Training recruiters to randomized trials to facilitate recruitment and informed consent by exploring patients' treatment preferences

Table 1 Comparison of the RCTs’ characteristics and recruitment processes

	Trial 1	Trial 2	Trial 3 (ProtecT)
Study interventions	Two or three surgical treatments for a vascular condition	Surgical and non-surgical treatment for cancer	Surgery, radiotherapy, and active monitoring for localised prostate cancer
Recruiting clinicians	Surgeons (with short follow-up call by research nurse)	1st appt with surgeons, 2nd with oncologists	Research nurses
Number of consultations audio-recorded	15^a	38	93^b
How many attended a consultation	15	19	93
How many expressed treatment preference (%)	8 (53%)^c	14 (74%)	74 (80%)
Number of consultations where treatment preference expressed	8	21	74
Number of patients randomized who originally stated a treatment preference (%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)	50 (68%)
Median length of consultations in minutes (range)	16 (12-48)	32 (surgeon), 32 (oncologist), 64 combined (22-99)	56 (21-120)

^aConsultations with the surgeons and the follow-up phone call were combined where applicable.
^bSample of all recruitment appointments over a three-month-period.
^cUnable to assess 7 participants due to incomplete recordings of consultations or follow-up call.

ISSN: 1745-6215