The COVID-19 pandemic and the Great Resignation have affected pharmaceutical companies and study sites. As more companies offer the option to work from home, study coordinators are leaving their profession for jobs that offer a better work-life balance.
What was once a routine process of funneling patients to a study site, participating in a clinical trial, and sending results to a Sponsor has slowed down due to short-staffed clinical trial sites. This change is coming at a time when the global clinical trials space is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 5.8% between 2022 and 2030.
Due to the resource shortage at clinical trial sites, the Global Site Solutions team at Continuum Clinical has routinely heard from site staff that they are struggling to process referrals in a timely manner and schedule screening visits. This has led to a delay in processing referrals and the inability to enroll and retain patients.
A recent study we worked on received positive interest from patients, but several sites did not have the capacity to process the high demand of referrals due to staffing shortages. As a result, sites either halted enrollment or limited the number of screens per day.
Over the last few years, we have also seen a rise in the use of decentralized trials (DCTs) and hybrid trials. While this structure may be more appealing for patients to participate in clinical trials, DCTs and hybrid trials still require site staff to visit homes. In a recent DCT trial we recruited for, our GSS team saw that staffing shortages had an impact on conducting home visits. Additionally, many of the healthcare site staff, often nurses, were novices and required much oversight.
Situations like this can lead to Sponsors not getting the randomizations and the data they need to move forward with putting a drug, device, or vaccine in the market. Ultimately, this could affect millions of people who could benefit from new therapies.
We believe communication is key in assisting sites and retaining patients. Our team at Continuum Clinical is proactive in responding to site needs and engaging patients on their behalf. Utilizing technology, we’re able to use push communication features so that patients keep the study top of mind and have continued transparency as to when they’ll expect to hear from the site. Our Global Site Solutions team can monitor enrollment challenges, measure recruitment conversions, and utilize new technology solutions that connect sponsors to study sites so they can take corrective action to meet their enrollment goals. These strategies will go a long way to help alleviate the burden on understaffed study sites.
