5 kinds of case studies to understand and benchmark current clinical practice with N-of-8

With the array of information available now through journals, seminars, societies, textbooks, and online searches, to name just a few sources, it is understandably difficult to determine on your own what constitutes relevant current practice and what does not.

The first step in approaching this task may be to clarify the differences among basic research methodologies and to examine how different methodologies are designed to answer different types of practice questions.

Qualitative research is not typically designed or intended to yield causal conclusions. It is generally intended to describe or explain behavior and thus should not be used to make conclusions about motivation or influence.

That said, qualitative research contributes a great deal of essential information.

With the N-of-8 techniques I developed, you can explore attitudes, opinions, beliefs, perceptions, interactions, practice structure, and behaviors in various settings.

A case may be based on:

1. an individual customer, who has an established routine
2. a practicing group of physicians or researchers, who have created common protocols
3. a hospital, that uses a documented treatment algorithm or formulary
4. a professional society, which has published practice guidelines
5. an event, that exemplifies the experiences of the group

For example, I worked with a client with a treatment for a rare medical condition and collaborated with several research partners to report an analysis of eight cases of practices. Specifically, we collected observations of in-office activities, interviews with generalists and specialists, patient notes, videotapes of interactions, and other materials. The purpose of this study was to thoroughly examine the actual behaviors in these cases.

We gained valuable insight into the nature of diagnosis, patient communication, and most important, ideas for product packaging and training before the brand launch.

The major purpose of N-of-8 research is to understand current practice, product usage, and customer behavior.

Benchmarking business cases of other visionary companies

I’ve had many opportunities to facilitate medical brand vision workshops.

In one I particularly enjoyed, our objective was to create viable 3-year “vision scenarios” for a portfolio of products. The focus was on a successful brand launch as a key short- term goal, while simultaneously managing the lifecycle of an older brand, accelerating a bread-and-butter brand’s growth, and preparing for a successful follow-on product launch.

The cross-functional team was first given an overview of the improved market conditions and expanded manufacturing capacity. This allowed us to engage everyone to imagine a “different world” and create excitement in thinking about a brand-driven market.

Then, we introduced several historical examples of vision that changed perceptions. These included the Manhattan Project, Black Mountain College arts school, the Apollo space mission, and Disney’s animation studio and Epcot Center.

The main element of the meeting was benchmarking business cases of visionary companies to demonstrate how to imagine a different world. The cases were divided into three groups:

1. New World Shapers – eBay, Medtronic, iPod/iPhone
2. Lifestyle/Experience Creators - Harley-Davidson, Starbucks
3. Category Killers - Best Buy, Home Depot

Using these cases as a start, three breakout groups applied a similar vision to our portfolio. We asked, “What if...we are pursuing a strategy like...(brand)?” What new ideas would that generate in the areas of: new processes or steps, sales & marketing programs, market research insights, customer relationships, expert practice leadership, and contingency plans.

We also applied a rough SWOT analysis to the vision scenarios to assess our ability to win (and why), the size of opportunity (volume and/or $), growth potential, and stronger overall brand positioning.