Beyond Collection: Giving Context to Real-World Data

A digital transformation is taking place in the life sciences industry, one that’s changing the boundaries of clinical research. While patient data primarily focus on a point in time, real-world data (RWD) provide a clearer, more complete picture of therapies and patient health by evaluating clinical measures outside the clinical setting. Mobile devices, wearables, and other advanced technologies are evolving rapidly to provide new ways to capture more RWD, and they are capturing a lot. This mass of data contains keys to unlocking better patient and therapy insights and clues to improve trial design and execution. Without a deeper understanding of what’s behind the data, these critical insights might remain hidden in the noise.

Digging Into Data

Clinical research isn’t about collecting data just to determine the effectiveness of therapies; it’s also about the people these therapies are meant to help. In the best case, this means curing an illness or easing an impairment. With terminal conditions, it can mean extending and improving quality of life for people who desperately want a little more time with their loved ones. These higher goals often get lost in the constant stream of RWD; without understanding who is looking at your research, what they’re looking for, and why it’s important, your data are just a series of measurements.

Enlist Experts

One of the easiest ways to undermine the value of RWD is by selecting the wrong specialists for data handling. While training individuals for data management is certainly possible, it overlooks the invaluable contributions that skilled clinicians have to offer. Not only are clinicians more attuned to regulatory standards, they also have a firm grasp on the importance of data accuracy. They understand how alterations to data and other errors can initiate a domino effect leading to disastrous results. When professionals manage data, they apply a clinical eye to the quality and method of collection, the specific purpose behind the numbers, and ultimately, the needs of patients. This is particularly useful for RWD, as this kind of data is collected in a variety of ways, and utilizing this information allows for better curation and abstraction services that provide actionable insights. Skilled clinicians provide practical knowledge to safeguard outcomes by catching errors before they happen, and true data management specialists have knowledge of the clinical research environment, allowing them to deftly handle the rapidly accelerating evolution in RWD that might overwhelm individuals without adequate experience.

Ask Questions

With the right talent in place, data curation and abstraction can be skillfully performed with an eye toward a multitude of questions: Where are the data from? Who owns the data? How was it collected? How is it maintained? How will it be used? Again, these questions are even more vital in dealing with RWD due to the variety of means used to harvest it. Data specialists must fearlessly interrogate the data to fully comprehend its totality. By seeking these contextual answers, your experts gain a deeper understanding of the meaning behind the data. This allows them to evaluate RWD quality and organize it in ways that fit the study’s parameters and goals while making sure it’s easy for researchers to use.

Focus on Patients

The most important question for clinicians to ask themselves is, of course, why? Why are we looking at the data? Why is it important? While most discoveries do need to be monetized, that’s not the reason research happens. When it comes to why RWD are being collected and used, it’s because there are patients in need; in many cases, this is a question of life or death. Understanding both the patient’s needs and the nature of their condition provides context that informs the work of data experts, giving them the knowledge necessary to better evaluate and organize RWD with regard to purpose. Expertly completed work in this area provides metrics that aid decisions at every stage of research and ensures the right patients participate in the right studies. For clinicians, the why goes beyond the technical, as there is no greater motivation than knowing lives are at stake. The purpose of clinical data is to provide insights to help patients. This must remain the central focus when working with RWD.

Optimize RWD

As the amount of RWD collected in clinical trials continues to increase exponentially, the need for skilled data abstraction and curation has never been greater. The right talent goes beyond the data to emphasize quality, study goals, and patient needs. As the insights gained through research continue to grow more robust, their use in study planning — particularly in finding the right patients at the right time — has the power to change the research landscape and improve outcomes for patients. When clinically skilled experts handle your RWD, the results can be lifesaving.

Find the right clinical talent for your data needs with Shearwater Health Life Sciences.

Back to Blog