Earlier this month, leaders at Continuum Clinical gained valuable insight into upcoming trends in clinical research, study sites, digital health, and the convergence of healthcare delivery by attending two marquee industry events – the SCRS Global Site Solutions Summit and HLTH. One consistent theme seen at both events is that the number of technology solutions available for patient recruitment is more expansive than ever and continues to grow.
SCRS Global Site Solutions Summit
Jennifer Reef, Paul Ivsin, and Dana Ennis attended the 2023 Summit, a setting for industry leaders to discuss innovations and best practices in clinical research and high-performing study sites.
One immediate observation was seeing the tremendous growth in educational resources and site-specific technology products and services available for study sites. In speaking with site owners, these tools are part of a continued push to professionalize clinical research at the site level. Progress might be slow, but it is moving forward, which bodes well for the long-term health of independent sites in the trial ecosystem.
Despite this progress, staffing and training continues to be a huge source of pain for sites. Some of the reasons for the high turnover rate among site staff include:
- More attractive offers elsewhere; particularly with CROs and pharmaceutical companies.
- Site staff are pursuing different careers or roles.
- There is a lack of work-life balance at study sites.
The post-pandemic workforce challenges that we’ve all felt have hit many of the sites especially hard, and it will remain an uphill battle for the foreseeable future.
HLTH
Between Sunday, October 8, and Wednesday, October 11, Nariman Nasser and Sean Reed were among the 10,000 senior executives, decision makers, and innovators across the healthcare spectrum who attended HLTH 2023.
With so many relevant and high-quality new technologies on display at HTLH, the question facing so many industry leaders is how to efficiently use medical technology and digital health to conduct clinical trials faster, while saving money. Many new technologies and platforms are not compatible with each other, making it more difficult for a study site to easily access relevant health information.
Continuum Clinical’s MERIS Total Engagement Solution
Seeing so many healthcare vendors and partners who are all trying to reach the site level reinforced the need to simplify things as much as possible for study staff. One way to bring everything together for them is through MERIS Analytics, which provides clear, centralized visibility into enrollment performance across multiple initiatives, including third-party vendors. Please click here to schedule a demonstration of the MERIS Total Engagement Solution.
