Effective ways to recruit for a clinical study
March 2, 2010 10:33 PM Subscribe
What are some effective ways to recruit participants for a clinical study?
I am doing some volunteer work for a research hospital. The group I am working with is having difficulty recruiting enough participants for an NIH-funded case/control study examining a particular health condition. The physicians in the group are currently recruiting by telling their patients about the study, and asking local medical centers to refer participants.
These researchers are experienced in running clinical trials, but have solicited my suggestions/ideas for how to recruit more people. I have the condition myself, and am hoping I can make myself useful somehow. My only idea so far has been to spread the word through local support groups and patient-oriented websites.
Does anyone have other ideas on how to effectively recruit participants (both cases and controls) for a clinical trial?
I am doing some volunteer work for a research hospital. The group I am working with is having difficulty recruiting enough participants for an NIH-funded case/control study examining a particular health condition. The physicians in the group are currently recruiting by telling their patients about the study, and asking local medical centers to refer participants.
These researchers are experienced in running clinical trials, but have solicited my suggestions/ideas for how to recruit more people. I have the condition myself, and am hoping I can make myself useful somehow. My only idea so far has been to spread the word through local support groups and patient-oriented websites.
Does anyone have other ideas on how to effectively recruit participants (both cases and controls) for a clinical trial?
Response by poster: @EsotericAlgorithm: participants get compensated modestly for their time.
posted by wireless at 10:51 PM on March 2, 2010
posted by wireless at 10:51 PM on March 2, 2010
I have a few friends that have participated in clinical trials, and I myself have strongly considered one myself. For my friends, the incentive was money. For myself it was the free medical care.
We found out about the trials through newspapers (browsing the classifieds at restaurants), Craigslist, and clinical trial websites.
posted by Sufi at 10:56 PM on March 2, 2010
We found out about the trials through newspapers (browsing the classifieds at restaurants), Craigslist, and clinical trial websites.
posted by Sufi at 10:56 PM on March 2, 2010
At my old lab we had some luck setting up a table at meetings / conferences for associations of people that suffer from said health condition. Of course you want to contact the organizers ahead of time, but you will often find a lot of interested people at these things. We also had our own mailing list of volunteers, and we would post flyers in pretty much any venue we thought potential subjects would be likely to see. In a pinch we would sometimes even post to Craigslist, although the quality of respondents there was often lower.. Recruiting participants is difficult, even with cash payment, and you need to be very aggressive in reaching out to the community as well as confirming and following up with the participants.
posted by sophist at 10:56 PM on March 2, 2010
posted by sophist at 10:56 PM on March 2, 2010
ClinicalTrials.gov
Centerwatch
Those are both online matchmaking services for clinical trials, more or less.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:09 PM on March 2, 2010 [2 favorites]
Centerwatch
Those are both online matchmaking services for clinical trials, more or less.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 11:09 PM on March 2, 2010 [2 favorites]
Could you look over the current test procedures with a view to reducing the demands placed upon patients?
For example, if you're asking people to attend the hospital several times, in person, during the day, on a week day, that's going to make it difficult for employed people to participate.
Obvious, you might think, but there's a hospital near me crying out for sperm donors between the ages of 18 and 45 - requiring them to make 10 to 20 hospital visits which must be between 8.30 a.m. until 4 p.m, Monday to Friday.
So that's my suggestion: Take a look at the demands of the study, and see if you can make it less demanding, in order to increase the response rate among potential participants you're already reaching.
posted by Mike1024 at 12:31 AM on March 3, 2010
For example, if you're asking people to attend the hospital several times, in person, during the day, on a week day, that's going to make it difficult for employed people to participate.
Obvious, you might think, but there's a hospital near me crying out for sperm donors between the ages of 18 and 45 - requiring them to make 10 to 20 hospital visits which must be between 8.30 a.m. until 4 p.m, Monday to Friday.
So that's my suggestion: Take a look at the demands of the study, and see if you can make it less demanding, in order to increase the response rate among potential participants you're already reaching.
posted by Mike1024 at 12:31 AM on March 3, 2010
On additional thing (besides advertising and compensating participants, which are givens) are to let the medical community know about this trial, and the docs can point their patients towards their trial. I am also going to make the assumption that the medications are novel, and that the guidelines say "clinical studies" as the best treatment option.
Have a person who has a lot of published researched write an editorial for a prominent journal (this is sometimes actually written by another person but attributed to the author). The editiorial can describe current treatment options, the new therapy, patient criteria, etc. Again, this only works if the therapy is novel and there are no treatment options (ie, advaned cancer). In addition, if it is novel, I've seen persentations at medical education meetings have a slide or two that mention the trial. Are you collaborating with the drug company that is providing the medication? Have you told them about this complication? They may be aware of these options, know how to navigate this, and have experience publicizing this information.
posted by Wolfster at 5:36 AM on March 3, 2010
Have a person who has a lot of published researched write an editorial for a prominent journal (this is sometimes actually written by another person but attributed to the author). The editiorial can describe current treatment options, the new therapy, patient criteria, etc. Again, this only works if the therapy is novel and there are no treatment options (ie, advaned cancer). In addition, if it is novel, I've seen persentations at medical education meetings have a slide or two that mention the trial. Are you collaborating with the drug company that is providing the medication? Have you told them about this complication? They may be aware of these options, know how to navigate this, and have experience publicizing this information.
posted by Wolfster at 5:36 AM on March 3, 2010
My only idea so far has been to spread the word through local support groups and patient-oriented websites.
Word of mouth is OK, but as an affiliate of the study group you should not do anything more formal without passing it by the Research Ethics Committee that approved the trial. For studies that I am involved in, the wording of every ad and poster, and each type of direct patient approach by a clinician has been previously signed off by the ethics committee. You cannot ask extra physicians to recruit for you without considering the confidentiality issues involved. You certainly cannot add any incentive to participation without potentially compromising both the ethical integrity and the methodology of the trial.
posted by roofus at 6:28 AM on March 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
Word of mouth is OK, but as an affiliate of the study group you should not do anything more formal without passing it by the Research Ethics Committee that approved the trial. For studies that I am involved in, the wording of every ad and poster, and each type of direct patient approach by a clinician has been previously signed off by the ethics committee. You cannot ask extra physicians to recruit for you without considering the confidentiality issues involved. You certainly cannot add any incentive to participation without potentially compromising both the ethical integrity and the methodology of the trial.
posted by roofus at 6:28 AM on March 3, 2010 [1 favorite]
I've participated in a lot of research and some clinical studies, and I've always found out via posters (generally on college campuses or on public transportation), ads in the local alt-weekly, or internal institutional mailing lists for people who've already participated on studies.
In many cities, I've found that a a few groups seem to dominate the poster boards or newspaper ads - in Boston, for example, extended sleep studies (requiring weeks of time) poster particularly widely on campuses, while McLean's mental health studies are advertised on the T. Why not contact some of the groups that are most actively looking for participants and find out how they do it (and what legal/ethical guidelines they have to follow, etc.)?
posted by ubersturm at 8:56 AM on March 3, 2010
In many cities, I've found that a a few groups seem to dominate the poster boards or newspaper ads - in Boston, for example, extended sleep studies (requiring weeks of time) poster particularly widely on campuses, while McLean's mental health studies are advertised on the T. Why not contact some of the groups that are most actively looking for participants and find out how they do it (and what legal/ethical guidelines they have to follow, etc.)?
posted by ubersturm at 8:56 AM on March 3, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by EsotericAlgorithm at 10:43 PM on March 2, 2010