Recruitment

[ThanksForAllTheFish!]

I am interested in joining the ranks of CRC's. I currently work at the bedside in ICU, but have research experience (animal research). I have a basic question regarding clinical research: How do you go about recruiting patients/participants/subjects? Having spoken with some CRCs, being able to meet that recruitment goal is key to both guaranteeing your paycheck and of cource the success of the study. In my previous research career, we just ordered a batch of mice! (granted, they were expensive, but they were almost always guaranteed available).

I know much depends if it is inpatient/outpatient. I have seen listings for open clinical trials in newspapers, webpages, etc. Are many referred by physicians that are aware of trials?

Since an important part of a CRC's job is recruitment, can anybody tell me more about the process? Where do you find patients? From my, ahem, research into the world of clinical research this concept is foreign to me.

Thanks!

[BBFRN, BSN, PhD]

I work in academic research, so (caveat ) I may have a different answer than others. It really depends on the , study, the protocol, who the investigators are, etc. It will always note the recruitment process in the protocol though, so not to worry- they won't just throw you out there, and tell you to have at it.

Sometimes, we recruit from an MD's office (if the MD is one of the PIs), we put ads out to target specific populations, recruit from the public school system if it involves school aged kids, etc. College campuses and university medical campuses are really good places to recruit from as well. It all depends on who you're targeting, and the size and scope of the study.

[anc33]

It depends on your protocol, IRB, phase, etc.

In phase I, healthy subject research we would advertise or draw from our subject database. In my current position, phase I-III oncology research, we screen patient lists, referrals, etc and identify patients that may be eligible for our current protocols. We let the physician know they have a potential subject and they broach the subject with the patient.