Clinical research subject recruitment: the Volunteer for Vanderbilt Research Program www.volunteer.mc.vanderbilt.edu.
This article provides information concerning a novel research subject recruitment registry developed at Vanderbilt University. Project goals were (1) to provide a mechanism for lay individuals to self-enter information conveying interest in volunteering for clinical research and (2) provide tools for researchers to select and contact potential volunteers based on study-specific inclusion criteria. The registry was built and offered as an institutional resource to all university scientists conducting institutional review board-approved research. The authors present (1) a model for redesigning workflow associated with subject registration, volunteer retrieval, and subject contact; (2) details of a Web-based software application used as a focal point in designing workflow for our system; (3) descriptive statistics for volunteer and researcher use of the system during the first 32 months of operation; (4) cost estimates for the project; and (5) a set of recommendations for other medical centers wishing to adopt similar methodology.
Harris
Paul A
PA
General Clinical Research Center, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37212, USA. paul.harris@vanderbilt.edu
Lane
Lynda
L
Biaggioni
Italo
I
D035843:Biomedical Research; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003258:Consumer Behavior; D003625:Data Collection; D028744:Ethics Committees, Research; D006805:Human Experimentation; D020407:Internet; D018579:Patient Selection; D012042:Registries; D012984:Software; D013714:Tennessee