Reaching the clinical trial stage may be an enormous feat for life sciences organizations, but it’s only the first step in what’s arguably a long, though thrilling, process.
Whether you’re a project manager of large clinical trials or a clinical research professional, you know that finding, screening, and engaging potential participants is the biggest bottleneck in both controlled and randomized trials.
In fact, 19% of clinical studies are closed or discontinued due to a shortage of eligible participants. Meanwhile, over 50% of clinical research trials wrestle with participant recruitment.
This is where AutoCruitment comes into play. As one of the top study recruitment agencies, we leverage innovative clinical trial recruitment tools to streamline and strengthen patient recruitment and retention strategies. Here’s how they work—and how they may contribute to increasing enrollment.
The Importance of Clinical Trial Recruitment Tools
It’s hardly a secret that finding eligible participants for clinical trials is mired in challenges. A handful of the most common (and critical) include:
- Making your target patient population aware of the clinical trial and its significance
- Worries about adverse side effects from a treatment
- Misconceptions about what the clinical trial will entail
- Geographic and financial constraints
- Adhering to regulatory standards, including complying with the FDA’s Diversity Action Plan Guidelines
Fortunately, overcoming these obstacles isn’t on life sciences organizations alone. As mentioned, the right clinical trial recruitment tools, employed by the right patient recruitment agency, can mitigate these problems and set you on the path toward a successful trial.
Top Clinical Trial Recruitment Tools We Use
Here at AutoCruitment, we use a combination of leading-edge technology and professional services to contact patients, assess eligible patients, and bolster fidelity to a clinical trial (or, to phrase it differently, to encourage participants to remain engaged for the study’s lifespan).
These tools, solutions, and resources include:
- Patient databases and registries: Unlocking patient databases and registries is key to finding eligible participants. AutoCruitment enables life sciences organizations to connect with potential participants from over 37 countries, thus broadening your base of possible enrollees. Filters are also utilized to identify and potentially secure patients according to ethnicity, age, sex, and other factors. Additionally, we customize our patient recruitment screening and engagement services according to an organization’s unique inclusion and exclusion criteria. This helps reduce eligibility concerns.
- Electronic Medical Records (EMR): Discovering willing participants is one thing. Ensuring they meet the specific qualifications of your trial is another. While accessing patients’ EMR records isn’t how we find patients (more on that later), it’s an innovative part of our patient eligibility qualification process. We obtain informed consent to retrieve HIPAA-compliant EMR records automatically through our state-of-the-art EMR Capture & Intelligence solution. (A quick note here: EMR differs from EHR in that a single provider maintains the former and is primarily used for diagnosis and treatment.) These benefits are vast, from pre-screening potential patients for accelerated recruitment to curbing overall recruitment costs.
- Patient recruitment platforms: Patient recruitment platforms such as ours can offer significant advantages for life sciences organizations. They operate as an end-to-end solution where patients are unlocked through targeted advertising and seamlessly added to our Patient Management Portal. This reduces the need for multiple systems and manual steps in finding, screening, and managing patients throughout the funnel.
- Social media and digital marketing: Social media and digital marketing might not immediately come to mind when considering clinical trial recruitment tools. And yet, at AutoCruitment, we’re committed to meeting patients where they are. In fact, a large part of our recruitment efforts are centered around social media and online advertisements (such as Google Ads and Facebook Ads). Our targeted approach helps ensure we reach the people who have an expressed interest in the condition we’re recruiting for—and those who potentially meet inclusion criteria. We also continually track performance and make adjustments when necessary.
- Mobile apps and wearable technology: Patient engagement rates are notoriously low; some data indicates that approximately 25% of patients drop out of clinical trials after supplying their consent, while 90% of trials are delayed because of enrollment and patient engagement issues. Mobile apps and wearable technology, such as wearable sensors and virtual clinical appointments, may improve the patient experience. AutoCruitment adds to this: We take a patient-centric approach to engagement by providing education, support, and advocacy from start to finish.
Success Stories and Case Studies
There’s no better way to determine the efficacy of clinical trial recruitment tools than by examining previous successes.
Here at AutoCruitment, we’ve helped a range of life sciences organizations boost their enrollment rates by an average of 97%.
One example from a pool of many: AutoCruitment was brought on board in the third phase of a clinical research study on Major Depression Disorder (MDD). We launched a direct-to-patient online recruitment campaign (complete with geographic targeting and indication targeting) to refer 5,058 qualified patients.
The result?
Eighty-eight additional AutoCruitment randomizations and an increase of 12.25 patients per month.
Best Practices for Implementing Recruitment Tools
Intrigued by the benefits that can be found with clinical trial recruitment tools?
Your first order of business is to identify any bottlenecks in your recruitment strategy. (In some cases, data analytics and other tools may help determine the challenges and reasons for the delays you’re contending with.)
Your next step? Selecting a patient recruitment company that works for your particular study and goals. In addition to ensuring that a company’s data collection practices are HIPAA-compliant, you may also want to:
- Inquire about how they identify (and reach) diverse populations
- Learn their metrics and methods of monitoring progress
- Determine how they manage common recruitment issues
- Learn how they communicate
Ideally, you’ll land on a company that uses a variety of approaches, from traditional measures (like working with patient advocacy groups) to modern, technology-forward tactics.
Enhance Your Patient Recruitment Strategy With AutoCruitment
At AutoCruitment, we specialize in combining advanced patient recruitment technology with professional services to deliver exceptional results.
Our distinctive blend of end-to-end recruitment technology and professional offerings (including project management and site and patient engagement) helps organizations increase randomization and enrollment and reduce enrollment times.
Combine this with practical data and transparent reporting, and you’ll quickly find the patients you need to fulfill your clinical trial. This will expedite the speed of trials, save time and money, and give you stronger insights into your trial results.
Discover clinical trial recruitment tools that work with AutoCruitment. Book a demo with us today to learn more about our patient recruitment services.