Since the emergence of the coronavirus toward the end of 2019, a new normal was established in the healthcare industry. This is when the concept of DCTs (Decentralized Clinical Trials) became prevalent too. Decentralized Clinical Trials in a Post Pandemic World will likely lead the way in the future world of clinical trials.
There’s no better way of gaining a patient’s perspective other than standing in their own shoes. During those uncertain times, patients had to face a lot of anxiety and uncertainty as a result of rescheduled scans, tests, and appointments, and fear of contracting the virus in clinical or hospital settings. Patients volunteering in clinical trials either had their visits canceled or postponed. For most cancer patients, therapies available via trials may have been a lifeline that wasn’t accessible anymore.
There’s no denying that the coronavirus has caused a transformational shift in the clinical research industry. With the rising need to adapt at an unprecedented scale, CROs and sponsors now had to look toward patients for ideas. However, DCTs were a game changer.
Read as our EDC clinical data management software expert answers why DCTs are the future in a post-pandemic world!
The coronavirus upended thousands of trials
Looking at the scale with which the coronavirus affected global clinical trial activity, it’s easy to understand why decentralized research has become quite common. The global health crisis led to thousands of trials being suspended, affecting everything from cardiovascular treatments to oncology.
Even as these trials began to resume, they had to compete for resources against the coronavirus-related trials, which were launched in huge numbers during the summer and spring of 2020. Trial developers had to become nimbler. They needed to make their research efforts more affordable and streamlined without sacrificing quality, all while working around lockdown guidelines. This is where decentralization came into the picture.
After over one year of DCTs, a lot of researchers wanted to continue with the method. They were able to hone their practices and better understand the advantages and limitations of this design choice.
Easier patient reporting helps researchers get better data
The ease of patient reporting is one of the main benefits of decentralization, which positively affects clinical trial retention. Since patients can record daily updates on their desktop computers or smartphones, researchers are collecting bigger data sets.
This is only possible in a decentralized model where patients may log information through a smartphone instead of having to drive to a clinic or call a medical professional.
ClinicalPURSUIT’s electronic patient-reported outcome software comes with innovative productivity tools
ClinicalPURSUIT’s powerful EDC system for patient studies allows you to easily keep a tab on your clinical trial data status.
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