Even after the COVID-19 pandemic, the healthcare sector is likely to continue relying heavily on telehealth and remote patient monitoring. These changes are irreversible. DCTs enable “localized trials,” where Veristat clinical development consulting experts can use local pharmacies, primary care practitioners, and community health facilities as extensions of major research centers. Enrolling trial-eligible participants is easier when you meet them where they are. Having a clinical study that is not restricted by location, whether fully or in part, can attract a far wider range of potential patients. Patients’ major issues with attending onsite clinical trials have always been related to how far they have to travel, how expensive it is, and whether or not they are even aware that such trials exist. Fortunately, each of these challenges faced by patients can be addressed by decentralizing care. Decentralized clinical trials, including hybrid ones, can boost patient enrollment for three reasons.
Decentralized trials ease the burdens of patient participation
Incentivizing patients to participate in a trial helps alleviate travel, employment, and family issues. Incentive biases influence outcomes. Decentralizing at least part of the experiment reduces participant burden in a better way. By allowing patients to engage in at home clinical trials, trials become available to a much bigger patient pool. Patient enrollment increases when barriers to participation are removed. Remote studies benefit patients from all over the world, not just those who reside hours away. It could be difficult for patients with life-changing illnesses to commit to a travel plan. To better serve these individuals, patient-centered clinical trials were developed.
Make participation possible for some people
Expanding on what has been said above, easier access means more diverse groups of people can participate in studies. Patients with comorbidities, the elderly, and those unable to take time off work to engage in a trial can all take advantage of in-home and remote monitoring to take part in the study. This ensures that every defendant will have a fair advocate in court. There are practical uses for AI in this area. Researchers can utilize AI to overcome their prejudices, which may lead them to exclude participants based on gender, color, or ethnicity. Additionally, AI can help find people who are good trial prospects. It may also help in predicting which participants will give up the trial in the middle of the process.
Creates new opportunities for patient engagement
Last but not least, distributing trials locally helps raise awareness of available opportunities for involvement. After all, a common reason why trials don’t get enough participants is that nobody knows about them. Without being limited by physical location, a decentralized trial can more effectively leverage strategies like digital advertising to reach potential patients and, in turn, address the shortage of primary care physicians.
Decentralization isn’t a fix-all solution for poor recruitment, and it doesn’t work for all types of clinical trials. However, this model shows great potential. The healthcare sector, as a whole, benefits scientifically from larger, more diverse sample sizes as more people are given greater opportunities to participate in research.
