Analysis of Patient Recruitment Methods in Clinical Trials of Different Heart and Lung Diseases

Patient recruitment is key to the success of any clinical trial, as clinical trials cannot be conducted without the willful participation of subjects. However, clinical trial recruitment has always been a great challenge in clinical studies. This practicum project conducted over an eight-month period, compares three different methods of subject recruitment into 2 clinical research studies conducted at the Heart & Lung Transplant and Pulmonary Research Department of Baylor Scott & White Research Institute, Dallas. A total of 333 potential subjects were identified via EHR screening or referred by physicians or signed up on the clinical trial portal to be contacted about the study. 108 patients were referred by physicians, 212 patients were identified via EHR screening and 13 patients signed up on the online clinical trial portal to be contacted for a study. By comparing the method of patient recruitment into clinical studies, we can ascertain what method works best in recruiting patients for clinical trials. The three recruitment methods are: Physician Referral, EHR Screening and Online Portals. We hypothesize that Physician referral is a more successful method for enrolling patients into clinical studies of different heart and lung diseases.