50 Shades of Health

Yesterday I enjoyed a day at the Grange City Hotel attending the MRS Healthcare Research conference chaired by Dan Coffin, Health Director, Illuminas. Healthcare is, without doubt, a changing landscape and the theme of the conference highlighted this.  Are researchers connecting on the right platforms and are researchers trying out new opportunities for engagement?

We talked digital, we talked ethnography, we talked gamification and we talked on-line communities.  Nothing new here really, but when working with GP’s, patients, HCP’s and other interested participants, the methodology takes on, possibly, a slightly different meaning.

As per the session with the panel discussing ethics, codes of conduct and compliance in healthcare research, researchers need to be careful and empathetic when potentially sensitive issues are being discussed.

It is clear that more and more people are engaged in health, from us the consumer/patient, to the tech companies providing wearable technology. This means that data is being collected in more ways and by different people than ten, five, three years ago.

It’s an exciting time for healthcare research and if the rules are abided to, engagement with respondents can be different from the traditional qual and quant, although clearly these have a place too.

I came away from the day with a lot of information and hopefully am better placed when talking to clients operating in the healthcare sectors and candidates looking to move.  This ultimately answers the first question I got asked when I introduced myself and told them what I did, only to be met with, “Why, as a recruiter, would you attend this event?”

As a recruiter to the market research, insight and analysis sector, who works with healthcare agencies and end-client, I want to be engaged and feel it is important that I am not left behind in the industry I recruit for.

As was the theme – I too look for new opportunities for engagement.