Excellence in Professional Education Programmes

Summary of work

To support the launch of Janssen’s esketamine, a ground-breaking new treatment for depression, the field medical team would be crucial in providing the right information to a diverse array of HCPs, thereby facilitating positive early experience and access for patients. This meant building high levels of knowledge amongst MSLs with a complex MoA and extensive data set to manage. But we wanted to go beyond this, building confidence in the MSL team to be able to relate this to real-world clinical practice, enabling them to act as credible partners to HCPs. OPEN Health conducted a robust benchmarking and needs analysis exercise, and applied the results to inform the development of a comprehensive, dynamic, blended learning programme. The curriculum was specifically designed to respond to learner needs over time, targeting the topics and modalities that would have maximum impact, as well as facilitating the effective sharing of insights and best practice across the region. Advanced learning theory was applied throughout and backwards design ensured clear definition of intended learning outcomes and assessment techniques. This allowed us to generate impressive metrics to demonstrate increased knowledge and confidence across the team in all areas identified as strategic priorities.

Judges' comments

Overall, a very simple but effective training approach that delivered strong outcomes. and we liked that they examined (and had good results from) the learnings post-launch. It was convincing in terms of its effectiveness and was tight, well evidenced and had a sensible curriculum. A great initiative to help MSLs expand their role.