Patient Recruitment Company, Clinical Trial Media, Explains How Proactive Project Management Helps to Keep Studies on Track

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Mar 07, 2019, 05:00 ET

HAUPPAUGE, N.Y., March 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- A project is generally described as a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result. By nature of the definition, clinical trials fall under the project umbrella. It begins with initial protocol development and doesn't end until all collected data has been analyzed. Patient recruitment company, Clinical Trial Media, explains how proactive project management helps to keep studies on track.

A common reason that clinical trials struggle is lack of a skilled project manager, or project management team. Project management is necessary to execute strategy successfully. Clinical Trial Media recommends following the five steps below to optimize your project management efforts:

Initiating: Begin with defining your goals and vision for the clinical trial.
Planning: Develop timelines and milestones, establish risks and draft a budget. This is where the bulk of project management work takes place.
Execution: Recruit, develop and assign teams that will include responsibilities such as quality assurance, communications and attaining goals.
Monitoring and Controlling: Consistently evaluate the trial and all aspects involved, ensuring it is adjusted accordingly to provide the optimal trial service and experience for patients.
Closing: Establish an end goal and make sure all data has been collected, analyzed and finalized to officially complete the trial.

Having a proactive project manager for your clinical trial will be ideal and could even make or break your trial all together. These types of project managers often have experience and training in the clinical trial field and understand those five steps in and out. They also possess a set of soft skills such as communication and leadership.

As mentioned, leadership will play a large role in a clinical trials project management. Being that the process is long and complex, it's important to have someone who motivates the team through hurdles such as recruitment issues or unexpected withdrawal rates, which tend to put down a team's morale.

Another key factor in clinical trial project management is the organizational system used. Having strings of emails with different subjects and excel sheets are not going to be effective in managing something as large scale as a clinical trial. It's recommended to keep all data related to the execution of the trial in a single location. This will make it easier to find and analyze data at a moment's notice to adjust the trial as challenges or areas for improvement arise.

A clinical trial is an extensive and complex project that will need a strong project management plan in place to execute successfully. From following the core 5 steps of project management to having soft skills such as leadership, these recommendations will help keep your study on time and on track for completion.

About CTM: CTM Clinical Research Patient Recruitment is a global patient recruitment and retention firm that provides customized product and service offerings to maximize your study's enrollment potential. With our flexible solutions, superior customer service and vast clinical trial experience around the world, Clinical Trial Media is your global enrollment connection.

SOURCE Clinical Trial Media