Optimising Recruitment to Randomised Controlled Trials
Date:
10/05/2027
Organised by:
University of Bristol Medical School Online Short Course Programme
Presenter(s):
Dr Nicola Mills and Professor Leila Rooshenas
Level:
Intermediate (some prior knowledge)
Contact:
Bristol Medical School Short Course Programme
University of Bristol
short-course@bristol.ac.uk
+ 44 117 455 5987
www.bristol.ac.uk/medical-school-short-courses
Venue: Online
This course aims to provide an introduction to the challenges of recruiting people to randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and strategies to address these. The course draws on evidence generated by the QuinteT research programme, which specialises in optimising recruitment to RCTs based on research conducted in over 70 trials to date. Course content and examples will be drawn primarily from trials set in secondary care hospital settings that span a range of medical specialities.
This course aims to equip attendees with insight into the common sources of recruitment difficulty in RCTs and ways of mitigating or overcoming these.
The course content has been informed by two decades of research into optimising RCT recruitment, conducted by the University of Bristol's QuinteT research group. The QuinteT group have worked on over seventy challenging RCTs, most of which have compared very different types of treatment or 'non-treatment' groups in secondary care NHS settings.
The day long course will cover the following areas, using examples from real RCTs:
- common organisational and logistic difficulties that can impede recruitment;
- the purpose of RCT screening logs and their potential to monitor inclusivity and identify obstacles throughout the recruitment process;
- an overview of the concepts of individual and community equipoise, and their implications for recruitment;
- strategies for engaging with patient preferences for or against trial treatments;
- the implications of language and terminology on recruitment when discussing RCTs with potential participants; and
- an overview of inclusivity concepts, rationale for inclusive research, existing guidance, and team examples for optimising inclusivity in RCTs.
Cost:
£250
Website and registration:
Region:
South West
Keywords:
Participant Recruitment, Recruitment and selection
Related publications and presentations from our eprints archive:
Participant Recruitment
Recruitment and selection