The Definitive Guide to Why ePRO Is More Than Just a Digital Diary
Summary
ePRO transforms clinical trials by replacing paper diaries—improving patient compliance, reducing data queries, and enabling real-time digital data capture.- Author Company: Clinion
- Author Name: jessica wellls
- Author Email: jessica.wells@clinion.com
- Author Website: https://www.clinion.com/
ePRO isn’t just digitized data collection. It’s real-time, structured, regulatory-grade intelligence, designed to enhance compliance, cut down queries, and keep patients engaged.
Despite operating in a digitally driven world, many clinical trials continue to rely on old-fashioned paper diaries to collect patient-reported data. As recently as 2018, nearly half of all studies capturing patient outcomes were still using paper. And that dependence hasn’t vanished overnight.
Paper diaries come with known risks: missing data, unreadable handwriting, and “parking lot compliance”, when patients rush to fill in days of entries just before a site visit. These issues compromise data integrity, delay insights, and strain already tight timelines.
This guide unpacks why ePRO (electronic Patient-Reported Outcomes) isn’t just about digitizing forms. It’s about transforming how clinical trials capture, monitor, and act on patient-reported data, unlocking better compliance, cleaner data, and real-time oversight that paper can never deliver.
Why ePRO Is Reshaping Patient Data Capture
ePRO systems use digital platforms such as mobile apps, web portals, and tablets to capture patient health data directly, without clinician interpretation. Compared to paper, ePRO ensures:
- Real-time data capture
- Stronger compliance
- Cleaner, more complete data
- Reduced site burden
It’s not just digital convenience. It represents a fundamental shift in how trials collect, monitor, and act on patient feedback and brings speed, structure, and intelligence to a process long overdue for transformation.
Read More: A Guide to Electronic Patient-Reported Outcomes | ePRO
