For those involved in clinical research, discussions around patient burden are common. Often, it comes up in relation to issues of compliance and retention, as we look for ways to make clinical trial participation easier for patients so that they remain engaged and enrolled in our studies. As the industry strives to become more patient-centric, these are positive developments – but burden doesn’t only occur during active studies.
Recruitment Burdens
It’s great to see sponsors and other study stakeholders going to lengths to improve the patient experience during trials, but we cannot forget that we need to make sure we’re not asking too much of patients from the very beginning of the recruitment stage. There are many ways we can frustrate and scare off quality study candidates, such as not being clear about the eligibility requirements of the study or failing to provide clear direction regarding how to begin the screening process. Most people considering a clinical trial are doing so because they are sick or otherwise experiencing chronic symptoms – like pain – that take a toll on their quality of life. An obtuse and difficult introduction to your trial can be incredibly disheartening for patients who are likely already stressed.
Know Your Patients
Clinical trial candidates are, in general, sick, tired, and worried about their health. Already, we can see the advantages of making recruitment easier for them. Going a step deeper, we must think about what patients suffering from specific illnesses and conditions they are going through. For example, a multiple sclerosis patient likely has mobility challenges so forcing them to go through the steps of the screening process only to later find out that their mobility makes the number of site visits and physical assessments too challenging can be a profound waste of time, both for the patients and the study teams.
Other types of patients, such as those with central nervous system disorders, may only have brief windows where they meet a study’s eligibility requirements. For example, a depression study may require a patient to be in the midst of a current episode. For these patients, the path to enrollment needs to be very simple and very fast. Trialbee can help by providing accurate patient personas that target qualified candidates. These personas are also used to select the best digital recruitment strategies and channels, working to make the process as intuitive and painless for patients as possible.
A Safe Place to Land
Easing the patient’s journey can be accomplished by simply providing a single place online for patients to get the information they need. By directing all recruitment messaging toward a single landing page, we can:
- Allow patients to self-screen quickly
- Build in triggers that clearly guide patients through each step in the process
- Enable fast movement from self-screen to nurse assessment and onto enrollment
To make things simple, Trialbee works with clients to employ its proprietary and data-driven recruitment strategies. Using complex algorithms and data-mining approaches, we can get clear study messaging to the right patients, in the right places, at the right times. This brings candidates who are likely to be eligible for the study into the landing page where the simplified funnel process gets them screened and enrolled without adding undue burden.
Easing patient burden during recruitment can make a significant difference in getting the required number of eligible candidates into your study while meeting your timelines. For more information on how you can partner Trialbee to employ leading-edge technologies and make the recruitment and enrollment process easier for patients, visit www.trialbee.com
