Getting “Face” Time for Clinical Trial Recruitment Using Social Media

Lisa Calderwood, MA

Senior Medical Writer

Recruiting patients on a timely basis for clinical trials is a challenge. Traditional media, such as print ads or television and radio spots, are designed to target desired demographics. But a recent study finds that about 80% of clinical trials fail to meet timelines for enrolling patients.

It’s no wonder, then, that patient recruitment service providers and study sponsors are tapping into social media to find eligible patients. After all, with about 1 billion people worldwide on Facebook (1 in 7 people), the reach and immediacy of the network are undeniable. Plus, ads can be more narrowly targeted to specific regions and users than traditional media.

It appears the social media patient recruitment trend is growing. A January 2013 report by Industry Standard Research (ISR)¹ surveyed 104 patient recruiting agencies globally about using social media to find eligible patients. It revealed that: 

·         17% are avoiding or abandoning social media

·         17% are aggressively using social media and are “rolling out the strategy to many clinical trials”

·         67% report their companies are either “evaluating” the strategy or “testing” the strategy

Gaining traction from Facebook to find emergency patients for trials

What happens when, say, a heart attack patient in the ER is too ill and/or has no one to provide informed consent for him to enroll in a trial on cardiac arrest? Well, there are alternatives. This kind of study can be granted an Exception From Informed Consent (EFIC). The EFIC guidelines—developed by the FDA and Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)—say that in specific circumstances patients can be enrolled without informed consent, but the trial’s investigator and institutional review boards must provide public disclosure and local community consultation before recruiting patients. That usually has meant that EFIC trials use town hall meetings, random phone dialing, and other traditional outreach methods.

That may be changing. In a recent article in MedPage Today, Chris Kaiser reviewed a study published in Circulation, which compared using social media versus traditional methods to comply with public disclosure requirements for EFIC trials. The trials, conducted by the University of Alabama (UAB) School of Medicine, placed targeted Facebook ads for studies related to cardiac arrest and trauma. Those viewers who selected the ads were led to the study’s website. The UAB authors provided a compelling cost/benefit analysis of their social media campaign versus the use of community meetings for another EFIC trial.  

The Facebook campaign cost $1,000 and led to 5.1 million viewer hits ($0.0002 per view). That translated to 437 visitors to the study’s website ($2.29/visit). The traditional campaign cost $8,000 for 39 community meetings, with 465 attendants at $17.24/person.

It’s clear that social media not only has applications for finding eligible patients able to provide informed consent, but also for gaining community support to enroll patients for emergency research studies in which informed consent may not be a viable option. The possibilities are intriguing!

AHE Clinical Trials has expertise in creating engaging digital platforms and traditional media for your patient recruitment campaigns, retention efforts, and patient education needs. Contact Brian Schaechter, Director, Business Development, Clinical Trial Market. Phone: 908-483-4241 E-mail: bschaechter@artcrafthealthed.com

¹ISR Report. Social Media: Best Practices and Strategic Use in Patient Recruitment, January 8, 2013. 104 global respondents. 

Also see: 

MedPage Today.  Facebook May Help Recruit for Cardiac Trials.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/PracticeManagement/PracticeManagement/40558?xid=nl_mpt_DHE_2013-07-19&eun=g708126d0r&userid=708126&email=cbrock@scottcare.com&mu_id=5870138

 Stephens, SW, et al. Preliminary experience with social media for community consultation and public disclosure in exception from informed consent trials. Circulation 2013; 128: 267-270. http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/128/3/267.extract

Creating Life Long Learning Through Specialty Camps

Samantha Reba

Junior Writer

Every child deserves to go to camp regardless of the medical issues they might have. Artcraft Health Education, through its partnerships with pharmaceutical companies and educational materials, helps make it possible for children with hemophilia, asthma, diabetes, and cancer to be able to have a camp experience, away from their hospital beds and worried parents.

At these specialty camps, children work with certified counselors who are trained in the specific illness areas. The directors work one-on-one with the children. Children up to the age 14 get the chance to spend time with other children who have the same medical needs. These camps are where friendships can be made and independence and understanding can be born. Children are taught about their diseases and how to take control of their bodies and illnesses.

These camps are based on a structure that is supported by specialized programs and educational materials, created by Artcraft Health Education. Artcraft Health Education makes the materials informative, fun, and easy to understand.

These camps are the perfect opportunity for Artcraft Health Education writers to add in a little fun. “It’s a chance to be creative,” said Tom Savonick, Medical Writer and lead writer on specialty camp content. Tom has come up with creative ways for campers with hemophilia to start thinking about their future careers and has been able to incorporate an original game of hacky sack into a camp curriculum. The game involved a group of children kicking around a woven, fabric ball filled with soft beads to one another.

Through these sponsored camps, pharmaceutical companies can show their compassion and create a connection with camper’s parents or guardians. These camps allow children to have fun while learning to use tools that will help them for the rest of their lives.

