Enabling Patients to Take Control of Sampling

Patient Centric Sampling Interest Group (PCSIG) brings together a variety of interested parties who wish to develop and promote the use of patient-centric sampling technologies for blood, plasma, and other human matrices to better facilitate the advancement of human healthcare and well-being - "enabling patients to take control of sampling".

Neil Spooner, the co-founder and chair of PCSIG, answers some common questions: 

Q. Tell us more about PCSIG and the problem(s) you are trying to solve

A. The way that biological samples are collected from humans for routine healthcare, therapeutic drug monitoring, clinical trials, or any other situation where we want to measure components in blood, urine, etc, has remained unchanged for decades.

For example, we still require people to attend a centralized clinical setting for venipuncture to collect blood samples, a process that is often distressing and painful for many of those subjected to it. A number of technologies and workflows are now widely available that enable these high-quality samples to be collected in locations that are more centered around the preferences of the person who is having the sample collected – we term this patient-centric sampling (PCS). This might be in the home, at a local pharmacist, or health center, or may be in a traditional centralized clinical setting.

The point is, that the person having the sample collected is involved in making a choice as to what works best for them, whilst still collecting a sample that is of a quality to enable the right decisions to be made from any data derived from it. These approaches can be performed by the person themselves, or by a caregiver, or clinician, depending on individual preferences and requirements.

The processes used for the collection of samples using these approaches may be more comfortable for many people, for example, the widespread issues with needle phobia associated with routine venepuncture. In addition, these technologies facilitate the collection of samples in locations and situations that are currently intractable by traditional sampling approaches. For example, providing healthcare and clinical trial inclusion for remote communities. However, changing routine clinical practices is not easy, or quick. The PCSIG was founded to help facilitate the broader understanding of these technologies and their more widespread adoption, where they bring benefits. This is achieved by bringing together passionate individuals who wish to contribute to this change in society by taking part in the various activities of the group, including educating key stakeholders and sharing best practices.

Q. Who are the people you want to reach most? 

A. The people we most want to reach in organizations, are those that are key decision-makers in the processes where patient-centric sampling approaches may be of benefit, and those that are most affected by the changes brought about by the implementation of these novel approaches. This may be for healthcare, therapeutic drug monitoring, pharmaceutical clinical trials, drug testing in sports, or other areas where the adoption of PCS approaches may have an impact.

We are actively working to define the roles of these groups and individuals and then to find ways of engaging with them. This involves education through attendance of appropriate conferences and symposia, and the provision of webinars, where our members can present on the technologies and listen to the concerns of those we engage with. We can then set in motion follow-up activities to address these concerns. Those we engage with might be early champions of the PCS approach in their organization and network. In which case, it is important that we provide them with the appropriate support to facilitate their often difficult role and pioneer of change in their organizations.

In addition, we also need to actively engage with those that are more reticent regarding the approach and the changes needed to enable implementation. We need to listen to and understand their concerns and support them where necessary.

Q. What can individuals and companies do at this point? Are you looking for more partners to join PCSIG? A working group?

A. The PCSIG is open to all and is free for individuals to join. Simply ask to join the PCSIG LinkedIn group. In most cases, this request will be followed up with a call to help the individual understand the mission of the group and how they can get more involved if they wish.

We tend to find that our membership is composed of individuals who have a personal drive and passion for helping with the more widespread understanding and adoption of PCS approaches and are willing to give a small amount of their valuable time to contribute to this. There are a number of teams working on a variety of activities and all members are encouraged to take part to whatever extent that are able to commit. These activities include:

• Making presentations and leading workshops and training courses at conferences. 
• Delivering webinars on various situations where PCS approaches bring benefit.
• Implementing a clinical trial to understand the impact of home sampling on recruitment and retention.
• Sharing best practices for implementation of PCS for diagnostics workflows.
• Building website tools to increase understanding of PCS approaches, e.g. listings of available blood sampling technologies.
• Authoring publications, e.g. strategies for generating bridging data for diagnostic and other assays between samples collected from capillary blood compared to standard venous phlebotomy.
• Building patient and clinician surveys to get feedback on PCS approaches.

Funding for the running and activities of our organization is through sponsorship by companies and organizations that share our mission for the adoption and understanding of PCS approaches and we very much welcome new and existing sponsors at any time.

In addition to receiving recognition on the PCSIG website and at our events, our sponsors are also invited to join the PCSIG Sponsors Advisory Group, where they are able to suggest activities for the organization (subject to approval by the PCSIG Board) and devise questions for the PCSIG Patient Advisory Group.

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