Background: Recruiting the desired number of research participants\nis frequently problematic with resulting financial and clinical\nimplications. The views of individuals responsible for participant\nrecruitment have not been previously reviewed. This systematic\nreview and thematic meta-synthesis explores researchersââ?¬â?¢ and cliniciansââ?¬â?¢\nexperiences and perceptions of recruiting participants to\nclinical research, with the aim of informing improved recruitment\nsystems and strategies.\nMethods: Studies published between January 1995 and May 2013\nwere identified from: Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid EMBASE, Ovid\nPSYCHINFO, ASSIA, British Nursing Index, Scopus, Web of Science,\nCINAHL and PubMed. Included studies were original peer\nreviewed research, with qualitative methodologies and an aim of\nexploring the views of clinicians and/or researchers on recruitment\nto clinical research. Studies discussing the recruitment of patients\nunable to give informed consent were excluded. The findings sections\nof the relevant studies were free coded to identify key concepts\nwhich were grouped into hierarchical themes. The quality of\nthe identified studies was assessed and the relative contribution of\neach paper was checked to ensure individual studies did not dominate\nin any theme.\nResults: Eighteen relevant papers were identified which examined\nthe views of researchers and clinicians in 10 clinical specialties.\nFive main themes emerged: building a research community, securing\nresources, the nature of research, professional identities and recruitment\nstrategies. The views of researchers and clinicians were\nsimilar, although the role of ââ?¬Ë?researcherââ?¬â?¢ was inconsistently defined.\nConclusions: The general experience of recruiting participants to\nclinical research was one of competition and compromise. Competition\narose over funding, staffing and participants, and between\nclinical and research responsibilities. Compromise was needed to\ncreate study designs that were acceptable to patients, clinicians and\nresearchers. Forging relationships between clinical and research\nteams featured extensively, however the involvement of patients\nand the public within the research community was rarely discussed.
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