For more information about Artcraft Health Education and its specialty camps, please visit our website at www.artcrafthealthed.com.

About Artcraft Health Education

Artcraft Health Education is a marketing communications agency specializing in educational solutions for healthcare professionals, patients, and caregivers. Our extensive background with pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, and medical devices enables us to meet most any challenge in health education. Our patient education materials empower patients to better understand their condition and treatment goals and make more informed treatment decisions. Better understanding by patients can help clients achieve their health outcome goals and marketing objectives. For more information about Artcraft Health Education, please visit our website at www.artcrafthealthed.com.

Remote Video Auditing for Hand Hygiene

Lisa Moss Calderwood, MA

Senior Medical Writer

Calling on Big Brother in the Fight Against Hospital-Acquired Infections

        

Despite sobering statistics, many HAIs can be prevented with proper hand hygiene practiced by healthcare workers. How many times does a nurse or physician or cleaning person enter and leave a patient’s room each day (not to mention visitors and other non-hospital staff)? Multiply that times thousands of patient rooms in hospitals, nursing homes, and other clinical settings around the country, and it’s not so difficult to imagine why the statistics about HAIs are so daunting. In fact, although hand hygiene is widely accepted as an effective intervention to reduce HAIs, not many studies have explored the topic nor been designed to ensure compliance by healthcare workers.

However, a recent study on hand hygiene conducted by a Long Island hospital system yielded compelling results, albeit its methods had shades of Big Brother watching — or washing as the title of a Clinical Infectious Diseases article stated: Big Brother is Washing…Video Surveillance for Hand Hygiene Adherence, Through the Lenses of Efficacy and Privacy.⁴ Yet the results of feedback from remote video auditing (RVA) are undeniable: being watched makes people comply with necessary protocols.

North Shore Long Island Jewish (LIJ) Hospital decided to conduct the study because it wanted to beat the odds on those dismal HAI statistics. Knowing that proper hand hygiene by healthcare workers was key to reducing HAIs, LIJ partnered with Arrowsight, a remote video auditing (RVA) company, to install cameras next to hand-washing and sanitizer-dispensing units outside 17 ICU rooms. The results were dramatic, most likely because hand-washing wasn’t just monitored by operators off site, data were also projected on LED screens on the hospital floor that all the workers could see.  

In a video on the Arrowsight website, Adam Aronson, CEO, states about North Shore LIJ, “They thought their rate (of hand hygiene compliance) was at 60 percent and when we put the video cameras in and did many months of observation without giving any feedback, it turns out the rates were actually below 10 percent. …And so within about four weeks of beginning to give feedback, which was done through electronic digital boards right on the walls of the intensive care unit, and which could be seen by all the workers and their managers who could see what their real time hand washing rates were, rates went up and over 85 percent. It was a really big break through.”

While the authors of the published LIJ study conceded that the clinical conduct of the study wasn’t perfect (e.g., non-health care workers had to be eliminated from recordings the camera made and deleted from data on LED boards), there was no question that compliance significantly improved. In fact, the RVA was deemed so successful that North Shore LIJ recently installed cameras in two operating rooms of one of its Queens-based hospitals to monitor compliance with protocols for surgery prep, room cleanup, and timing — all designed to reduce surgical infections, wrong-site surgeries, and items left in patients during surgeries. 

These kinds of errors don’t just affect patients’ health and safety; they also affect a hospital’s bottom line. With the Affordable Care Act, hospitals need to be cognizant about patient-centered care and reigning in costs. RVA is an interesting way to go about tackling one aspect of the problem.

Artcraft Health & Wellness offers innovative ways to tackle compliance issues. Our exceptional educational solutions for hospitals and clinics help reduce readmission rates, improve outcomes, increase staff compliance with safety protocols, and promote patient adherence with treatment plans. Contact Jennifer Schmidt, Account Executive to learn more about ways we can help you meet your institution’s goals.  

Phone: 908-782-4921

Health&wellness@artcrafthealthed.com

www.artcrafthealthed.com/wellness/

References

¹Health-care associated infections: the burden. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. December 13, 2010. 

²Klevens RM, et al. Estimating Health Care-Associated Infections and Deaths in U.S. Hospitals, 2002. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

³Scott II RD,The Direct Medical Costs of Healthcare-Associated Infections in U.S. Hospitals and the Benefits of Prevention, Centers for Disease Control, March 2009.

⁴Palmore TN, Henderson, D.K. Big Brother is Washing…Video Surveillance for Hand Hygiene Adherence, Through the Lenses of Efficacy and Privacy. Clin Infect Dis. 2012;54(1):8-9. doi:10.1093/cid/cir781.

Also see: Armellino D, et al.  Using High-Technology to Enforce Low-Technology Safety Measures: The Use of Third-party Remote Video Auditing and Real-time Feedback in Healthcare Clinical Infectious Disease. Clinical Infectious Diseases. 2012;54(1):1–7.