From: E-Consent—a guide to maintain recruitment in clinical trials during the COVID-19 pandemic
Advantages | Disadvantages |
---|---|
Avoids physical attendance | Patients may be unfamiliar with electronic device use—increasing the digital divide and decreasing diversity of recruitment |
Requires fewer human resources | Privacy concerns if not properly set-up |
Requires less physical space | Could introduce selection bias towards younger patients and those with higher education |
Can be deployed to any number of devices | May decrease equitable access to trials across the socioeconomic spectrum |
Allows patients to answer in a safe space | Relies on patient access to electronic devices, email, and Internet connection |
Can adapt to patient-specific disabilities | |
Scalable | |
Reduces travel-associated costs and reduces carbon footprint | |
Reduces risk of contagion of infectious diseases | |
Integrated hard stops prevents missing fields | |
Increases traceability | |
Removes postage cost | |
Removes possibility of transcription errors | |
Absence of time pressure |