BoMedAC®Evaluating Medical Affairs with Kirkpatrick’s model
How Medical Affairs teams can use Kirkpatrick’s four levels – reaction, learning, behaviour, results – to evaluate education, advisory boards and field activities.
Medical Affairs teams are asked more and more often to show the value of what they do. Kirkpatrick’s model, originally developed to evaluate training, gives a simple structure for that: four levels, each building on the one before.
The four levels
1. Reaction
How participants perceived an activity – a medical education session, an advisory board, a pharmacy training. Methods: post-event surveys, ratings of clarity and relevance, short polls during the session, focus groups for more detail.
2. Learning
What knowledge and skills participants gained. This is where knowledge transfer becomes visible and behaviour change becomes possible. Methods: pre- and post-assessments, knowledge checks, self-assessed confidence, retention tests some weeks later.
3. Behaviour
Whether participants apply what they learned in practice – and what stops them if they don’t. Methods: follow-up surveys and interviews, observational studies on practice change, case examples.
4. Results
The impact on organisational goals and patient outcomes. Methods: analysis of clinical outcomes (for example hospitalisations or quality of life), adherence and health-economic data, and – where compliant and appropriate – prescribing patterns.
Putting the framework into practice
- Involve stakeholders early. Agree with medical, marketing, market access and clinical development what “success” means for each level before the activity runs.
- Combine methods. Use quantitative measures (surveys, metrics) and qualitative ones (interviews, focus groups) across all four levels.
- Close the loop. Feed findings into the next planning cycle so evaluation improves the work rather than just reporting on it.
Levels 1 and 2 are cheap and fast to measure; levels 3 and 4 need planning before the activity starts. Most teams get the most value from defining level-3 indicators up front.
Conclusion
Applied consistently, Kirkpatrick’s model makes Medical Affairs activities more accountable and makes their value visible to stakeholders inside and outside the company.
Dr. Bernadette Awankem
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