The challenges of conducting clinical research: one research team's experiences

Conducting clinical research is an exciting and a rewarding endeavor. Each project is unique and, because of this uniqueness, research studies require considerable planning. Regardless of all the upfront planning, challenges will occur throughout the life of the study. Clinical research projects are rife with obstacles that range from the lack of administrative and physician support to subject attrition. Some of the challenges, such as subject dropout, are not unexpected, whereas other unanticipated issues can blindside a research team. This case study examines several such challenges experienced in one longitudinal study and presents the solutions engineered by the research team to keep the project on track.