Situation.
At some point in their lives, roughly two-thirds of adults in the U.S. will suffer from low back pain, which is the second most common cause of missed work days. Our challenge was to recruit at least 700 patients in 12 weeks for a clinical research study on chronic low back pain. Participants had to be frequent users of medication for their condition, and willing to commit to seven or eight study visits over a 14-week period.
Results.
Through a comprehensive recruitment effort that involved newspaper, radio, direct mail, and a website, we targeted potential participants between the ages of 35 and 64. By carefully monitoring our recruitment tools, as well as actively following up with interested pre-qualified candidates, we were able to meet our enrollment goal two weeks ahead of schedule.
