Modern clinical research is marked by numerous interesting trends, including patient-centricity, platform trials, advanced biomarkers and diversity and inclusion initiatives – just to name a few.Our participants, healthcare professionals located throughout the southeastern United States, represented various practice environments and models. Their motivation for research involvement was the potential direct benefits to their specific patient populations.1. Investing in the FutureGoing forward, one of the most intriguing trends to watch will be efficiency gains that could increase clinical trial participation. Digitalization, virtualization, and decentralization all can provide new ways for patients to access clinical trials while ultimately benefiting the healthcare industry as a whole.Though research and medical care are inextricably linked, clinical research stands out from medical practice as an essential distinction. While clinical research is designed to generate generalizable knowledge, medical care aims at supporting individual patient well-being.As global health crises increase, it is critical that clinical research and Central Laboratory Services care establish a stronger bond. This can be done through equitable representation among clinical trial populations, making participation easier, and eliminating barriers. Such efforts will ensure safe and effective vaccines, medicines and treatment strategies for various illnesses.Investment in community-based clinical trial programs is an effective way of strengthening this link, provided they are appropriately structured and tailored to the needs of a particular practice. Conducting a detailed patient population analysis prior to creating any community-based trial program ensures it will succeed by not wasting resources by opening trials unlikely to enroll participants.As part of developing a community-based clinical trial program, it’s also crucial to keep smaller practices’ needs in mind when creating one. Most smaller practices don’t have dedicated research staff and this must be addressed before any community-based trial program can be seen as successful. Partner with a contract research organization specializing in community trials who understands these challenges faced by smaller practices for optimal results.These organizations can also offer additional support that is unobtainable by community practices alone, such as providing training to non-oncology providers involved with patient care in clinical trials (e.g. radiology or pathology providers). This can significantly decrease time and effort spent setting up such a program at smaller practices while potentially increasing enrollment rates overall.2. Embracing ChangeChange is inevitable in clinical research programs. Unfortunately, not all changes are well received by participants impacted by them. Studies indicate that the success of changes depends on their understanding and acceptance by affected parties; as embracing change is key to creating successful clinical research programs.Changes designed to strengthen clinical research practices must take into account various issues, such as greater integration between research and medical care, reduced costs, and faster translation of research findings into patient benefits – something which may be achieved with methods such as randomized database studies, electronic health records or decision aid tools.Clinical research programs must also ensure their staff has the support they need to embrace change successfully, such as providing opportunities for continuing education, supporting membership and certification of professional organizations, or offering career ladders to enhance job satisfaction. Doing this will also equip clinical trial staff with knowledge and abilities necessary for successfully handling new challenges.Electronic consent solutions can make research protocols and procedures significantly simpler by providing clear information in an easily understandable format that allows participants to make more informed decisions regarding their participation in studies, thus decreasing participant burden and leading to improved clinical trial results.Overall, research suggests that those who have a positive approach to change are more likely to successfully embrace it. This may be because they will take advantage of changes that benefit them and be open to trying out new things. One effective way of opening yourself up to change is spending more time in healthy environments with people who support you – if any particular environment or people don’t enhance your life enough then let go. Doing this will give you energy needed for finding creative approaches through challenging waters to reach your goals more successfully.3. Investing in Your StaffDue to the rapid pace of pandemic disease outbreak, community practices were forced to quickly identify suitable partners to assist with clinical trial requirements. Keck Medicine leadership also noticed that its physicians and staff were feeling stressed under this new paradigm and needed support systems to help manage work/home life balance more efficiently. Thus a comprehensive program called Care for the Caregiver was developed, providing employees with health support systems they could count on during times of stress; its philosophy underlying Care for the Caregiver supports employee wellbeing while building employee resilience – something this health system’s employees. Its foundation rests upon satisfied employees performing better as they are more likely to stay with their organizations than unhappy employees performing better; care for the Caregiver was developed – supporting employees well being and resilience as part of its commitment towards its employees being part of its organization as opposed to leaving it.Create career pathways within your organization as another key way of investing in staff. The clinical research industry has long suffered from the inconsistency between job titles and levels, making it difficult for employees to compare salaries or career pathways between sites and companies. To make things better for them and your staff alike, career pathways should be visible so employees can see where their responsibilities and skills may lead.Keck Medicine programs center around mentoring young clinicians and developing training initiatives that equip them to enroll under-represented populations into clinical trials. Other initiatives support advocacy groups as a resource for patient education and enrollment into studies.Lastly, investing in your staff by equipping them with the necessary tools and skills is paramount for effective clinical research. This includes an understanding of ICH-GCP regulations as well as being able to interpret complex medical literature. Furthermore, having a clear definition of ethical behavior within clinical trial environments – achieved using group models where members observe each other closely before reporting any potential issues that may arise – is necessary as well.Sponsors and other stakeholders can play an instrumental role in maintaining a healthy and productive clinical trial community, which ultimately provides more patients with access to lifesaving drugs.4. Investing in Your PatientsClinical trials offer patients access to potentially promising investigational treatments not available through current standard of care, but there can be barriers to participation that must be overcome; such as lack of information, misalignments in incentives and limited time. Community partners like physicians may help overcome these challenges by including clinical trial offerings into their practices as a part of routine patient care and making them part of routine patient visits.Physicians are trusted Global Central Laboratory Service who can refer clinical trial opportunities to their patients. They do this by including research options as part of a treatment plan during regularly scheduled appointments – this offers physicians a chance to demonstrate their value as medical professionals by offering alternative solutions that could prove more cost-effective or less-than-stellar than standard therapies.Though many physicians want to participate in clinical trials for their patients, time and resource limitations often restrict this desire. Furthermore, many trials require significant time commitment in terms of training sessions or meetings with research staff – it can be hard for physicians to balance all these commitments while providing excellent patient care while meeting daily operational challenges in practice.Community-based oncology programs must place greater emphasis on integrating clinical trials that have an impactful treatment outcomes into their programs, according to priorities, practice size and available human and financial resources. A comprehensive community-based oncology research program should include outward-facing engagement efforts – communicating that clinical trials are an option for all cancer patients regardless of stage or location of care – through outward facing engagement programs that bring awareness.Community-based oncology research programs can build relationships with organizations within local communities that are well positioned to act as trusted messengers. Such partners could include barber shops and beauty salons, religious institutions, government-funded community health centers, minority-serving universities such as HBCUs or food outlets in their neighborhoods; all utilizing geotargeting technology for maximum reach and effectiveness of clinical trial messaging delivered across various media platforms and channels.
