase awareness about Alzheimer’s disease and with this blog, provide useful tips to caregivers, family and friends of Alzheimer’s patients.

Being a Star in your Industry is a Matter of Corporate Etiquettes!

Awareness Day/Month, , , , , ,

You might wonder about the title of this article, figuring out how manners can make you a star. But before we explain you how, let’s look at the story of 2 individuals, Mr. X, who is an MBA graduate with 90% and is working for a big company for 3 years. Mr. Z, who serves the same company as Mr. X but with qualifications of bachelors & work experience of only a year. Mr. X excels in terms of qualifications & experience.

Both left to meet their clients one day for some work. Mr. X went into the cabin without knocking and discovered that client was his batch-mate & seeing this he said while patting on his client’s shoulders –“Hey! Good morning. How are you doing? Long time. (flipping the file on the table) have a look at my new proposal, I bet it is awesome dude.”

Mr. Z went in after knocking and receiving a welcome gesture from his client. He recognized the client was someone he knew. He then asked for the permission to sit and spoke-“Good Morning, sir. As per the telephonic discussion, I have prepared a draft of the proposal. Kindly have a look. (handing over the file to the client)”

He then stands up, greets again and then leaves.

The client thrashed Mr. X while Mr. Z got an appreciation for his efforts.

Now you must marvel, what went so wrong with Mr. X? Well, the lack of proper business etiquettes landed Mr. X in this situation. No matter how well qualified he was and how much experience he had, he didn’t act accordingly. When into business, your personal relationships don’t signify, you must act formally.

Mr. Z though being less qualified and experienced than Mr. X, knew how to act professionally and thus strike the chord right.

So, when you are driving in a corporate set up, it signifies how you behave in the business environment.

What are Corporate Etiquettes?

These are an array of generally recognized rules for acting reasonably in a business environment. It is a way of displaying socially relevant behavior in business relationships.

Why Corporate Etiquettes?

  • It gives a positive perception of you
  • Behaving properly makes you feel confident & composed, letting you focus on your work
  • It saves your time as you don’t have to appease the individual whose sentiments you have hurt
  • It makes people around you comfortable & they would like to work with you
  • Forms an amicable environment
  • Ward offs misunderstandings to a remarkable extent

As per research organized by the American Society of Quality Control, 68% of business is cast away by corporate because of the improper attitude of employees’ while approaching expected clients.

So, you can simply infer the importance of Corporate Etiquettes now.

Basic Business Etiquettes to follow:

Being a Star in your Industry is a Matter of Corporate Etiquettes!

Here are some absolute DOs & DON’Ts in a corporate set-up:

DOs:

  • Dress properly/formally
  • Respect your fellow employees, juniors & seniors
  • Keep your workplace neat & clean
  • Be punctual, reach office on time
  • Respect the privacy of other employees
  • Take care of your tone & language

DON’Ts:

  • Never adopt a casual attitude at work
  • Don’t squeak into other’s cubicles/workstations
  • Don’t keep your phone on ringing mode
  • Don’t touch or use other people’s belongings without their permission
  • Don’t bully or make fun of fellow employees
  • Never wear flashy or exposing clothes to workplace
  • Never drink while you are at work

By following these simple tricks & tips you can shine at your workplace and be a star. Incorporate these into your daily life & see the difference. Turacoz Healthcare Solutions encourages the practice of good business etiquettes within its employees and promotes the same. Remember:

                            “Standards are not established by your proclamations, but by your routines.”

Because if you kill yourself, you’re also going to kill those who love you

Awareness Day/Month, HR, , , , , ,

Suicide has become the 3rd highest reason for deaths today in the world, notably among the age group of 15-44 years (male & female). As per the reports, there is 1 death every 40 seconds globally. The suicide rate, globally, has increased by 60% in the last 45 years. Suicide endeavors are up to 20 times more incessant than finished suicides.

This is undeniably a sad state as predominantly the youth is becoming suicidal. When you are surrounded by problems and cannot figure out a way, suicide is not the solution. But still, many people fail to understand this fact and end up taking their lives, leaving their near & dear ones in immense pain, shock & trauma.

The world celebrates “World Suicide Prevention Day” on 10th September to spread awareness about suicide & offer worldwide commitment & action to prevent suicides.

The theme for 2018 is “Working together to prevent suicide.”

