News
Fear of infection during consultation has become a serious health risk
There is no doubt that fear of infection has played a role against the pandemic. Given lack of effective treatments or implementation of trusted and approved vaccines, the social response to the pandemic has been one of the dominant drives that defined the curves of infection in the different societies. Those that due to fear of infection of themselves or their loved ones have shown lhigher risk avoiding attitudes like social distancing, use of protection or limiting social activities were indeed less likely to have got infected. However a recent study run by Fine Research with over 2500 HCPs in LatAm shows that this same fear of infection is also driving a negative effect on health. In this study doctors estimated that before the pandemic roughly 7 out of 10 of their patients were being able to be properly compliant to their prescribed treatment. When asked about their current patient adherence to their treatments now they estimated that this was reduced and only 6 out of 10 are being able to do so. And this is affecting all kind of life threatening diseases such as cardiodological diseases, cancer, diabetes or HIV. What is more worrying is that reasons for non-compliance have also changed abruptly. While in the past the main reasons for low treatment adherence were treatment access restrictions including high cost of medicines, red tape or lack of approval of the best treatment options, now most physicians state that main reason for low treatment compliance is just that patients are afraid of getting infected during the consultation. In the region the same survey shows that the number of patients cared by doctors have dropped in October by 35% compared to pre-pandemic levels, this is indeed a recovery compared to the sharp drop of 61% observed by a previous measurement in May, but still shows that the aggregated effect will have a significant impact on the health of the population. In addition fear is not only affecting those that have a specific diagnosis but also those who are in risk of getting a disease. Doctors tell that they are performing less than half the number of cardiological check ups and about one third of the prostate and breast cancer controls, that they were doing before the pandemic. This obviously is meaning a likely higher number of cardiovascular events or late detected cancers which will likely impact mortality rates. Consistently, when checked by specialty cardiologists, hematologists and oncologists are the most concerned about potential life impact of lack of in person care which could put in risk over half of their patients. In the other extreme, few psychiatrists see a similar risk with the added advantage that they are the ones who mostly perceive virtual consultation as a good fit to their practice in the current context and also in the future. Regarding COVID-19 infections, hospitals are perceived as showing the higher risks, particularly in the hospitalization areas, and also if they are public, and COVID-19 reference centers. In comparison care taking place in doctor’s office, clinics or separated outpatient areas becomes a safer option not only based on HCPs assessment but also on the levels they have witnessed of own or patient infections in the different work settings In summary, the data from this survey with physicians all over Latin America, shows that the healthcare system needs to continue developing protocols for safe care and properly communicate them so that not only the risk of infection is minimized but also patients could gain confidence and get back to meet their doctors to adequately address their own health. Access here for a free download of the full report to check the emerging trends and how these vary among different countries and medical specialties. Resu;lts include details about transformation of the medical practice and relationships of HCPs and the pharma industry among other insights.
Read More
Half of LatAm HCPs interested in f2f rep visits now and 9 out of 10 once pandemic is controlled
Released November 2020
The New landscape for HCPs in Latin America
Changes in Medical Practice & relationships with Pharma Reps
A new report by Fine’s Latin American Healthcare Panel, contains fresh data collected from our ongoing COVID-19 Tracking Study.
This has become a must-read for any researcher or marketer interested in developing optimized communications with physicians in Latin America.
Download this free report to prepare for the future of pharma-HCP interactions ->
By reading this report you will learn latest news such as:
– 4 out of 10 doctors claim to have introduced new therapies into their practice during pandemic.
– LatAm HCPs see recovery in number of patients but still show reduced adherence and very low levels of patient controls. – Half of LatAm doctors are interested in receiving in-person pharma reps visits now, and 9 out of 10 would like to have them once the pandemic is controlled. ACCESS HERE FOR A FREE DOWNLOAD OF THE FULL REPORT to check the emerging trends and how these vary among different countries and medical specialties.
About this initiative
Since March 2020, Fine Research has been running a series of tracking waves around COVID-19 impact on Healthcare Professionals in Latin America, including over 11.000 interviews in 15 different countries.
Results have been widely published in the press and media in several countries as well as in articles and webinars sponsored by Market Research industry forums such as ESOMAR Foundation, ESOMAR, Research News, EphMRA, Brazilian Association of Research Companies, Brazilian Association of Research professionals, and GreenBook.
Read More
Fine distinguished with an Outstanding Achievement in Insight & Research Award for Third Consecutive Year
New York, NY, Oslo, Norway, and London, UK —December 12th, 2021— FORSTA announced the winners of the 2021 AIR (Achievement in Insight and Research) Awards. The annual AIR Awards recognize FORSTA customers committed to innovation and the advancement of the Market Research industry.
