Clinical trial educators from Quintiles can help accelerate patient enrollment, improve site performance, and streamline clinical trials. As specialized professionals, they address common barriers like a need for better education, communication, and relationships between sites and sponsors. Educators increase enrollment through training site staff, identifying untapped recruitment pathways, and enrolling previously excluded patients. They have helped increase monthly enrollment by up to 85% in some studies. Educators also facilitate faster site selection and prepare sites for successful early enrollment. Working directly with sites and patients, they provide specialized training, problem-solving support, and patient coaching to improve retention and trial performance.

1. Clinical Trial Educators
The key to faster enrollment and
fewer barriers in clinical trials
Because speed and efficiency have never been more critical to
the success of your clinical studies, Quintiles now offers a
unique resource proven to compress timelines in clinical trials.
Our specialized Clinical Trial Educators can accelerate patient
enrollment, improve site performance and help streamline all
your studies in ways no other team member can.
One Solution to a Wide Range of Problems
Even with careful planning, potential barriers can derail your
study schedule and results at any stage. Competition for sites
may be intense, slowing the selection process. Activated sites
may fail to focus aggressively on patient enrollment or lack the
network contacts to find a particular patient population. Once
enrolled, patients may have difficulty adhering to a complex
drug or device protocol. Other obstacles can arise in data
collection and reporting, protocol errors, regulatory approvals or
patient retention.
Besides increasing your direct costs, such problems waste
precious time, eating away at your patent protection window or
threatening the successful completion of your trial. Specific
issues vary, but many stem from three common denominators:
a need for better education (site staff and/or patients),
increased communication and stronger site relationships. By
providing solutions to improve all three, Quintiles Clinical Trial
Educators have achieved dramatic results in shortening clinical
trial timelines.
Who are these resourceful professionals? Most are registered
nurses, but they may also be certified therapists, pharmacists,
dietitians or educators. All are highly specialized in a major
therapeutic area and highly trained in the planning and operation
of clinical trials. The Quintiles team will work to identify the best
profile for your initiative. Educators are generally, full-time
Quintiles employees, dedicated to a single trial or sponsor. While
their training and attention are extremely focused, their singular
role in a clinical trial enables them to contribute in several key
areas. Foremost among these is patient enrollment.
Increased Patient Enrollment
A Clinical Trial Educator’s primary goal is to accelerate patient
recruitment and enrollment. The reason is simple: 80% of trials
fail to meet their initial enrollment quotas on time, risking losses
of $600,000 to more than $8 million in revenue each day a drug
is delayed.*
The first noticeable effect of having a team of Quintiles Clinical
Trial Educators on your study is a marked increase in site
motivation to screen and enroll patients. The Educators’
consistent, visible presence — by regular site visits, email and
phone — keeps your study top of mind and on track.
Beyond that, Educators fill in recruitment gaps and speed
enrollment by:
Educating the primary investigator and site staff in successful>>
enrollment techniques
Educating other site-affiliated health service professionals who>>
may help identify patients for enrollment
Accessing untapped recruitment pathways through referral>>
networks acquired from past experience, professional contacts
or local inquiries
Informing health care facilities (e.g. emergency rooms) that>>
may refer potential study patients
Reducing otherwise excluded patients from trials through>>
identification prior to initiation of other therapies
Sharing best practices in focus groups of study coordinators or>>
investigators, a significant value-added service
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FACT SHEET
Clinical Trial Educators

2. An example: In some studies, inexperienced study coordinators
have failed to enroll eligible patients simply because of poor
recruitment presentation skills. In these cases, Clinical Trial
Educators provided remedial training, improving the consent
ratio significantly. They also re-contacted and enrolled patients
who previously declined.
Overall, sites with Educators consistently exceeded their projected
enrollment goals. In one study, the monthly enrollment increased
by as much as 85%. The average increase for all sites was 34%.
Faster Site Identification and Selection
Since Clinical Trial Educators understand the profile of a
successful site for a specific therapeutic area, they bring
considerable insight to the identification and selection process.
They also provide a great deal of active prospecting through
personal contact. Educators frequently call on investigators who
are simply unaware of study opportunities. Sites that initially
declined have been revisited and convinced to sign on.
Even before consenting sites are activated, Educators can
help them lay the groundwork with best practices and proven
processes for enrolling the first patients. Positioning sites
for successful enrollment in this way saves valuable time
during start-up.
Specialized Training, Problem Solving and
Patient Coaching
Quintiles Clinical Trial Educators quickly become an integral part
of your study team. They are the sponsor’s “face” and trusted
representative on the site, the go-to person for information,
advice, contacts and problem solving. With their continuous
presence from site identification through completed enrollment,
Educators play flexible, dynamic roles as trials progress.
For example, they train the site staff in trial protocol and review
it frequently—a critical refresher for coordinators who are
managing several studies at once. They deliver and explain the
proper use of your tools, from data entry technology to medical
devices to websites. Throughout the trial, they help resolve
problems and potential bottlenecks quickly, putting site
personnel in communication with precisely the right person in
your organization. For all these reasons, having a team of
dedicated Clinical Trial Educators on your study gives you a
stronger relationship with investigators and better site
performance. Quintiles Educators have earned glowing
endorsements from sponsors, academic research site managers
and study coordinators alike.
Educators also work closely with your Medical Science Liaisons,
increasing your access to primary investigators and site staff.
Liaisons who worked with our Clinical Trial Educators rated them
highly (over 4.6 on a 5-point scale) on knowledge, usefulness
and their own satisfaction with the interaction.
Working directly with patients and their caregivers is another
service provided by our Educators. In studies involving a
complex drug regimen or device usage, a professional with
therapeutic expertise can be invaluable as a protocol instructor
and coach. The extra training can improve patient retention
levels as well.
The advantages of having Clinical Trial Educators on your study
will depend on the nature and stage of your trial and the
particular barriers encountered. In general, the studies that
benefit most are in highly competitive areas of therapy, involve a
difficult therapeutic protocol, require complex inclusion/
exclusion criteria or involve a patient population with
uncommon medical conditions.
Accelerate Your Next Trial from the Start
Clinical Trial Educators bring a unique combination to your
study: specialized therapeutic expertise and research know-how
based on proven best practices. Only Quintiles has the depth of
experience and breadth of resources to offer this innovative
resource, a solution that’s now available for all of your clinical
trials. To find out how we can help you speed enrollment,
shorten study timelines and maximize your long-term revenue
potential, contact us today.
Email: patientcentric@quintiles.com
10 Ways Clinical Trial Educators Can Add Value
to Your Study
Accelerate patient enrollment1.
Facilitate site identification and selection2.
Increase site motivation and top-of-mind3.
focus on your study
Educate site staff on protocol and best practices4.
Educate patients on therapy and compliance5.
Improve patient retention6.
Assist in resolution of site issues7.
Enhance communication with sites8.
Expand medical science liaison’s access to9.
investigators, opinion leaders
Compress your study timeline10.
(Endnotes)
* Source: Cutting Edge Information, “Web-Based Patient Recruitment”
Copyright © 2010 Quintiles. 04.03.18-012210