Why healthcare professionals will consume medical education content differently in the new world?

Technology surge

The explosion of medical knowledge, diagnostic and therapeutic possibilities causes growing uncertainty for healthcare professionals. They are facing the knowledge paradox. At the same time, access to the internet and surging computing technology (machine learning, artificial intelligence, virtual simulation algorithms,...) intrudes exponentially in their clinical work setting as well as in their need for professional development.

Performance pressure

Nowadays doctors and other healthcare professionals are under considerable pressure due to an increasing demand of (complex) care by aging populations. Apart from empowered patients, also payers and employers impose a larger administrative burden. They need to perform under high pressure. Time available for professional development is decreasing. As such they are calling for more efficient and effective formats for professional development and gradually fade away from classical forms of CME.

Legal environment change

There is a legally driven (Bribery act, Sunshine act,...) transparency duty of Pharmaceutical and Device industry to disclose any form of transfer of value between industry and healthcare professionals. It has been shown that this has reduced the access to classical CME formats by healthcare professionals. Different codes of conduct aim at managing different potential conflicts of interest (COI) between stakeholders involved in CME. These trends mediate the development of new funding models and new learning models in CME. 

Why we deliver?

  • We look at the bigger picture

    Seeing the pixels as well as the bigger picture calls for key competences. Our competence areas include strategy consultancy, medical information management, clinical decision research, educational formats and digital media. Our directors and account managers listen to your needs, scope the unmet needs and provide leadership in developing the encompassing solutions. We believe that going beyond the one-time solution and working in a long-term partnership allows us to provide integrated solutions that fit the bigger picture.

  • Complementary talent teams

    Every solution requires the appropriate functional competences in the team. Depending on the solution, the client service manager will create your team composed of medical information managers, web designers and/or developers, digital marketeers, graphic designers, event manager, assistants or CME coordinators. All these talents are at your fingertips, make us flexible and allow fast responses to your queries.

  • Continuous improvement

    Every new staff member is introduced to our internal quality processes and functional standards. During solution development, team members are coached by senior staff members and after delivery, we carefully evaluate to find areas for improvement. 10% of our staff time is devoted to functional development training (internal and external) and lunch workshops addressing key issues within our competence clusters. Although we believe our team is built on the work floor, we also organise special team building activities twice/year.

  • Details count

    The devil is often in the detail. This goes for print proofs of manuscripts, slides, the sound system during a meeting, responsiveness of a website to a browser, the preciseness of a digital call to action, the right color of light during a symposium, etc. We apply stringent quality control in every solution development to reduce the risk of missing any details.

  • Personal commitment

    We don’t believe in a nine-to-five or closed-minded mentality, but in transparency, open-mindedness, trust and respect. We put dedication, passion, flexibility and creativity first when selecting, developing and evaluating our staff. Most of our staff have been with Ismar Healthcare for over 5 years, and have built longstanding relationships with key medical thought leaders and clients.

  • Innovation

    Since 2013 we conduct research into medical educational formats. Partly funded by the Flemish Institute for Science & Innovation and out of our own cash flow, we obtained our first patent in 2017. We take nothing for granted and seek both efficiency and effectiveness in producing services for our clients.

History

1998Foundation

Foundation by Bianca Meesen and Louis Smets, both pharmaceutical industry professionals passionate about medical communication and education.

An old house in Lier was renovated into the first Ismar Healthcare office.

1999First staff

Hiring of first medical information staff.
Hot air balloon baptation after 1 year probation period.

2002Clinical decision research

Under leadership of Herman J. Stoevelaar, we start to conduct various studies using the RAND/UCLA method for analysing clinical decisions.

2005Move 1

The expansion of our staff and professional partner network necessitates a move into a location providing larger office space.

2008Strategic exercise

A strategic exercise was conducted to develop insight into the future of Continuous Medical Education (CME). This ended in December with a colloquium gathering thought leaders, learning experts, industry professionals, accreditation officers and governmental administrators.

2010Spin out independent CME

Spin-out of staff for the creation of e-HIMS, a completely  separated legal entity fully devoted to address the future needs of learners and teachers, offering independent Continuous Medical Education.

2013Move 2 and innovation activities start

Our new offices are designed to be an inspiring place for our people to create top level medical communication and education. Obtaining a subsidy from the organisation for innovation, science & technology supporting our efforts in online medical learning marks another important milestone in our history.

2017First patent

On July 31 we receive a patent for the innovative way of creating clinical cases and what-if scenarios.

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Innovation & Professional partners

As some solutions demand technical expertise and/or skills beyond our internal competences, we have developed a network of best-in-market professional partners. These partners participate in internal meetings, workshops and team building activities, and are considered an extension of our team.