We are extremely proud to share that for third consecutive year, Fine Research won an Award in the AIR Project & Innovation category. The company is so far the only LatAm company that has won an AIR award
2021 edition was evaluated by an impressive crew of judges who included Fiona Blades (MESH), Simon Chadwick (CAMBIAR), Shannon Danzy, (WEARERALLY), Natalie Samuel, (COLOUR OF RESEARCH) and Kristin Luck, (SCALEHOUSE) who is currently ESOMAR president.
“I am delighted to congratulate Fine Research as a 2021 Forsta AIR Award winner for their proven excellence in insight and research. Fine Research ’s dedication to provide exceptional guidance and actively deliver significant value to their clients is a credit to their team. The global research and insights industry is driven by the energy of these organizations and we are proud to partner with them as they continue to deliver some of the most innovative research approaches in the industry” commented Kyle Ferguson, CEO at Forsta.
In 2020, we also got very positive comments and the judges said: “Great insights and important work. Fine Research has a great partnership with Save the Children and ESOMAR Foundation. They have approached this in the right way – no incentive. This is an excellent case study!”
Diego Casaravilla, CEO of Fine Research added “We are very sure that these recognitions to our work will be a strong motivation to all and every team member to continue committing to excellence as the most adequate possible response to these uncertain times.”
Read More
Fine Health Panels: Thriving in the Hardest Contexts
August 2020
There is no doubt that the Insights industry is being severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. An ESOMAR study conducted earlier this year forecasts a 22% fall for all research related companies. In Latin America data provided by local organizations such as the Brazilian Association of Researchers suggests the hit might be even harder.
However the impact is not equal to all parties and approaches. While traditional Focus Groups and quantitative f2f are now almost completely out of the radar, digital tools are in much better shape and taking the advantage of an accelerated digital transition, that is likely to remain in the long run after the pandemic.
FINE has been able to witness the resilience of its digital methods in the healthcare space in Latin America. On the one hand, it has been able to run over 10,000 interviews with physicians around COVID-19 without need to push respondents with monetary incentives. This was run from March to July in the peak of the pandemic as described in an article published at the ESOMAR FOUNDATION providing evidence of the impact of COVID-19 on the healthcare profession.
On the other hand, a project conducted by FINE with the support of Toluna and Reckner Healthcare, have shown how digital tools can be used to get independent healthcare evidence in sensitive contexts.
The collected data exposed the dramatic situation in terms of nutrition, drug access and increased epidemic risk in Venezuela, in spite of the complex political situation in that country and the fact many citizens could have a legitimate fear to express their true opinions.
These platforms enabled for an anonymous participation generating evidence that would have been strongly biased if intermediated by an interviewer, as described by our article in Research World.
And this of course does not limit to these specific not for profit projects that could be easily shared since were publicly published. The same is valid in our many business research assignments and in fact at FINE we have seen an increased response rates in our client sponsored projects during the pandemic.
Physicians are showing a larger preference for online tools, and this is happening globally. Recent reports published by EphMRA and Intellus Worldwide confirm that the majority of HCPs are interested in keeping up doing Market Research surveys but strongly prefer a digital approach. Phone is only accepted by a minority and for very short surveys only, while F2F has clearly been left out of the menu.
Of course online engagement requires a long lasting relationship, a trusted brand name, transparent and solid procedures in full compliance with the industry rules and giving value to the respondents.
FINE panelists are getting exclusive content such as access to own surveys on the medical profession, evidence-based medicine resource with free access to DYNAMED, or involvement in not-for-profit campaigns to support renowned charities. This unique approach makes FINE, the leading healthcare research panel in Latin America in terms of volumes, timing, deliverability and quality.
Please feel to reach out to see how we can support your data collection needs with HCPs using our digital tools, writing to info@fine-research.com
Read More
On-Demand Webinar: Critical challenges that Physicians are facing during the Pandemic
We are pleased to invite you to access our webinar, “Critical challenges that Physicians are facing during the Pandemic – Data from a Large-Scale Study in Latin America”, organized by Fine Research jointly with The Pharmaceutical Marketing Group.
Diego Casaravilla, CEO of Fine Research, talks about the results of this unprecedented work, with contributions from Laura Craig, VP, Client Success, Delvinia and Cozete Gelli, Qualitative Analyst, Fine Research.
The aim was to understand the main challenges faced by doctors in the midst of the pandemic. The research completed at the end of May 2020 involved large-scale fieldwork in 16 countries in LatAm, interviewing more than 5,000 doctors.
