364 - Remote Strategies to Expand Research Recruitment from Acute Care Settings: Adaptations in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Poster Number: 364

Michelle L. Macy, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Norma-Jean E. Simon, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Patrick Hebert, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Bethany M. Pollock, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Temperance, MI, United States; Leopoldo Castillo, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Blue Island, IL, United States; Liliana G. San Miguel, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all aspects of life including clinical research. Restrictions on in-person activities in Emergency Department (ED) and Urgent Care (UC) sites prompted some research teams to pivot towards remote recruitment and expand beyond hours and locations with research coordinators (RCs) on shift. Little is known about the success of different remote methods to reach parents of children for research participation.

Objective: To assess demographic differences among patients arriving within and outside of hours when an ED RC would be on shift to recruit participants and test for differences in screening survey completion and enrollment among eligible patients.

Design/Methods: Tiny Cargo, Big Deal/Abróchame Bien, Cuídame Bien is a bilingual behavioral intervention promoting child passenger safety among parents of children 6-mos to 10-yrs presenting to ED or UC sites for non-critical illness or injury, excluding motor vehicle collisions, psychiatric care, and child abuse. From June 2020-June 2021, we implemented 5 remote recruitment strategies: email, text, text after email, QR code posters, and patient portal message. Visit data, including parent contact information, was extracted from the electronic health record (EHR) for patients meeting basic study criteria after visiting a Children’s Hospital ED/UC or 2 UC satellite locations. We invited parents to complete screening surveys via remote strategies and tracked responses in study recruitment logs. We generated descriptive statistics and tested for differences in patient characteristics, recruitment strategy, timing and location of care using chi-square tests in SAS.

Results: Of the 18,929 ED and UC visits identified, 17,108 unique patients were eligible for screening. Of these, 6717 (39%) arrived during RC on-shift hours and 41% of participants were enrolled after on-shift visits. There were no clinically meaningful differences in patient demographics by time of arrival (Table 1). Most surveys were completed after email contact (n=1,044) followed by text after email (n=347) and text alone (n=236). Screening completion was disproportionately higher among parents of white, non-Hispanic children and those with English language preference than the screening eligible population (Table 2). Enrolled children were more racial/ethnically diverse than those screened eligible overall (Table 3).Conclusion(s): Remote recruitment is efficient and feasible for studies that do not require data collection or intervention during an acute care visit. This approach expands the reach of research to hours and locations that cannot be staffed by an RC.
Table 1. Characteristics of Patients Eligible to Receive a Screening Survey Communication
Table 2. Comparison of Patients whose Parent Did and Did Not Complete the Screening Survey