Computerized recruiting for clinical trials in real time.
OBJECTIVE
Success of prospective studies, particularly in the emergency department, often depends on immediate identification of eligible patients to ensure timely sample collection and initiation of study interventions. We report use of a real-time automated notification system to identify potential patients for a clinical trial at the time of ED registration on the basis of information routinely collected. We hypothesize that the automated notification system improves the rate of investigator notification.


METHODS
We performed a prospective comparison of the notification rate by the automated notification system compared with that by ED clinicians.


RESULTS
In the 11 months before use of the automated notification system, the investigator was notified by ED staff for 56% of 61 potentially eligible patients. During 10 months of using the automated notification system, the investigator was paged by the automated notification system for 84% of 49 potentially eligible patients.


CONCLUSIONS
The automated notification system improves study investigator notification. Use requires online linked registration, a database, and paging systems. The automated notification system is a potentially valuable tool in the recruitment of patients for clinical trials.
Weiner
Debra L
DL
Division of Emergency Medicine, the Children's Hospital Informatics Program, Children's Hospital Boston, Boston, MA, USA. weiner_d@tch.harvard.edu
Butte
Atul J
AJ
Hibberd
Patricia L
PL
Fleisher
Gary R
GR
D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003199:Computer Systems; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D018579:Patient Selection; D010865:Pilot Projects