Centralized research recruitment-evolving a local clinical research recruitment web application to better meet user...

Recruiting volunteers into clinical research remains a significant challenge for many clinical research study teams, thus the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research (MICHR) at the University of Michigan developed UMClinicalStudies (http://www.UMClinicalStudies.org)-a Web application that links the community to a single gateway for clinical research. UMClinicalStudies (formerly named "Engage") is an integral piece of MICHR's efforts to increase clinical research participation in order to advance medical discoveries. Despite the initial success of the application, barriers to research participation remain, including the applications accessibility for potential research volunteers and study team members. In response, new initiatives were instigated to identify user needs, in order to broaden the ability to simultaneously assist researchers in recruitment activities, while also aiding potential volunteers in the exploration of and participation in clinical research opportunities. To do this, improvements to the interface and functionality were identified and implemented for both the public and the research audiences through extensive system analysis, and through the application of human computer interactivity processes, resulting in significant improvements in usability and ultimately research volunteerism, indicating that utilizing such technology is pivotal in reaching broader audiences for clinical trial participation.