Home nursing in clinical trials: Result from semi-structured qualitative interviews

There is a need to transition from conventional (on-site) clinical trials (CTs) to trials conducted within the comfort of a patient's home or community (decentralized CT) through e-consent, remote data monitoring, and telemedicine consults. This shift in trial procedures will positively impact recruitment rates, compliance and participant retention, protocol deviations, and delays or missed visits. Home nursing in CTs (HNCTs) will be an important component of this decentralization effort. A few limitations may impact the implementation of HNCT in India. In this regard, the workstream conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with experts from diverse domains of CT conduct (researchers from academia and industry, clinicians, investigators, nursing staff, patient research advocates, institutional ethics committee, or institutional review board members, legal experts, and trial participants) to collect their understanding, perspectives, and the ground realities about HNCTs in India. The current review puts forth the key areas that would facilitate the establishment of HNCTs in India and provides recommendations for the same.