A Low-cost, Low-barrier Clinical Trials Registry to Support Effective Recruitment

Introduction: Recruitment of representative samples is a key factor in reproducible research. Emerging recruitment approaches that leverage the electronic health record (EHR) can strengthen recruitment of representative samples; A clinical trials registry that stores data about clinical and translational studies, including structured inclusion and exclusion criteria, is necessary for EHR based recruitment; Clinical trials registries can support reporting and monitoring of clinical trials. Conclusions: Developed a model for a low-cost, low-barrier institutional clinical trials registry, based upon REDCap; Based upon free, open source software commonly used in clinical research, this model is a low-cost, low-barrier option for institutions conducting clinical and translational research; The structure of the inclusion and exclusion criteria within the registry is essential for EHR supported recruitment approaches; This analysis and design project requires development and evaluation as proof-of-concept.