What helps healthcare professionals to recruit people to research studies?

What is it about?

Finding sufficient people to take part in research studies is difficult. It can often take much longer than researchers planned and even then most trials do not find the number of people they need. Researchers often rely on healthcare staff, such as doctors and nurses, to identify and approach potential participants. In this review, the most promising strategy to enable recruitment was using a designated member of staff whose primary role was to recruit participants. We suggest that researchers design strong studies to find out more about whether using a designated person to recruit to research studies is effective, and if so, how best to use such a person.

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Why is it important?

We suggest ways that researchers can work with health care professionals to recruit study participants. This may make studies recruit more quickly, take less time, and be sufficiently powered. Studies were not high quality, so this suggests areas for further robust research.