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Table 1 The implementation of four recruitment steps in the CTA tool and possible benefits

From: A clinical trial alert tool to recruit large patient samples and assess selection bias in general practice research

Step

Definition

Example

Benefit

Identification

All possible study

participants are

recognized

Clinical trial alert (CTA)

automated recognition running

in the background of the practice

computer software to filter out all

women ≥60 and men ≥70

No patients are missed

Net sample automatically documented

No effort required for the practice staff

Eligibility check

Specifically defined

inclusion and exclusion

criteria are applied to

the net sample

Practice staff (nurse or doctor)

reviews patient data for

exclusion criteria and checks

appropriate box on screen

Practice staff can document

exclusion criteria on the

practice computer by making

one click

Contact

Eligible participants are

informed about the study

and are asked to

participate

Practice staff introduces

the study and asks for

patient consent

Patient response is documented

using practice computer

Practice staff can easily

document all patient contacts

using the practice computer

Study centre can monitor activity

Enrolment

Patients follow through

on their intention to

participate in the study

Baseline osteoporosis survey

is filled in using the

practice computer

Pseudonymised data set is

immediately transferred to

the study centre

No patients lost between

the GP practice and study

centre

All survey data is

immediately available