At Lindus Health we optimise for the experience of our trial managers and participants when using our end-to-end clinical trial software to be as easy and efficient as possible. We achieve this by empowering them as part of the product development cycle (as well as taking inspiration for efficiency hacks from the world of software engineering).
If you've spent some time in software engineering circles, you may be familiar with the Editor War. The Editor War is the (sometimes humorously hyperbolic, but nonetheless fierce) rivalry between two warring camps of coders over which code editor they prefer: Emacs or Vim. What's the war about? Ease of use and efficiency.
These two editors are not, in fact, the only options. They are part of a rich ecosystem of “integrated development environments” which enable engineers to be as effective as possible by autocompleting/formatting code, constantly running tests and checks, and providing a rich suite of keyboard shortcuts so we don't even have to waste time reaching for our mouse! Some engineers are very passionate about their editor because any alternative would require pressing one more key to do a common workflow.
So why are engineers so obsessed with working efficiently?
Well, I don't think engineers are special. Everyone wants their software to be efficient and easy to use. The difference is engineers are both the users and creators of their tools. They are empowered to make improvements. If an engineer is frustrated by a cumbersome or laborious workflow, they can set out to build a solution that takes as few clicks as possible and share it with the rest of the coding community. And they often do.
Not all software users benefit from this virtuous cycle of tweaks and improvements, however. The result? Clunky, out of date software that feels more antagonistic than helpful.
At Lindus Health we build better products by empowering our users. We do this in three ways.
The efficiency innovations that have come out of the world of engineering are not reserved for engineers! As users of these tools, we can find similarities between the workflows of engineers and trial staff and introduce new intuitive user experience patterns to save clinicians time and let them focus on what matters: their patients.
Most recently, we realised that clinicians switching between participants’ information in our trial platform, Citrus, mimicked the engineering workflow of switching between files while coding. We took inspiration from how our code editors enable us to do this quickly and devised a way to allow this switching in just one click!
We know that participating in a trial can be… interesting. We want to ensure that participants in our trials always have the best experience possible.
“Dogfooding”, as it’s commonly known in tech, is the practice of using your own software to understand how it performs in the real world and catch any issues. It’s an important tool we use at Lindus Health to gain insight into (and improve) the experience of the participants in our trails.
We frequently run internal mock trials and, thanks to the easy configurability of our Citrus platform, we even use our own Electronic Data Capture (EDC) software to run internal polls to decide things such as where our next team event will be! (A team baking competition won, for those wondering).
Lindus Health is unique in that we have in-house clinical operations specialists sitting alongside engineers. Our product manager, Nijat, went over in detail how we leverage this in the previous product clinic: Using feedback loops to build better products.
At Lindus Health, we’ve made it our mission to build fast, easy to use clinical trial software. In previous editions of Product Clinic, we’ve talked about how our technology and product development cycle enable that. Empowering users is another part of our development ethos that enables us to create the most efficient tools possible, and ultimately make clinical trials easy!
Nijat Hasanli - Head of Product- Lindus Health
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Announcing Pilot Trials: clinical data in weeks, not years
Enter pilot trials! We now offer pilot trials for companies who may not need to run a full clinical trial but need data in order to get their product to patients. Sound like it could be you? Read more here.
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Why working with a university isn't always best for DTx start-ups
Our Co-Founder Michael explores the best options for DTx startups looking to start generating clinical evidence and why it might not always be best to work with academic institutions.
Product Clinic #5: Lindus Health’s first Hackathon
In July 2022 Lindus Health commenced its first hackathon with everyone in the product team, from data science to our CTO and head of product getting involved.
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Why I joined Lindus Health - Hannah Swayze, Senior Trial Manager
To overcome the current barriers to clinical research; To develop innovative technology that will deliver clinical trials more efficiently; To be a part of a supportive, flexible and growing team.
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Product clinic #4: One roadmap to rule all clinical trials
Our product team are agile. What does this mean? It means they move fast, customise quickly and add functionality, all without causing delays. Want to know how? Read here about the ruthless prioritisation that guides our product team.
A Fireside Chat with Paul Wicks: How can we make clinical research for digital therapeutics more patient-friendly?
Digital Therapeutics are still a relatively new treatment area and there is a lot to learn about conducting clinical research on them. Find out how Paul Wick's, Digital Health expert, thinks research companies can put the patients first.
Product Clinic #2: Using feedback loops to build better products
Lindus Health's objective is to build better products that hit non-negotiable clinical standards and challenge outdated conventions. How do we do this? Read more here
Why I joined Lindus Health? Ece Kavalci, Machine Learning Engineer
Working towards a good cause. Innovative approaches to solving problems in clinical trial design. Every contribution is valued.
Why I joined Lindus Health? Van Zyl Engelbrecht
The mission to accelerate clinical trial. The focus on making clinical research more patient-centric. The ability to support innovative health companies bring their product to market at a lower cost.
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Product Clinic #1: Turning boring technology into exciting products
Don't be put off by the blunt use of the word "boring" to describe our technology. It's one of our guiding principles allowing us to make rapid progress while maintaining high quality standards. Read more here.
James Lind and the Mafia
The story of how James Lind's trial for scurvy led to the formation of the mafia.
What actually improves diversity in clinical research?
We’ve all seen the evidence of ethnic minority underrepresentation but what is actually going to have an impact in the future? Read Lindus Health’s action plan here
Vaccine Trials and Tribulations
Read co-founder Meri’s experience of a Covid-19 vaccine trial that left him frustrated (but vaccinated), and led to the creation of Lindus Health.
Stagnation, Drugs and Eroom's law
Why does the cost of clinical trials continue to increase? Meri Beckwith, Lindus Health co-founder discusses why stagnation has prevailed and how technology is the answer
Cure Scurvy with this one weird trick…! Doctors hate him
In 1747 James Lind conducted the first clinical trial, proving that oranges and lemons were a cure for scurvy. Given that we’re named after him we felt it was about time we wrote a post about the history of scurvy, Lind, and the first ever clinical trial! We believe that in 100 years current health outcomes will seem just as ridiculous and intolerable as 50% of sailors dying of scurvy seems now, and that’s why we’re named Lindus Health.
Why I joined Lindus Health? Luke Twelves, Medical Lead
To help make trials more accessible to patients and clinicians. To help bring novel and innovative treatments to the frontline of care faster. To stretch myself and work as part of a really exciting team.
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A success story: Lindus Health recruiting prediabetes patients for the ASPIRE-DNA clinical trial
Lindus Health used its multi-channel strategy to accelerate DnaNudge's trial recruitment. Read more about the challenges they faced and our results here.
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Lindus Health launches with $5m seed round to revolutionise health research
Lindus Health publicly launched today, announcing $5m in seed funding from leading technology and healthcare investors including Firstminute Capital, Presight Capital, Seedcamp, Hambro Perks and Amino Collective.
Why I joined Lindus Health? Nik Haldimann, CTO
A worthy mission. Personal challenge & growth. To create a dream environment for engineers.
Optimising trial recruitment with our Primary Care Network
Primary care organisations are responsible for patient care but are not yet set-up for research. What do we mean by Lindus Health’s Primary Care Network and what are its advantages? Learn how primary care can turbocharge your trial recruitment.
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