There are various reasons for suicide, to name some:

  • Unemployment
  • Losing a loved one
  • Family problems
  • Financial issues
  • Alienation from community, society or any group
  • Mental disorders like depression, substance abuse, etc.

As per a survey, mental states like depression account for most suicides in the world, about 90%.

According to the reports by WHO:

  • The Eastern European region has the highest suicide rate for both the genders.
  • India & China contribute to 30% of total suicides worldwide.
  • 55% of people aged between 15-44 years & 45% aged 45 or above commit suicide.
  • Suicide among the youth is becoming a major reason for concern.

Suicide in India:

A land of over 1.32 billion people has a suicide rate of 16.4 per 100,000 women (6th highest globally) & 25.8 for men (22nd highest in the world), according to WHO. The major causes are identified as family issues, prolonged illness & any mental disorder. People in the age group of 15-44 had the highest number of suicides.

Turacoz Healthcare Solutions understands the severity of the problem and presents some tips to help a suicidal person.

First, let’s get ourselves clear about common misconceptions about suicide:

  • Individuals who discuss suicide won’t usually do it
  • Any individual who tries to kill him/herself must be insane
  • In the event that a man is resolved to murder him/herself, nothing will stop them
  • Individuals who committed suicide were individuals unwilling to have looked for help
  • Discussing suicide may give somebody the thought

If you pay attention, then anyone who is about to attempt a suicide or is having suicidal thoughts, won’t commit it abruptly. He/she will drop some or the other hint. Being alert & noticing the hints can aid in preventing the suicide

Below mentioned are some hints that a person thinking of suicide might drop:

  • Discussing suicide
  • Searching out deadly means like pills, gun, etc.
  • Distraction with death
  • No expectation for what’s to come
  • Self-hatred, self-loathing
  • Getting undertakings all together like making a will, etc.
  • Saying farewell
  • Pulling back from others
  • Causing harm to themselves
  • A sudden feeling of quiet

Preventing the suicide:

Because if you kill yourself, you’re also going to kill those who love you

  • Speak up to the individual whom you are really concerned about. If you think he/she is having suicidal intentions, you, being the individual to share the sentiments with might make him feel comfortable and by talking, you will also get an idea of his mental state and judge the gravity of the situation.
  • Respond promptly in a deadlock. Once you have analyzed the urgency of the situation and sensed the degree of the threat, respond accordingly. Call emergency services, remove any hazardous material or weapons & make sure to stick with the person about to commit suicide.
  • Extend your support & sympathy. Lay an ear to the person and hear out all he/she has to say. Comfort the individual and try to console him/her. Show your faith in him/her and make the person believe that they are much needed here and are loved and cared for.

To help a suicidal person you should:

  • Reach out for professional help
  • Have a follow-up on the treatment
  • Raise the person’s morale & encourage a healthy lifestyle for him
  • Keep the person distant from any measures of suicide
  • Keep supporting and caring

There are various Suicide helplines you can reach out to even if you are the person concerned or the victim itself. Below are the list & details of a few 24/7 suicide helplines for India:

  1. AASRA: +91 22-27546669/ +91 22-27546667

      Email: [email protected]

  1. 1life: +91 78930-78930

      Email: [email protected]

  1. Vandrevala Foundation: 1860-266-2345/ 1800-233-3330

      Email: [email protected]

Suicide is an issue that needs to be taken care of immediately. Your support and love for such people can make them love their life again. The individuals suffering from suicidal thoughts don’t want to die; they want their pain to die. We can help them with ending their suffering or at least make them forget their misery and live again.

To all those people who are thinking of ending their existence, Turacoz wants to convey to them the message that-

“You are not alone. Everyone feels lonely at some stage in his or her life. But this feeling is momentary and will not last forever. The world is a predominant place with you in it. Love yourself!”

Art of Effective Team Management

HR, ,

Managing a team to success requires more than just simply assigning tasks to individuals. Handling a team can be exciting, rewarding and exhausting. Being responsible for a team of people you have never met before and then being accountable for their development, achievements, and performance can be little petrifying.

So, what does it take to manage the team effectively? Good Leadership! Yes, for effective team management to work, it needs good leadership. A manager must work upon to strengthen the bonds between the individuals in their team and must possess good management skills.

