Authors' objectives:

"It is unclear why certain trials recruit well whereas others do not. The aim was, therefore, to identify factors associated with good and poor recruitment to multicentre trials." (from executive summary)

Authors' recommendations: While not producing sufficiently definitive results to propose strong recommendations, the work here suggests that people undertaking future trials ought at least to think about the different needs at different phases in the life of trials, and place greater emphasis on 'conduct' (the process of actually doing trials). This implies learning lessons from successful trialists and trial managers, with better training for issues relating to trial conduct. The complexity of large trials means that unanticipated difficulties are highly likely at some time in every trial. Part B suggested that successful trials were those flexible and robust enough to adapt to unexpected issues. Arguably, the trialists should also expect agility from funders within a proactive approach to monitoring ongoing trials.

Authors' methods: Review

Project Status: Completed

URL for project: http://www.hta.ac.uk/1564

Year Published: 2007

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: England, United Kingdom

Organisation Name: NIHR Health Technology Assessment programme

Contact Address: NIHR Journals Library, National Institute for Health and Care Research, Evaluation, Trials and Studies Coordinating Centre, Alpha House, University of Southampton Science Park, Southampton SO16 7NS, UK

Contact Name: journals.library@nihr.ac.uk

Contact Email: journals.library@nihr.ac.uk

Copyright: 2007 Queen's Printer and Controller of HMSO