Best Practices For Site Communications During COVID-19

By Lesley Freese, Associate Director Operations, Trial Management Solutions

In her April 15 blog, my colleague KK Rumrill described how sponsors have been taking advantage of strong communications channels established with site engagement tools to keep sites informed as the COVID-19 crisis progressed.

During the past months, we have seen the trend of increased communications activity through the IQVIA Investigator Site Portal (formerly DrugDev) continue – and it’s having an impact. Sponsors with centralized study portals are reporting that inquiries requiring direct clinical research associate (CRA) follow-up have been minimized – solely because their site teams have so much information available at their fingertips. Self-service access to current, trusted information is more productive for everyone involved in a study, especially when in-person visits are minimal.  

With so much new and updated information being shared on nearly a daily basis, it’s important to consider the most effective methods of organization and distribution. Here are some best practices we’ve compiled from working with sponsors and sites of all sizes and specialties during the COVID-19 pandemic.