Clinical Research Accrual and Retention Consult Service

Accrual Tools

Accrual and Retention

Among the most significant barriers to medical advances is slow or inadequate recruitment of appropriate participants to clinical research studies, especially clinical trials. Recognizing the critical nature of participant accrual and retention to study completion, the ICTS has invested in a research consult service with the explicit aim of supporting investigators in a manner that ensures the optimal recruitment and retention for their studies.  

Who We Serve

Accrual and retention consultations are available to any UCI investigator or coordinator conducting human participants research on either campus. 

Services We Provide

• Protocol review: a group of experienced researchers and coordinators are available to assist investigators in designing studies that reduce barriers and maximize the likelihood of success
• Matching services: Novice investigators may request to be matched with seasoned investigators, community partners, or others in our cadre of experts to offer feedback or guidance toward successful recruitment and retention
• Study consult: Investigators whose studies are recruiting more slowly than planned or are experiencing greater than expected loss-to-follow-up can request consultation on methods to improve recruitment and retention outcomes
• C2C registry: Request queries of C2C registrants for study recruitment
• Access to Community Engagement Studios to provide a framework for stakeholders to give immediate feedback to researchers on specific areas of concern before a research project is implemented, or to assist a struggling project
• Guidelines and best practices for researchers for multisite participant recruitment using EHR-derived cohorts. More information can be found here: https://www.ucbraid.org/participant-recruitment

Contact Information

The Accrual and Retention Consult Service is chaired by Dr. Joshua Grill (jgrill@hs.uci.edu), a clinical researcher with diverse experiences related to clinical trial recruitment and retention. Adrijana Gombosev (agombose@hs.uci.edu) manages the activity of the service. UCI researchers interested in utilizing consult services should email either person. 

Helpful Recruitment Publications

• Recruiting Patients With Stroke Into Cell Therapy Trials: A Review. (2016) Misra V, Hicks WJ, Vahidy F, Alderman S, Savitz MD

• A nudge towardparticipation: Improving clinical trial enrollment with behavioral economics. (2016) Van Epps EM, Volpp KG, Halpern SD

• Diversity in Clinical and Biomedical Research: A Promise Yet to Be Fulfilled. (2015) Oh SS, et al

• Clear obstacles and hidden challenges: understanding recruiter perspectives in six pragmatic randomised controlled trials. (2014) Donovan JL, Paramasivan S, de Salis I, Toerien M

• Prevalence, Characteristics, and Publication of Discontinued Randomized Trials. (2014) Kasenda, et al.

• Strategies to improve retention in randomised trials (Review). (2013) Brueton VC, Tierney J, Stenning S, Harding S, Meredith S, Nazareth I, Rait G

• Facilitating Alzheimer Disease Research Recruitment. (2013) Grill JD, Galvin JE

• Terminating clinical trials without sufficient subjects. (2012) Damen L; van Agt F.; de Boo T; Huysmans, F

• Key issues in recruitment to randomised controlled trials with very different interventions: a qualitative investigation of recruitment to the SPARE trial (CRUK/07/011). (2011) Paramasivan S, Huddart R, Hall E, Lewis R, Birtle A, Donovan JL

• Strategies to improve recruitment to randomised controlled trials (Review). (2011) Treweek S, Mitchell E, Pitkethly M, Cook J, Kjeldstrøm M, Johansen M, Taskila TK, Sullivan F, Wilson S, Jackson C, Jones R, Lockhart P

• Addressing the challenges to successful recruitment and retention in Alzheimer’s disease clinical trials. (2010). Grill JD, Karlawish J

• Reasons for participating in randomised controlled trials: conditional altruism and considerations for self. (2010) McCann S.K, Campbell MK, Entwistle VA

• Increasing response rates to postal questionnaires: systematic review (2002) Edwards, et al

• Patterns of patient enrollment in randomized controlled trials. (2001) Haidich A, Ioannidis J.

• Issues and Recommendations for the Recruitment and Retention of Older Ethnic Minority Adults Into Clinical Research. (1996) Arean PA, Gallagher-Thompson D.