Teamwork: An Evidence-Based Approach For Trial Recruitment

By Jennifer Dennis-Wall, Ph.D.

Every clinical trial comes with its own unique challenges. Sometimes the biggest challenge faced by a trial is simply not enrolling enough participants. Well-documented reasons for challenges with recruitment can stem from a complicated or unrealistic protocol or poor communication between the sponsor and investigator. However, recent studies have shed light on less obvious issues with recruitment. While there aren’t any published studies that have randomly assigned teamwork or no teamwork to different research teams, teamwork is a recurring theme in qualitative studies analyzing the barriers to trial recruitment. With teamwork comes a sense of ownership and responsibility for the group’s success, and this can apply to clinical research teams.

Lessons can be learned from a recent study by Strong et al. In this observational study, the researchers used validated interviewing techniques to probe physician and nurse investigators who were responsible for recruitment in a multi-site, randomized trial comparing two different cancer therapies (surgery or chemotherapy). Some of the sites were less successful at recruitment than others. The potential reasons for this reported by the authors included a lack of understanding of the research’s purpose and bias imparted by the recruiter, either consciously or not. Both factors might be mitigated by incorporating and maintaining a strong sense of teamwork.