Clinical trials are a vital part of medical research. Without them, medical researchers wouldn’t know how to best treat patients and find new treatments for diseases like cancer or diabetes. Clinical trials also help develop better drugs and get them faster to market. They’re an essential part of drug development. 

However, they can also be complex and confusing, especially if you’re a medical professional who isn’t involved in research every day. You can read more about drug development and its current challenges. Nonetheless, in this article, you’ll get to know what a clinical trial is and the best ways to cultivate clinical trial opportunities this year.

What Is A Clinical Trial?

A clinical trial is a research study in which people volunteer to test an experimental medical treatment. When you participate in a clinical trial, you may be able to access new treatments before they’re available in doctors’ offices or other places where you usually get care. Clinical trials are conducted to determine if a new drug or treatment works and is safe for consumption.

A drug must undergo rigorous testing before it gets approval for use. One of the most common ways this is done is through clinical trials. These are usually conducted on humans, and they follow a specified protocol or set of guidelines. The clinical trial aims to determine whether or not the drug being tested is safe and effective for humans.

What Can We Expect This 2022?

With pandemics mauling the healthcare system in recent times, it’s essential to know how to cultivate clinical trial opportunities. Therefore, here are the best ways to cultivate clinical trial opportunities in 2022:

• Redefine Your Relationship With Technology

It’s never been easy to reach patients, and that’s not great news for the clinical trial industry. Yet what if you could use technology to find suitable patients for your study? What if you could engage with them in a way that makes their experience better? What if you could track their progress throughout your study, giving them relevant information at the right time?

Technology can help you reach more patients, find the right ones, communicate with them, and track data. Using tech tools and software can help researchers streamline the clinical trial process to do more research faster. Additionally, it will ensure that patients who need new treatments get them as soon as possible.

• Have Patients Sign An Informed Consent Form

An informed consent form is a legal document that provides information about the clinical trial, including its purpose and risks. It’s used in clinical trials to let participants understand what they’re getting into and to ensure that their rights are protected. Participants must sign this form before participating in the clinical trial.

When you’re looking to cultivate clinical trial opportunities, have patients sign an informed consent form first. A well-written and accurate, informed consent form will help you understand the risks of participating in a trial, the benefits of participating in a trial, and the alternatives (or lack thereof) to participating in a study.

An essential part of gathering this information is understanding what questions your potential subject should be asking before signing up for your trial. This is an essential step because it helps ensure that all parties are on the same page and that there’s no confusion about what’s happening.

• Utilize Telemedicine And Remote Monitoring Technology

Telemedicine uses technology to provide clinical services to patients in a remote setting. It’s an excellent way for you to reach out and engage with more patients who need your help. 

Remote monitoring can be beneficial if you have homebound patients or are otherwise unable to be seen by a healthcare professional as often as they would like. It gives access to people who aren’t able or willing to come to your office whenever they need something done but still need your expertise and advice.

• Use Your Social Media Presence To Recruit Potential Participants

Social media is an excellent way to spread the word about clinical trials, but ensure that your posts are consistent with your practice’s mission. Posting about clinical trials may not be suitable for every practice; you don’t want to waste people’s time by making them think you’re conducting research when you aren’t. If you do decide that social media is suitable for your practice, here are some tips:

• Ensure Your Posts Are Easy To Read

Don’t fall into the trap of writing with medical jargon. That doesn’t mean you can dumb things down or use many exclamation points (or emojis). Instead, focus on communicating clearly and directly. You can even ask someone unfamiliar with medicine or science to review what you’ve posted before posting it publicly. Sometimes, it helps if someone else reads your work critically from an outside perspective.

• Use Hashtags 

Hashtags help people find relevant information on search engines. You can type any word followed by a pound sign (#) into any social media platform’s search bar and see what pops up. Using hashtags increases your visibility, which is suitable for your practice.

Social media is a powerful tool for publicizing your practice, and it can also be used as an effective way to cultivate clinical trial opportunities.

• Make It Easy For Patients To Refer A Friend Or Family Member

Whether or not your office is a health center or private practice, there are two ways to make it easy for patients to refer a friend or family member. First, you can create a referral form and make sure it’s visible in several places throughout the office. Second, you can have a dedicated phone number and email address for referrals so that patients can easily reach out if they know someone who could benefit from your practice. 

Likewise, you’d want to ensure that these forms are readily available online and they’re updated at all times. That way, if someone visits your site but doesn’t see what they need, they’ll be able to contact you directly instead of leaving their information with an employee on site. Finally, don’t forget about placing these forms in waiting rooms where people wait before being seen by physicians or other strategic places. 

• Host A Community-Wide Health Fair

Hosting a community-wide health fair is one of the best ways to educate your community about clinical trials and recruit new patients for studies. It’s a great way to educate the public, but it can also be challenging if you don’t plan properly. Hence, here are some tips for hosting an exciting event:

• Collaborate with other local organizations that serve patients who may benefit from participating in clinical trials.
• Make sure you have enough time and resources to execute your plans well before the event begins. You want everything ready, from marketing materials to food, so that people aren’t distracted during their visit (and focus instead on learning about what research is available).

Find out whether there are any restrictions on where you can hold your event based on city ordinances or state laws. This will help ensure everything goes smooth when setting up and running off-site afterward.

Conclusion

These are some of the best ways to cultivate clinical trial opportunities in 2022. You must understand how clinical trials work and what makes them valuable for patients, researchers, and sponsors. By leveraging these strategies in your search for clinical trials, you’ll have the tools necessary to find more of the right opportunities.