We often hear the terms ‘leader’ and ‘manager’ used inclusively, but there is actually a difference. By definition, a leader is someone who creates the vision, innovates, and focuses on the long-term overview, and a manager is the person who gathers the necessary tools and resources to set, measure, and accomplish the vision. The leader is the one with the people skills, whereas the manager focuses on systems and structures. But away with that — we all know that for a manager to stand out, having leadership qualities is a must.

Being able to communicate well and develop a relationship with all the members of the team is critical for building trust, promoting collaboration, and enhancing teamwork. A team who enjoy working together, is more likely to succeed together.

Here are some tips for achieving a happier and more productive team:

  1. Being transparent: Transparent working environments have been found to make teams more accountable, happy and creative. Transparent work environments help to develop a feeling of mutual respect between team members and team leaders.
  2. Keep communicating: The foundation of a cooperative and productive team is good communication. Open and consistent communication at workplace helps employees to feel secure in their positions. In turn, team members feel freer to contribute ideas and suggestions, enhancing creativity.
  3. Constant feedback: Providing feedback to team members is one of the best ways you can support them to develop professionally and personally. Feedback can be difficult, but it is an essential part of effective team management.
  4. Encourage collaboration: Team members feel happy if they can get along well with one another & can perform better too.
  5. Trust your team to do their job: Effective team management shouldn’t mean micro-management. Leaving your team to do their job without you constantly hovering over their shoulder will not only highlight your confidence in them to do a good job, but it will also give you time to complete your own tasks — a win-win for everyone really.
  6. Recognize achievements: If someone’s doing a good job, acknowledge it. Recognizing efforts illustrates to your team that you are paying attention to them, and that you appreciate their hard work.
  7. Foster development: Encouraging employees to acquire new or advanced skills, knowledge, viewpoints and ensure that the team members are happy in their roles are crucial factor for the overall growth of business.

Turacoz Healthcare Solutions takes pride in having very effective and efficient team managers who understands the need and expectation of the team members. We believe in supporting all our employees in every way possible. We are a listening organization and continuously working in the lines of perfecting our teams. To work with us please do visit career section.

Healthcare Advertising

Medical Writing, ,

“Are you into healthcare advertising?”

“Yes!”

“Oh! It involves so much medical jargon, and little opportunity for creativity! Do you enjoy your job?”

I have been part of several such conversations, and through this blog, I would like to touch upon some facets of healthcare advertising that may partly undermine (and partly reinforce!) the stereotypes associated with this field.

Based on data from a 2015 US-based study, nearly $10 billion is spent by the healthcare industry into advertising and marketing. Despite the huge amount of money involved, the healthcare advertising segment is often typecast as “lacking in creativity/innovation” and “boring”. Well, this is not surprising considering that every print, website, banner, and video advertisement gets scrutinized by a medical review team and needs to pass a rigorous risk mitigation assessment. In fact, dissemination of safety information takes up almost half of a 30 second TV spot and rules for short-form messaging may run up to 10-15 pages. With such extensive regulations in place, it is often difficult to be creative! Most advertising professionals, therefore, create campaigns that are safe and obvious to avoid getting caught in the legalities of the system.

In addition, creating advertisements from data provided by doctors, is quite challenging. The key is to understand the underlying motivation behind the drug/campaign from an emotional perspective, including purchasing decisions and consumer behavior.

Future of healthcare advertising

How can healthcare advertising evolve in the near future? Here are a few pointers:
1)  Optimizing advertisements for mobile phones (smartphones) and using social media apps, such as Facebook and Twitter, as marketing platforms
2)  Developing smart (read: social-media shareworthy) content that is interesting, fresh, reliable, and authoritative
3)  Individualizing marketing delivery systems using digital marketing tools: Contemporary marketing methods identify user interests and deliver timely, personalized and relevant content on a one-to-one basis
4) Target patients by location: Such a strategy can adapt the advertisement according to social and personal preference of the audience, and also inform them about nearby facilities
5)  Going live! “Programmatic video” is the new buzzword in the field, and according to some estimates, it will account for the majority of digital video spending over the next couple of years. Programmatic video basically uses real time data and presents video advertisements to precisely qualified customers at exactly the right time.

Overall, it can be concluded that healthcare advertising may not be as creative as the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) segment; however, the challenges it poses make it all the more interesting to work in this field. With the evolution of new marketing strategies, the constraints of healthcare advertising can prove to be an asset in a non-conventional marketing set-up of the future.

