We ask a lot of challenging questions at EBM Analytics, but this one's left us scratching our heads. It feels like not long ago we were shuffling for a group photo at an end of year lunch, hoping to capture the team in a shot that didn't involve any Blue Steel poses or fluoro items of clothing. But apparently, that was 12 months ago, and we find ourselves at the end of another year, this time swapping the sneakers and jeans for a pair of heels and some ties.
2019 was a big year in terms of our research output, with 14 published articles and several more in submission. The combined efforts of our team and clinical partners saw 29 presentations delivered across three states, with the Australian Clinical Trials Alliance Conference and the Australia and New Zealand Orthopaedic Research Society 25th Annual Conference being key highlights. We expanded clinical registries, struck up industrial partnerships, and helped kick off exciting programs for some of our new clients.
The EBM Analytics team with their partners at the end of year lunch celebration.
There was a heavy investment this year into some of our internal systems and processes, which we're confident will strengthen and streamline our delivery pipelines to maximise the quality of service we offer our clients. Of course, many important lessons were learned along the way, some of which we've summarised in the Tweetorial you can check out below:
Key clinical lessons learned include:
Clinical research isn't a smooth ride, but realistic expectations are an effective way to buckle up.
Clinical registries are the backbone of better patient care, but ditching the planning phase and inadequate stakeholder engagement is a quick road to failure.
A clinical registry is only as useful as its quality, and we've found a way that makes sifting through hospital records and accurately identifying patients for inclusion into the registry much easier.
The data captured by a clinical registry can be improved by ~15% by attaching a quality management system to catch and address errors regularly.
A portion of patients presenting to clinics for assessment are not compliant with filling out questionnaires, and the number of scores they receive and changes in processes over time have something to do with it, but we're not very good at predicting non-compliance... yet.
Other general life lessons learned (which may or may not be of value, depending on who you are) include:
The highest cost-benefit ratio for work lunches can be found in supermarket specials that have been discounted by more than 90%.
Engineers cannot be trusted for nutritional advice.
Walking to the local restaurant for happy hour is an ineffective way to exercise.
The quickest way to get your work done is to re-assign it to someone else.
Whatever your problem is, our engineers are all over it.
As we say goodbye to 2019, we farewell some important team members and key clients that have been pivotal to our growth. We look ahead to 2020 and beyond, and if our achievements this past year are anything to go by, we look forward to another year exciting projects, bigger milestones, and stronger partnerships.
A huge thank you to everyone who's been part of the ride so far, and we wish you all a happy holiday season!