A clinical research organization like Veristat is always looking for ways to save time on resources with its various projects. Decentralized clinical trials are one of the best ways to accelerate research timelines safely and effectively. It is important to develop effective strategies that can shorten clinical study timelines without impacting the quality of the trials. Many research organizations have developed DCT implementation strategies that shorten the study timeline while not affecting its quality. Here is deep dive:
Select the right staff
The best way to conduct a successful decentralized clinical trial is by partnering with a strong team that can share your vision and implements it promptly. A strong decentralized clinical trial platform will help you launch a great study. Your Veristat team should align from the initial session in all aspects of the study and finalize all the flows, timelines, and documentation. A comprehensive plan of the DCT will help you speed up the trial study and avoid some of the most common delays that most studies experience.
Engage your participants early in the onboarding process
Design your decentralized clinical trial in such a way it allows early communication between your patients and participants. This way, everyone is aware of their tasks early on and will be in a position to deliver the tasks on time. You can use an eConsent or eQualification form for your patient’s onboarding process. Digital recruitment will help reduce the time wasted when you have patients come to the study site. It is also important to encourage your patients to voice their opinions during the study. You can add vital features like telehealth that allow the patient to engage directly from their home, increasing safety monitoring.
Real-time clinical study reporting
Deploy as a DCT platform that allows the researcher to dynamically capture patient data in real-time and allows CROs and sponsors to access configurable on-demand data. This type of reporting lessens the day-to-day management of the study and highlights the different areas of the study that might need improvement mid-trial. Real-time data deployment makes it easy to create a baseline to standardize design and create data benchmarks in real-time. It also allows researchers to detect any design flaw mid-trial rather than waiting for the end of the trial, saving a lot of time.
Automation
DCTs are designed with automation in mind. Setting up an automation platform significantly reduces the time between the initial design and trial executions. Automation lessens the processing time, decrease human errors, and captures data more accurately and efficiently. It is important to work out data flows with your provider early in the study to ensure it functions well in a complex digital landscape to ensure a smooth automation process. The more data flow through your decentralized clinical trial providers, the more automation can help increase the workflow rate, hence reducing the trial timeline.
While decentralized clinical trials are said to run faster than traditional trials, they cannot do so without the correct implementation. If you lack the proper strategy, you can even slow down the process and make it cumbersome. To shorten the study timelines, you will need a provider who understands how to implement an efficient study.