Recruitment Toolbox

• Are there similar studies in the State or Nationwide? 
• Are there similar studies on campus? 
• Is it possible to share participants or data with similar studies? 
• What other activities can individuals do instead of participating in the study? 
• What other locations will they consider?

• Who is my potential participant? 
• Where do they live or get their care? 
• Do they have health insurance? 
• Do they have a primary care physician? 
• How are they learning about clinical research? 
• Do they speak English? If not, what language(s) do they speak? 
• Have they participated in clinical research before? 
• Are they a member of a patient advocacy organization? 
• What is their motivation to participate? 

Recruiting from a clinic or hospital is the traditional method of recruiting people to clinical research studies. Before you can recruit anyone from the clinic, you'll need to complete required trainings. Check-in with your direct supervisor for a comprehensive list of trainings.  

The key to in-person recruitment is a thoughtful, respectful conversation between you and the potential participant. Be prepared, be friendly, and be sensitive as emotions may come up. While your goal is to recruit this person for your study, your role is also to be a helpful resource for all things research. 

These are some of the items you can place on our participant conversation checklist to make sure you are prepared and recruiting with a personal touch. 

• Begin with a personal introduction to build rapport and break the ice with your potential participant. 
  
• Provide an overview of clinical research fundamentals to establish context. 
• Explain your specific clinical research study, including what participation entails. 
• Share a list of frequently asked questions and answers to address common concerns. 
• Offer a way for them to contact you after they've had time to process the information. 

Recruiting from health fairs or other community events is a great way to reach a broader audience that you might not encounter in the clinic or hospital.  

Before going into the community, it is incredibly important that your recruitment efforts are done in a tasteful and non-research-predatory manner. These are some important topics to consider: 

• What is my purpose?  
  
• Is this an appropriate event given the purpose of my research?  
  
• What am I offering to the community? (i.e., information, resources, giveaways)  
  
• Are my materials accessible to the attendees of the event?  
  
• Can I collaborate with anyone in my department, section, or clinic? 

The next step is finding events to attend. Unfortunately, there isn't one comprehensive list, and Google^TM will ultimately be the best resource to find events in the surrounding community.  

The most important aspect of attending health fairs and other community events is ensuring that you and your team are prepared and adequately represent our campus. Below is a suggested event checklist to help you prepare for any upcoming events: 

• Staff: Team leader to staff the event and serve as the main point of contact with the event organizers. If the event is more than 8 hours on a single day or spans multiple days, you might want to have multiple people from your team sign up for shifts. 
  
  
• Equipment: Table, chairs, canopy, or tent are necessary equipment at health fairs and community events, and some event organizers do not provide these resources. These are one-time purchases. You can find more information about university approved vendors through the Office of Communications website. 
  
  
• Signage: Barracuda banner and tablecloth to ensure event attendees recognize CU Anschutz as the entity behind your research study. CU Anschutz Design and Printing Services is available to help with the design and printing of barracuda banners. 
  
  
• Resources: Flyers, brochures, or pamphlets to provide attendees with tangible information. 
  
  
• Contact information: It is important to have sign-up sheets, QR codes, or business cards where you can collect or provide contact information so that attendees can receive follow-up communications from your team.  
  
  
• Swag: This includes activities and giveaways such as stickers, stress balls, or pens. You can find more information about university-approved vendors and swag through the Office of Communications website.  
  
  

CU Anschutz has three free one-on-one recruitment consultations that can help your team effectively prepare to engage with the community, they are: 

• Clinical Research Recruitment Program Consultation: General recruitment consultation to help develop participant facing recruitment materials, explore social media advertising, and other unique strategies to help your team be successful. 
  
  
• CCTSI Community Engagement Consultation: Community-specific consultation for study team members regarding ethical issues that arise in preparation for and/or in the process of doing research with and in the community. 
  
  
• Older Adult Research Specialist Consultation: Collaborative consultation services to help better engage the older adult population in clinical research. 

There are several different electronic methods for recruiting people into clinical research studies, they are:  

• Electronic Medical Records: The transformation of patient records from paper to electronic has increased substantially over the past two decades. This paradigm shift from paper-based records to electronic records has also had a significant impact on the research, allowing research staff to communicate, consent, and document research visits in electronic medical records. UCHealth, one of the affiliated hospitals at CU Anschutz, offers all these features in their version of EPIC, through the RECRUIT team. 
  
