By taking an “all or nothing” approach, many clinical trial practitioners are failing to leverage the benefits of so-called virtual trials, says Kim Kundert, vice president of operations at VirTrial.
Part of the problem is a lack of understanding. The term virtual trial “means something different to everybody,” she notes.
For Kundert, it makes sense to use virtual tools when it best suits the patient rather than trying to implement a 100% virtual trial.
“Technology is not all the same,” she says. Savvy users should closely examine what the actual solution provides and how users experience it. “If it’s not easy to be used, it won’t be used,” Kundert explains.
With studies showing nearly 70% of potential patients live more than two hours away from the nearest study center, common sense suggests offering remote, yet meaningful, ways to participate will grow the trial patient population. In other studies, at least half of respondents said home-based/virtual visits would increase their likelihood of clinical trial participation.
Curing Patient Burden: Site-Centric Telemedicine
Join Kim Kundert and Amanda Rangel of VirTrial at ACRP 2019 next month to learn how telemedicine is transforming healthcare and finally gaining momentum in clinical trials. During this new techXpo session, Kundert and Rangel will provide guidance on selecting a telemedicine provider and how VirTrial can help your site improve patient engagement, protocol compliance, and study retention.
Kundert is a big fan of using video calls instead of traditional telephone calls to broaden trial participation and improve retention and compliance. She cites studies showing the drop-out rate for a standard Phase III clinical trial is 30%; but that figure drops to 5% for a virtual clinical trial.
While it has been stagnant in recent years, Kundert believes interest in virtual trials is “gaining some momentum” in the industry.
Author: Michael Causey