Turacoz Healthcare Solutions provides high quality end to end scientific/medical writing support to the industry and academia. We expertise in different kinds of medicomarketing solutions like leave behind literature (LBL), slide-decks, posters, newsletters, patient education materials, customized books/booklets, visual aids etc. Turacoz strongly follows good marketing practices backing every product claim with scientific relevance and ensuring that the message rightly resonates with the target audience.

Breastfeeding & Love: How they are the same?

Awareness Day/Month, , , , , , , , , , ,

With the World Breastfeeding Week (1st Aug-7th Aug) towards its wrap for the year 2018, Turacoz Healthcare Solutions brings to you a beautiful story we received from one of the amazing mothers. The narrative is as expressed by her:

I became mother for the first time. It is a feeling I cannot explain. Being a mother is what completes a woman and my baby gave me that feeling of completeness.

3rd April 2018, the day my baby boy was born, is the happiest day of my life. I have been waiting to meet him for so long. During my pregnancy, I took care of everything and learned about the most important aspect of being a mother, Breastfeeding.

After Ansh (my boy) was born, I breastfed him. He is 4 months old now and I make sure to exclusively breastfeed him. I am aware of all the benefits of breastfeeding and want to deliver the best to my baby.

At first, I struggled a lot with it, as my nipples would hurt a lot when he latched onto them, but slowly it began to settle. Never once in mind, this thought of giving up breastfeeding occurred to me. I knew this is the best thing I can give to my baby as his mother.
I had sore nipples and cracks on them in the beginning and I was worried all the time whether he is receiving enough milk or not. But doctors told me that I would settle down with time and so will the baby. I decided to forget about the pain and discomfort and focus on feeding my baby, which he needed the most. Despite the discomfort, I fed him for 30 minutes every 2-3 hours in a day.

Today my baby is all healthy and naughty. The expressions on his face while he is being breastfed are so satisfying to me that I will go to any extent of pain or discomfort to make him happy.

This is my request to all mothers who hesitate in breastfeeding their baby, that, you should not keep your baby away from this wonderful gift. It not only gives your baby the strength and nutrients he needs but also is beneficial for you and completes you as a mother.

This is so right!

Breastfeeding is important for both babies and mothers. Here is why:

For babies:

  • It provides the best nutrition to the babies: this is what they need at least for the first 6 months of their life. Ideally, breastfeeding is recommended for a year, meanwhile, your baby can try different foods.
  • Breast milk is the source of essential antibodies: it gives babies the immunity to fight against bacteria & viruses. Colostrum, the first milk of a mother is very important for the baby and helps the most to build up the immune system. It contains immunoglobulin A, which enhances the immunity.
  • Breast milk helps in minimizing the risk of diseases: if a baby is exclusively breastfed, the chances of him/her being ill gets low. It gives the baby the strength he/she requires to stay healthy.
  • It reduces the risk of obesity: if you are exclusively breastfeeding the baby, it helps in reducing the risk of childhood obesity and helps in gaining weight healthily.

For mothers:

  • Breastfeeding can help you reduce weight: every mother puts on weight during pregnancy. Many studies have proven that breastfeeding helps you shed the extra weight off your body. For the initial 3 months, mothers who breastfeed may lose weight as compared to the mothers who don’t breastfeed.
  • Breastfeeding stimulates the contraction of the uterus: during pregnancy, the uterus expands a lot and post-delivery it goes through a process known as involution, which assists in returning the uterus to its normal size. It happens due to a hormone Oxytocin released during the pregnancy. The mothers who breastfeed have faster uterus contraction.
  • Breastfeeding lowers the risk of post-partum depression: many mothers suffer from post-partum depression which occurs shortly after delivery. Mothers who breastfeed have a lower risk of suffering from this condition.
  • Breastfeeding prevents you against diseases: breastfeeding can save you against deadly disease like breast & ovarian cancer.
  • Breastfeeding helps restrict menstruation: it provides a halt to ovulation process for some time thus preventing you from menstruating. This acts as a natural birth control.

Breastfeeding is nothing but the love you can give to your baby. Don’t hesitate or restrict yourself from loving your baby. The other name for breastfeeding is surely LOVE.

Turacoz Healthcare Solutions (a medical communication company) support and encourages exclusive breastfeeding to newborns in their first six months.

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.