Ainsworth, John

Buchan, Iain

Gibson, Martin

Leeming, Gary

Thew, Sarah

English

PubMed

Sarah Thew

Gary Leeming

John Ainsworth

Martin Gibson

Iain Buchan

Springer - Publisher Connector

FARSITE: evaluation of an automated trial feasibility assessment and recruitment tool

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Trials

The University of Manchester - Institutional Repository

FARSITE: evaluation of an automated trial feasibility assessment and recruitment tool.

Thew Sarah

Leeming Gary

Ainsworth John

Gibson Martin

Buchan Iain

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ORAL PRESENTATION Open Access
FARSITE: evaluation of an automated trial
feasibility assessment and recruitment tool
Sarah Thew1, Gary Leeming1*, John Ainsworth2, Martin Gibson3, Iain Buchan2
From Clinical Trials Methodology Conference 2011
Bristol, UK. 4-5 October 2011
Objectives
In a review of UK-supported clinical trials more than
half of the investigators asked the funding agency for an
extension and a third did not hit their recruitment tar-
gets [1]. Study feasibility is often assessed on an ad hoc
basis by asking clinical staff to estimate how many
patients with particular characteristics they might expect
to see in a given time period, and over-estimation is
common. We have developed FARSITE (Feasibility
Assessment and Recruitment System for Improving
Trial Efficiency), a system to support the evaluation of
trial feasibility by providing accurate assessments of
numbers of patients eligible for a particular trial.
Furthermore FARSITE automates patient recruitment
whilst preserving consent for consent.
Methods
Previously we investigated the requirements of clinical
and protocol development experts for a system to sup-
port trial design and recruitment. We developed a soft-
ware architecture which addresses their primary
concerns: preservation of consent for consent; improv-
ing the efficiency of the trial design process and auto-
mation of as much as possible of the recruitment
workflow [2]. The FARSITE software is based on this
architecture and has been deployed in collaboration in
the Greater Manchester Clinical Research Network and
the NHS in Salford. We present the results of an analy-
sis of the benefits of using the FARSITE application
when compared to previous modes of working.
Results
We have worked with local clinical research organisa-
tions to evaluate FARSITE, running recruitment criteria
for on-going clinical trials through FARSITE and
comparing our estimates of numbers of patients eligible
for the trial with the trials’ actual recruitment rates. A
strong correlation was observed between protocols with
a low FARSITE recruitment estimate and trials strug-
gling to recruit participants
Conclusions
We have shown that FARSITE can improve the speed
and efficiency of clinical trials feasibility, allowing
researchers to quickly assess the feasibility of trials in
advance.
Author details
1North-west e-Health, Manchester, UK. 2Community Based Medicine,
University of Manchester, Manchester, UK. 3Greater Manchester
Comprehensive Research Network, Manchester, UK.
Published: 13 December 2011
References
1. McDonald A, Knight R, Campbell M, Entwistle V, Grant A, Cook J,
Elbourne D, Francis D, Garcia J, Roberts I, Snowdon C: What influences
recruitment to randomised controlled trials? A review of trials funded by
two UK funding agencies. Trials 2006, 7:9.
2. Ainsworth J, Buchan I: Preserving consent-for-consent with feasibility-
assessment and recruitment in clinical studies: FARSITE architecture. Stud
Health Technol Inform 2009, 147:137-148.
doi:10.1186/1745-6215-12-S1-A113
Cite this article as: Thew et al.: FARSITE: evaluation of an automated
trial feasibility assessment and recruitment tool. Trials 2011 12(Suppl 1):
A113.
1North-west e-Health, Manchester, UK
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
Thew et al. Trials 2011, 12(Suppl 1):A113
http://www.trialsjournal.com/content/12/S1/A113 TRIALS
© 2011 Thew et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in
any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.


I: Preserving consent-for-consent with feasibilityassessment and recruitment in clinical studies: FARSITE architecture. Stud Health Technol Inform

Snowdon C: What influences recruitment to randomised controlled trials? A review of trials funded by two UK funding agencies. Trials

UK Full list of author information is available at the end of the article Thew et al.

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FARSITE: evaluation of an automated trial feasibility assessment and recruitment tool

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