Made 12 outreach calls this morning for our hypertension trial using the IRB-approved script, and only one person agreed to a pre-screen — I’m learning on the job and want to improve fast. How do you keep the conversation natural while still hitting eligibility points, and what do you use to track refusals — REDCap custom fields or just a quick Google Sheet?
Recruiting’s definitely a grind! To keep it natural, I focus on shared experiences — it feels less like a checklist and more like a conversation. For tracking refusals, I prefer a simple Google Sheet; it’s quick to update while I’m on the calls.
It helps to ask open-ended questions that relate to their daily life — like how their hypertension affects their routine… This way, you can naturally lead into eligibility points without sounding too scripted. I usually jot down notes about their responses in REDCap to track any concerns they mention.