The main opinions and challenges facing professionals in the region have been analyzed, grouped into three main axes; evidence on the pandemic, impact of the pandemic in their professional work and future scenarios.
You will discover answers to:
– What are the new challenges for doctors?
– How has the number of patients changed?
– How has the current context impacted doctors emotionally?
– How has patient adherence changed for Cancer, HIV or Diabetes patients?
– How empathetic have pharmaceutical companies been?
– What future scenarios do HCPs imagine will be likely to happen?
Click here to access the full report
Read More
Using Artificial Intelligence to unveil HCPs emotional challenges in the COVID-19 era
Imagine that you need to run a large scale quant project on the impact of COVID-19 in the medical profession and specifically on doctors´ emotions.
You would like to field as quickly as possible and you are in the middle of the pandemic.
You do not have time for traditional qual research but you want to make sure that your future quant survey will not be losing any relevant angle.
What can you you do? What if you use a moderator that can chat with over 80 doctors in 5 days?
Well, that is exactly what we did. We reached doctors with our Latin American Physician panel and have them chat with CRIS, the virtual moderator created by the Canadian company Delvinia and in a matter of days we got the insights we needed!
The most surprising thing was that our AI CRIS pal helped us to unveil some emotional dimensions such as the hard time Brazilian doctors have in calming their patients’ anxieties around the pandemic or the different kind of fears they are experiencing.
We thank CRIS and “his” (or “her”?) colleagues at Delvinia for making this project feasible.
You can download the qual data that CRIS helped to unveil and also the full quant report here!
Read More
HEALTHY PRIORITIES PROJECT: AN ANTICIPATORY AND SUPPLEMENTARY VISION TO COVID-19 CONCERNS
In a project carried out three months before the outbreak began in Wuhan, with both citizens and health professionals from Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela and the United States, we collected information on health system priorities in the Americas.
The project showed in advance the expectations of the population in the face of an epidemic that they saw as a probable event, the little preparation of the different countries (that would later be confirmed), both in Latin America and in the United States, and also the other epidemic situations of the region (dengue, zika, chikungunya, malaria, etc.), problems related to nutrition, obstacles faced by patients and the main challenges for health professionals.
This helps to define a more comprehensive view of the health system and its dilemmas from the perspective of citizens and those who practice medical activity.
This project to support Save The Children Mission for Venezuela, was possible due to the pro bono collaboration of Fine Research, Toluna Panels, Reckner Healthcare and Confirmit Software. It was also endorsed by The Esomar Fondation, and selected for presentation at the next ESOMAR Conference in Latin America
Read More
ESOMAR includes Fine Research as an example of response to COVID-19 crisis
Amsterdam, April 1, 2020
ESOMAR issued an statement named The role of Data, Research and Insights community in supporting global crisis and post-crisis management of Covid19 measures.
It included a number of relevant recommendations and detailed a few examples of members who, be they large globally renowned agencies or local boutique agencies, are working tirelessly to increase insight and understanding of how the world around is being changed by the Covid19 outbreak. This research is, and will be, invaluable to facilitate and enable government and business leaders to evaluate and take effective decisions that strengthen public trust and confidence, overcome the crisis as quickly as possible, and reboot our economies.
Those examples included the 7 selected cases of actions taken by Ipsos, YouGov, Kantar, GfK, KASI, PEW , and Fine Research.
Regarding FINE, the satement details as follows:
Supporting Latin American healthcare systems with intelligence and insights
FINE Research is a leading independent data collection company in Latin America. It runs several panels which address healthcare professionals in Latin America and as a result is well placed to support the health care profession in these countries as they prepare for the Covid-19 pandemic progress through the region.
FINE Research has been using its evidence-based medicine information tool, mailing capabilities and survey community platform, to provide updated information on COVID-19 to the Healthcare community. It has offered free of charge research for any initiative coming from public ministries of these countries in order to ensure that health-care professionals are taking decisions to prepare for and mitigate the impact of the Covid-19 on Latin American healthcare care
FINE Research runs and funds an ongoing COVID-19 Monitor, with a first wave run on nearly 1000 physicians in 4 Latin American countries (Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and Argentina) specifically on the status of the healthcare system itself to determine what should be the action plan for decision-makers.
The research identified that a focus is needed on improving hospital infrastructure and citizen awareness of the symptoms and prevention strategies, establishes evidence of a probable underreporting of diagnoses of Covid-19 showing the need of an urgent expansion of the testing capability, and a higher physician support of policies in countries looking to implement strict lockdown measures to contain the spread of the virus.
The full statement is available here
Read More