Conference Proceedings - School of Nursing & Midwifery - Trinity ...

School of Nursing & Midwifery, Trinity College Dublin: 8 th Annual Interdisciplinary Research Conference
Transforming Healthcare Through Research, Education & Technology: 7 th – 9 th November 2007
Conference Proceedings
the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland and 909 patients were
recruited. We conducted focus groups to explore issues surrounding
recruitment. The data collection began December 2004 and the
study completed in July 2007.
Results showed that identifying eligible participants required the
cooperation of staff involved in health service administration and
clinical staff. Allocating sufficient time in the recruitment process for
the identification of eligible participants is vital. Practice staff who
participated reported appreciation of tailoring of the delivery of
information and support to meet their needs. Qualitative findings
suggested participants were encouraged to take part by receiving
clear information about the study, an invitation linked to their own
practice and a helpline telephone number. In conclusion ensuring
the participation of adequate numbers of practices and patients in
randomised controlled trials allows increased confidence in the
representativeness, validity and generalisability of study results.
This has direct implications for both patient care and clinical
outcomes.
References:
Affleck, P. (2005). The challenge of recruitment. Nurse Researcher,
13(1), 78-84.
Badger,F., and Werrett, J. (2005). Room for improvement?
Reporting response rates and recruitment in nursing research in the
past decade. Journal of Advanced Nursing 51, (5) 502-510.
Bell–Syer,S.E.M., & Klaber Moffett,J.A. (2000). Recruiting patients
to randomized trials in primary care: principles and case study.
Family Practice, 17(2), 187-191.
Dolan, G., Broomfield, J., Lewith, G., & Watkins, A.
(1999).Operational and resource management of an RCT: some of
the pitfalls and lessons learned. Journal of Clinical Nursing. 8(4),
389-395.
Harris, R ., and Dyson, E. (2001) Recruitment of frail older people
to research: lessons learnt through experience. Journal of Advanced
Nursing. 36(5), 643-651.
McDonald, A. M., Knight, R C., Campbell, M K, Entwistle, V A.,
Grant, A M.,Cook, J A., Elbourne, D R. Francis, D., Garcia, J.,
Roberts, I., & Snowdon, C.(2006). What influences recruitment to
randomised controlled trials? Retrieved July 11, 2006, from BioMed
Central Web site: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1745-6215/7/1/9
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