Commentary: Pivoting during a pandemic: developing a new recruitment model for a randomised controlled trial in response to COVID-19.
Bowel cancer
COVID-19
Cancer prevention
Colorectal cancer
General practice
Primary care
Trial participant recruitment
Journal
Trials
ISSN: 1745-6215
Titre abrégé: Trials
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101263253
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
08 Sep 2021
08 Sep 2021
Historique:
received:
14
06
2021
accepted:
24
08
2021
entrez:
9
9
2021
pubmed:
10
9
2021
medline:
11
9
2021
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Many non-COVID-19 trials were disrupted in 2020 and either struggled to recruit participants or stopped recruiting altogether. In December 2019, just before the pandemic, we were awarded a grant to conduct a randomised controlled trial, the Should I Take Aspirin? (SITA) trial, in Victoria, the Australian state most heavily affected by COVID-19 during 2020. We originally modelled the SITA trial recruitment method on previous trials where participants were approached and recruited in general practice waiting rooms. COVID-19 changed the way general practices worked, with a significant increase in telehealth consultations and restrictions on in person waiting room attendance. This prompted us to adapt our recruitment methods to this new environment to reduce potential risk to participants and staff, whilst minimising any recruitment bias. We designed a novel teletrial model, which involved calling participants prior to their general practitioner appointments to check their eligibility. We delivered the trial both virtually and face-to-face with similar overall recruitment rates to our previous studies. We developed an effective teletrial model which allowed us to complete recruitment at a high rate. The teletrial model is now being used in our other primary care trials as we continue to face the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sections du résumé
BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
Many non-COVID-19 trials were disrupted in 2020 and either struggled to recruit participants or stopped recruiting altogether. In December 2019, just before the pandemic, we were awarded a grant to conduct a randomised controlled trial, the Should I Take Aspirin? (SITA) trial, in Victoria, the Australian state most heavily affected by COVID-19 during 2020.
MAIN BODY
METHODS
We originally modelled the SITA trial recruitment method on previous trials where participants were approached and recruited in general practice waiting rooms. COVID-19 changed the way general practices worked, with a significant increase in telehealth consultations and restrictions on in person waiting room attendance. This prompted us to adapt our recruitment methods to this new environment to reduce potential risk to participants and staff, whilst minimising any recruitment bias. We designed a novel teletrial model, which involved calling participants prior to their general practitioner appointments to check their eligibility. We delivered the trial both virtually and face-to-face with similar overall recruitment rates to our previous studies.
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSIONS
We developed an effective teletrial model which allowed us to complete recruitment at a high rate. The teletrial model is now being used in our other primary care trials as we continue to face the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Identifiants
pubmed: 34496930
doi: 10.1186/s13063-021-05567-0
pii: 10.1186/s13063-021-05567-0
pmc: PMC8424147
doi:
Types de publication
Letter
Randomized Controlled Trial
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
605Subventions
Organisme : victorian cancer agency
ID : CPSRG19011
Informations de copyright
© 2021. The Author(s).
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