Since their emergence on the market, Clinical Trial Management Systems (CTMS) have made it possible for research sites to rapidly respond to the growing complexity of executing clinical research protocols. One such CTMS, RealTime-CTMS™, empowers its customers to enhance productivity and effectiveness by providing a powerful, yet intuitive interface for research staff and site stakeholders. With all of the multi-functions that a site must manage successfully to effectively conduct their studies, a powerful CTMS has become a necessary tool to meet these challenging demands.
Unfortunately, even the sites that have invested heavily in efficient systems still share in a common problem that affects both profitability and protocol compliance: The dreaded NO-SHOW.
Technology to the rescue! RealTime-CTMS™ is the first CTMS software company to offer integrated Text Message Appointment reminders into its CTMS system that allows automated appointment text reminders to be sent to study subjects (RealTime-TEXT™). Additionally, this innovative new feature allows subject text responses to be received back into RealTime-CTMS™ to provide site staff with immediate feedback of subject confirmations, cancellations or other inquiries.
In a recent article published in Applied Clinical Trials, some very compelling statistics were provided:
Recent studies suggest that only 22% of emails are read and that 98% of text messages are read
90% of text messages, on average, are read within 3 minutes
The true results of integrated text messaging are already in as RealTime-TEXT™ customers are already seeing the positive impact that text message reminders are having on their no-show rates. For example, one of the largest multi-specialty sites in the country, Clinical Trials of Texas, Inc. (CTT) in San Antonio, has experienced a greater than 50% reduction in no-show rates as a result of adopting RealTime-TEXT™ into their daily operations. “People wanted to be texted,” according to CTT President, Kay Scroggins, “It puts the appointment reminder in a patient’s pocket or purse without interrupting their day.”
While many appointment reminder methods exist, including reminder cards, phone calls and emails, none have had the level of impact at reducing no-show rates than text message reminders. Having a text solution integrated into a CTMS creates a new level of efficiency for site personnel and leads to increases in subject show rates, further leading to higher subject compliance and increased site revenues.
RealTime-TEXT™ is just one example of how RealTime Software Solutions, LLC is bringing leading innovations to clinical research sites to maximize their efficiency. For more information about RealTime-CTMS™ visit their website at http://www.realtime-ctms.com/.
