News By: Emily Norris

HCCA’s upcoming event, the Higher Education and Healthcare Research Compliance Conference, is one such opportunity, with a learning track devoted specifically to the challenges, strategies, and latest developments in healthcare research compliance. It’s a unique opportunity to not only stay up to date with research initiatives, but also to engage with healthcare research professionals from around the country.  

Themes of the benefits of strong teamwork, enhanced communications, and strategic community building for all stakeholders in the clinical research enterprise—especially staff at study sites and the patients they serve—permeated the closing day of ACRP 2024 in Anaheim, Calif., on Monday (May 6). 

Panelists from a variety of organizations involved with clinical research will discuss how innovative approaches to workforce challenges and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues are being implemented in their settings for the benefit of all stakeholders.

If “recruiting and screening patients who try new treatments and monitoring and reporting on patient progress” sounds like a reasonable, if skimpy, definition of the duties of a clinical research coordinator (CRC) at a clinical trial site, imagine the surprise of a newly minted CRC who finds themself tasked with exploring a shuttered hospital in search of old research records, or visiting the local jail in hopes of finding participants who have gone missing mid-study. 

Community engagement is a critical step in improving the diversity of clinical trial participants, but this demands more than simply setting up a site in an area with an underserved population. Sustainable growth in recruitment and retention requires ongoing engagement beyond efforts to recruit for a specific trial.