Optimizing Recruitment Strategies and Physician Engagement for Stroke Recovery Research.
Allegra Morton, Moira Myers, Alicen A Whitaker and 5 others
PMID 32969840WHAT IT FOUND
A 'customer service' recruitment model using physician champions and trained student recruiters raised stroke trial enrollment from 6% to 19%.
Early face-to-face contact and consistent communication streamlined screening and retention without requiring new medical devices.
Key findings
01Implementing a physician-led identification system with dedicated student recruiters increased enrollment rates from 6% in prior acute studies to 19% in the new strategy.
02Physicians and nurses identified eligible patients during daily huddles and obtained verbal consent for researchers to approach them, bypassing administrative bottlenecks.
03The recruitment team maintained engagement through scheduled reminders and clear logistical information, resulting in participants arriving for visits at the target time of 3 months post-stroke.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
This is a single-center report of process improvements, not a controlled trial, so the specific contribution of each element (e.g., physician champions vs. student recruiters) cannot be isolated. The enrollment rate of 19% is still modest, and the study does not compare outcomes to a concurrent control group using the old method. The results may not generalize to institutions without existing strong interdisciplinary relationships or access to trained student researchers. The study focuses on recruitment logistics and does not report on the clinical outcomes of the enrolled participants.
Declared interests
One author (MA) reports consulting for Stryker Neurovascular and Penumbra Inc. outside the submitted work. The other authors report no conflicts of interest. The work was supported by the NIH StrokeNet and internal funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the 19% enrollment rate as evidence that this specific model will work in all settings. The success relied heavily on pre-existing relationships with physician champions and a dedicated team of trained student recruiters, which may not be feasible in resource-limited environments.