27 Apr 3 ways ITHS can maximize your recruitment efforts
Clinical trials pose important questions to the research community, often aiming to challenge the status quo or bring advanced new treatments to practice. Investigational treatments are meticulously tested and trials are designed with great care and diligence for human participation. Yet many study teams still face their greatest challenge of all during clinical trial recruitment. Too often hardships in finding trial participants can raise costs or result in studies closing before the target data is collected.
Key areas of recruitment support from ITHS
ITHS aims to reduce this barrier by providing recruitment support in three key areas.
- Offering individual consultation with recruitment experts
- Providing a website, ParticipateInResearch.org, to promote active trials
- Providing access to a national Trial Innovation Network to support multi-site research
Explore the Services
Get strategic, project-specific recruitment advice with an individual consultation
The ITHS Recruitment Support Service is available to provide strategic, project-specific recruitment advice to help research teams meet enrollment goals. Whether you are an investigator looking to perform a feasibility assessment to assist with a grant application, or a research coordinator in the middle of study recruitment, this resource can help. Recruitment experts at ITHS will analyze your specific situation and develop a custom plan to help support your request.
Researchers and their teams are encouraged to contact the ITHS Recruitment Support Service to discuss and develop approaches to recruitment for both new and ongoing clinical studies.
Connect with potential study participants with ParticipateInResearch.org
Technology has created more opportunities to find research participants faster, easier, and inexpensively. Standard methods such as posting flyers, reaching out to individual clinics, and craigslist require physical materials and regular upkeep.
With ParticipateInResearch.org, ITHS has created a permanent, centralized location where researchers can connect with potential study participants and, in turn, potential study participants can search for studies that match their interests and needs.
Research teams can post their study information on the site for free. Studies are organized by category, making it easy for potential participants to sort and search for studies that appeal to them. It also empowers participants to contact the research team through email with the click of a button.
Fast Facts
Since the site was redesigned in 2015, it has…
- attracted nearly 80,000 unique visitors
- facilitated over 8,000 direct participant inquiries to research teams
- helped over 50 study teams reach their enrollment goals
Sandra Reeves, a study coordinator for the Development and Normative Data of the Symbol Digit Modalities Test used ParticipateInResearch.org to assist in recruitment for healthy controls. They were able to enroll 60% of their participants through this site. “Everything was really simple to work with and easy to update”, Reeves pointed out, highlighting that having direct email contact with participants through the site eased their communication process and improved their response rate.
Over the past two years, ParticipateInResearch.org helped this study and 50 other teams meet their enrollment goals.
Access the national Trial Innovation Network for your multi-site trials
Launching a multi-site trial can be a daunting task. As one of 50+ institutes across the country that holds a Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), ITHS is part of a large, collaborative network of investigators and research endeavors.
One such undertaking is the national Trial Innovation Network, an organization supported by the NIH with the goal of executing multi-site trials better, faster, and more economically. The Trial Innovation Network (TIN) can be engaged through ITHS to facilitate site selection, utilize standard agreements, and leverage the electronic health record infrastructure of participating institutions.
Investigators who have a have a funded or nearly funded project may requests services and consultations with the TIN. ITHS will work with you to determine how the TIN can help; all project proposals are submitted by ITHS on the investigator’s behalf.
