Enhancing Outpatient Clinic Recruitment: A Quality Improvement Strategy for a Prospective Research Study

Area of Science:

• Clinical Research Operations
• Quality Improvement in Healthcare
• Patient Recruitment Strategies

Background:

• Effective study recruitment is crucial for advancing medical research.
• Traditional recruitment methods in outpatient settings often face challenges in reaching eligible participants.
• Optimizing the delivery of study information during routine clinical care is a key area for improvement.

Purpose of the Study:

• To enhance patient study recruitment by increasing the proportion of eligible individuals receiving study information during outpatient clinical encounters.
• To implement and evaluate quality improvement (QI) interventions aimed at improving study recruitment efficiency.

Main Methods:

• A quality improvement study was conducted in 16 outpatient clinics.
• Interventions included appointing recruitment champions, notifying staff of eligible patients, tracking progress, and offering incentives.
• Data on patient information delivery and enrollment rates were collected and analyzed.

Main Results:

• The percentage of eligible patients receiving study information increased to 58.9% (from a baseline of 32.6%).
• Study enrollment rates from clinic contact averaged 59% (compared to a baseline of 21.8%).
• Statistical analysis confirmed a significant improvement in both information delivery and subsequent enrollment.

Conclusions:

• Quality improvement methodology effectively optimized clinical study recruitment processes.
• The implemented strategies for enhancing patient engagement and information dissemination proved successful.
• These approaches are potentially generalizable to other outpatient settings and research studies.