History of Patients at Heart

Patients at Heart was designed with the express purpose of addressing patients’ needs. To us, health goes far beyond just medications — we believe in strong partnerships with health practitioners to achieve one goal: support and empower patients with the knowledge and information they need to be active participants in their own health.

IT ALL BEGAN IN 2009

The whole Patients at Heart program was triggered by the astute observations of an AbbVie employee, Nathalie — a nurse who worked with clinical trial patients. Her report underlined how patients were often lost or unprepared during the whole trial process:

  • before, due to a lack of information that was easy for them to understand
  • during, because they hadn’t fully “digested” what was expected of them, blindly following the doctor’s instructions without truly understanding the process
  • and after, because they had difficulty accessing or being told the results of their clinical trials

Dedicated volunteers are essential to clinical trials, and instrumental in the progress of health care and treatments in Canada. Clearly, patients needed much better support and a better trial experience.

 

A HEART-TO-HEART COLLABORATION

To construct and refine the Patients at Heart concept, AbbVie initiated an open dialogue with patients and their families, along with medical teams across Canada. After this long period of reflection and exchange with our patients, today’s Patients at Heart program is:

  • A source of information for patients and their families to better share and communicate with the medical teams involved in AbbVie clinical trials, before, during and after the trial
  • A place where people can get a better sense of what is involved when participating in a clinical trial

Today, our Patients at Heart program extends well beyond the Web and continues to evolve thanks to your valuable collaboration!