Recruitment to Clinical Trials (PRioRiTY) (priority setting in association with the JLA)

Top 10 priorities

1. How can randomised trials become part of routine care and best utilise current clinical care pathways (i.e. current treatment plans)?
2. What information should trialists communicate to members of the public who are being invited to join a randomised trial in order to improve recruitment to the trial?
3. Does patient/public involvement in planning a randomised trial improve recruitment?
4. What are the best approaches for designing and delivering (e.g. website, leaflet) information to members of the public who are invited to take part in a randomised trial?
5. What are the barriers and enablers (e.g. workload, time, experience) to participation in randomised trials for clinicians/healthcare professionals?
6. What are the key motivators (e.g. altruism, more appointments) influencing members of the publics’ decisions to take part in a randomised trial?
7. What are the best approaches to ensure inclusion and participation of under-represented or vulnerable groups (e.g. children, pregnant women) in randomised trials?
8. What are the best ways to predict recruitment rates (i.e. the number of people that will join a trial) to a randomised trial and what impact do such predictions have on recruitment?
9. What are the best approaches to optimise the informed consent process (who should take consent, timing of consent, method and format of consent) to improve recruitment of members of the public to randomised trials?
10. What are the advantages and disadvantages to using technology (e.g. apps, websites) during the recruitment process?

The following questions were also discussed and put in order of priority at the workshop:

11. How best (where, when, what and by whom) can clinicians and other health professionals be educated to optimise recruitment to randomised trials?
12. Does feasibility testing of recruitment procedures lead to improvements in recruitment in the main randomised trial?
13. How can eligibility criteria for trial participants be optimised so that they aid recruitment to randomised trials?
14. What is the value of making randomised trials participants feel appreciated and how can this be best achieved?
15. What are the best approaches to ensuring manageable workloads for clinical and research staff responsible for recruiting members of the public to randomised trials?
16. Does involvement of (i) members of the public and/or (ii) members of the public participating in a randomised trial, in designing trial information improve recruitment?
17. What are the incentives (e.g. vouchers, catering) that motivate members of the public to agree to participate in randomised trials?
18. Do trial recruiters who have received focused, specialised recruitment training achieve better levels of recruitment than non-trained recruiters?
19. Do randomised trials which have a low participant burden/ requirements (e.g. travel to appointments) achieve better recruitment than those that have a greater patient burden?
20. Does a central registry for members of the public (i.e. a list of people with contact details) who are interested in taking part in a randomised trial improve recruitment?