Background/Purpose: Compared to patient satisfaction with general medical care little is known about patient satisfaction within clinical trials. Clinical trials are a time and resource demand for patients without  necessarily a guarantee of receiving the active compound. Given the importance in developing new therapies and medicines, and outcomes overall we were keen to examine patient satisfaction within the unit we run and thoughts and experiences with regard to clinical trials.

Whipps Cross University Hospital is an Associate Teaching Hospital in North-East London serving a population of around 400,000 with a commercially run research unit. Our unit currently runs 14 trials and sees 20-30 patients each week. The clinical trials mainly test biological therapies in autoimmune rheumatic diseases.

Methods: We could not find a validated satisfaction survey for patients in clinical trials. We modified a survey by Madsen et al. using clinical trials with inflammatory bowel disease. The survey had 21 questions. Every patient attending the unit at least 3 times was surveyed from April – June 2013.

Results: 38 surveys were completed. Patient satisfaction with clinical trials and the research unit is positive. 71% reported a very positive attitude towards these trials, 79% indicated they would participate again and 79% would recommend a friend or family member to participate.

81% of respondents felt it was ‘always’ necessary to examine new drugs using a clinical trial design, 31% were ‘hesitant’ about randomization and 48% about blinding. 53% said it was ‘very important’ to them to recognise staff at each visit and 74% indicate this aspect influences their attitudes towards clinical trials ‘a lot’.

One respondent reported the trial was ‘too time consuming’, two that they ‘could have used more time’ and the remainder felt time allocation was ‘OK’.

Getting the ‘new’ drug, being closely monitored, having a ‘good relationship’ with doctors/nurses, and helping future patients, were all ‘very important’ motives for participating in the trial with the majority of the respondents.

Conclusion: Our results are similar to those reported by Madsen et al. The attitudes towards blinding and randomization could perhaps be addressed by providing more education about the necessity of blinding and randomization prior to trial participation.

Madsen et al identified having a single physician design their trials results in high patient satisfaction. Our survey also shows participants value recognising the same staff at each visit and may be undervalued by trial designers in a busy setting.

Overall, patient satisfaction with clinical trials was high and clinicians should feel confident when referring patients for inclusion in clinical trials.

---

« Back to 2013 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/patient-satisfaction-with-an-associate-teaching-hospital-clinical-trial-unit-in-north-east-london/