  
• Recruitment Databases: Internal databases provide study teams and/or departments with a list of potential participants. This allows teams to keep track of contact attempts, eligibility across multiple studies within their department, and allows for recruitment data tracking. There are specific regulations related to these databases and it is important to discuss your plan to set up a recruitment database with your local IRB. 
  
  
• Research Websites: There are a variety of public facing websites that share clinical research studies with the community. This includes patient advocacy groups, online patient communities, government websites, and institutionally-managed websites. The CU Anschutz Research Studies Website is a free, online recruitment tool that allows you to create a webpage for your study.

There are many avenues for reaching people in the community and informing them of clinical research studies. They are: 

• Social Media Advertising: The Social Media for Research Study Recruitment webpage provides guidelines and an overview of paid and free options. The Clinical Research Recruitment Program offers centralized support for paid social media ads for clinical research recruitment. If you are interested, complete the Social Media Intake Form. There are also several third-party vendors that you can use to help develop your social media campaign such as Bump or BuildClinical. 
  
  
• Newspaper or newsletters: Newspapers and newsletters remain a relevant way to reach people. Keep in mind this recruitment method may be especially effective for older adult populations. Regardless of the target age group, all recruitment materials should be clear, concise, and written in plain language—ideally at or near an 8th-grade reading level. Additionally, the research team must obtain IRB approval for all public-facing language and distribution methods before running any recruitment advertisements. If you are interested in our services, complete the Recruitment Consultation Request Form. 
  
  
• Flyers: Recruitment flyers are a great way to reach people in the community. The Clinical Research Recruitment Program is happy to assist you with creating a public-facing recruitment flyer. If your team is interested, please fill out our Recruitment Flyer Request Form. Check out these examples to get a better understanding of what we strive to create. You can post your recruitment flyers around campus. The following buildings on the CU Anschutz campus allow you to post flyers in various locations without additional approval: Academic Office 1, Building 407, Campus Services, Fitzsimons Building 500, School of Dental Medicine, Pharmacy and Pharma. Sciences, Research 1 North, Research 1 South, and Research 2. Find a complete list of buildings that do and do not require approval here.  

It costs time, money, and resources to recruit and retain participants in clinical research studies. It is important that research teams incorporate recruitment costs into budgets when they are planning their study.  

To prevent a lack of funding, take the following considerations: 

Advance Planning 

Staff needed to recruit people. This includes time spent recruiting people but also time developing recruitment materials, traveling to community events, etc. 

• Technological tools include software to enroll and track participants, hotspot subscriptions, and other database needs. Consider cutting costs by renting equipment from the CU Anschutz Strauss Health Sciences Library.
  
• Equipment needed for recruitment efforts such as tables, canopy, computers, or an iPad. Consider cutting costs by renting equipment from the CU Anschutz Strauss Health Sciences Library.
  
• Cost to rent facility space or the cost to use space such as a CTRC room or a table at a health fair.  
  
• Budget for print materials such as flyers including paper, ink, or paid services through a printing vendor. CU Anschutz Design and Printing Services can print, cut, and fold different materials.  
  
• Swag and promotional items for in-person events such as business cards, pens, or stress balls.  
  
• Budget for staff apparel such as CU-branded t-shirts, polos, or jackets.  
  
• Costs for communication, marketing, or advertising via social media, radio, or other channels.  
  
• Compensation for participants including gift cards and travel reimbursements.  
  
• Staff reimbursements for travel and flextime.  

Retention efforts can be categorized into two overarching categories:  

• Interventions can be thought of tangible things you can do to ensure your participants remain enrolled in your study (e.g. appointment reminders, compensation, consistent communication). 
  
  
• Social interactions refer to how you can make them feel in relation to the research to ensure they stay in the study (e.g. genuine connections, encouragement, follow-up after study closure).  

Recruitment and retention planning are critical components of the research process, and their integration with grant writing and protocol design is essential for the success of any study. Be sure to have a system in place to track the responses you will get due to your outreach efforts. Here is our Quarterly Recruitment and Enrollment Milestone Report that you can use or revise to fit your study needs.