Benefits
RECRUITMENT
The configurations and templates developed for DCP are designed to be readily adaptable by future pragmatic studies. Most projects that utilized an EHR system for clinical research focused on applying a standalone system or software, which often are designed for singular trial use.Using centralized recruitment was effective for enrolling patients from rural areas and lower socioeconomic backgrounds. Remote patients who had access to a primary care network were enrolled. An illustration of this was the State of Hawaii, with the main hospital located in Oahu (Another important benefit of centralized recruitment is reducing trial completion time while increasing the ability to compare drugs currently being prescribed by local PCCs. The trial reflects the most updated treatment options. In DCP, recruitment lasted 5.4 years, which was 2.4 years longer than originally projected. While there were unexpected delays from system setup and obtaining approvals from regional primary care leaders, the overall increased number of participating networks had a substantial effect on recruitment efficiency. By 2018, the DCP was able to randomize over 2000 patients yearly and recruitment rates were as high as 400 patients for certain months.