Recruitment of practices in primary care research: the long and the short of it

Abstract

The task of recruiting should not be underestimated. Adequate time and resource need to be allocated from the onset. Long periods where practices have no added burdens such as audits, mass vaccination programmes or influenza season are unlikely, therefore there are always considerable challenges in recruiting practices for research. Remaining flexible to individual practice styles and influences and acknowledging the commitment of participants is important.

Folate Augmentation of Treatment – Evaluation for Depression (FolATED): randomised trial and economic evaluation

“…In a review of current literature, Bower also concludes that recruitment of patients into health research from primary care continues to be a major hurdle. 182 Goodyear-Smith et al sought to identify barriers to recruitment in primary care, 183 including lack of time (exacerbated by the annual influenza vaccinations campaign in general practice), the need to identify staff responsible for decision making, the need to clarify the nature of the study, and the need to be flexible in accommodating practices. Strategies to improve recruitment included providing incentives to practices (both material and educational), using a personal approach, ensuring practices feel engaged, minimising disruption, streamlining processes, and using doctors to recruit doctors.…”

An evaluation of the impact and costs of three strategies used to recruit acutely unwell young children to a randomised controlled trial in primary care

“…Some reports highlight alternative methods regarding how to improve recruitment including using qualitative methods [15,16] and working closely with country-wide clinical research networks [10]. However, primary care trialists often report challenges in engaging both participants and GP practices [5][6][7][8][9]11]; thus, there is a pressing need for more evidence-based strategies [2,4,5,10,17].…”

Recruiting and retaining general practitioners to a primary care asthma-intervention study in Australia

“…Reasons why the medical-peer approach works is the ability to pass the practice 'gatekeeper', usually a receptionist, because of their respect and credibility (Heywood et al 1995) and the strength of their personal networks and relationships (Asch et al 2000). A potential drawback of this approach is that GPs may find it hard to say no to a peer at the beginning with time then wasted on a participant who later withdraws (Goodyear-Smith et al 2009). In our study, this did not appear to be the case as RM3 was associated with both higher recruitment and retention of GPs.…”