There is a rather bleak fact about clinical trials – there are delays for up to 80% of cases. However, there are solutions to the most common patient recruitment challenges that can help accelerate much needed trials. Here, we list some of the challenges to patient recruitment and offer some solutions that benefit society and the medical community.
- No one knows about the particular clinical trial: Research clearly shows that many potential subjects have never even seen an advertisement for a clinical trial. This fact means that many trials never even get off the ground in the first place due to the low public awareness. Recruiters must find new ways to reach the public when trials begin. They must also let the public know what will be expected of them and be ready to answer and all questions they may have.
- Some trials are cut short because participants have dropped out before the end of the trial: This phenomenon happens for a variety of reasons such as patients feeling that they were not fully informed about what was expected of them. Whatever the reasons are for patient dropouts they occur at a rate of about 25% on average.
- Privacy and pre-existing condition concerns: Some subjects either do not sign up for the clinical trial process or drop out at some point over concerns around the privacy of their sensitive genetic information. Here it is the recruiter’s responsibility to inform subjects about what information will be collected, who will have access to that information and how it will be protected.
- Failure by recruiters to use targeted social media: Facebook has become an important channel for reaching U.S. adults, especially for marketers who are targeting older adults. Due to this popularity, smart recruiters know that any effort to enlist subjects should include an effective social media campaign on this highly popular site.
- The patients live too far from research sites: When patients aren’t able to make it to a particular research site, there are a few solutions that can help. The first is that researchers provide a means of transporting subjects to the research facility such as rideshare, local taxi companies, etc. The second is to determine whether or not the radius in which patients are being recruited can be narrowed down.
The importance of finding a way to break down this disconnect is indisputable. The good news is that some of these solutions are known to be quite effective. It comes down to a commitment by recruiters to communicate with the public. We can put you in contact with clinical trials in Los Angeles and you can earn money by participating.
