Support That Sticks: Helping Sites Hit Their Patient Recruitment Goals

When patient enrollment begins to slip, the conversation often turns to expanding the site list, purchasing additional advertising, or increasing the budget. 

In many cases, however, it’s about helping the sites you already have perform at their peak with support that doesn’t just show up once and vanish, but stays consistent, tailored, and actionable.

Valuable support isn’t about sending one-off toolkits or loosely defined guidance. It’s about embedding yourself into the recruitment process in a way that makes it easier for sites to succeed week after week.

Here’s a framework you can apply across any study to help sites not only meet, but often exceed, their enrollment goals.

Step 1: Start with a Site Capability Review

Figure out what each site actually needs.

Within the first week of onboarding, send a Site Capability Review, a simple, 10-minute questionnaire to uncover:

• The hours each coordinator or recruitment staff member can devote to the study.
  
• The outreach channels currently in use, such as physician referrals, social media presence, or community partnerships.
  
• Relevant experience from prior trials, including recruitment methods that were effective or ineffective.

The purpose of this review is to replace uniform, generic support with measures that address the site’s actual operating conditions.

Step 2: Give Every Site a Well-Defined First-Month Plan

Recruitment often slows when site staff are unsure which activities to prioritize. Offer each site a structured, four-week schedule that outlines weekly tasks they can complete and the intended results.

This approach creates momentum early, builds habits, and makes recruitment progress measurable.

Step 3: Build a Central Outreach Resource Library

Many sites struggle not because they lack the desire to do outreach, but because creating compliant, effective materials from scratch takes too much time.

Instead of leaving them to reinvent the wheel, create a centralized outreach library they can pull from instantly, with:

• Pre-approved flyers, postcards, and posters that can be co-branded with the site’s logo.
  
• Social media graphics sized for Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, with plug-and-play captions.
  
• Short patient-friendly email templates for existing patient lists.
  
• Scripts for local media, community announcements, or event introductions.
  

Include localized versions where the city name, site logo, and site contact information can be included. The faster a site can grab, customize, and deploy an asset, the more likely it is to actually be used consistently.

Step 4: Hold Biweekly Recruitment Check-Ins

Instead of relying solely on monthly metrics reports, run quick 15–30 minute biweekly calls with each site. The format is simple:

1. What’s working? (Identify repeatable actions.)
   
2. What’s not? (Remove roadblocks immediately.)
   
3. What’s next? (Agree on specific tasks for the next two weeks.)
   

These calls keep recruitment top-of-mind, foster accountability, and help you adjust before small slowdowns turn into major delays.

Step 5: Use Storytelling to Build Motivation

Metrics matter, but they don’t always tell the whole story. Ask each site to share one anecdote per month, such as:

• A patient who was excited to learn about the trial.
  
• A local clinic that started referring participants.
  
• An unexpected outreach channel that worked.
  

Share these stories across your site network (with consent). It creates a sense of progress and inspires other sites to try new approaches.

Step 6: Spotlight Best Practices Across Sites

Every month, highlight one site’s standout tactic in a “Best Practices Spotlight.” Include:

• A clear description of the tactic.
  
• How they implemented it.
  
• The measurable impact it had.
  

Peer-to-peer recognition builds healthy competition and encourages knowledge-sharing without requiring new formal training. 

Step 7: Track Both Hard and Soft Metrics

While enrollment counts and screening completions are necessary measures, they are often lag indicators. Track process-oriented data as well:

• Number of outreach posts or communications completed.
  
• Calls or emails to community partners.
• Info sessions hosted.

These figures provide early warning signs when activity levels begin to decline.

Closing Perspective

It’s important to show up for sites with the right help, at the right time, in the right way.

When you pair actionable plans with funding for creative ideas, frequent check-ins, peer recognition, and smart metrics tracking, you transform recruitment from a pressure point into a collaborative success story.

Enrollment targets are not only study milestones but also shared objectives between sponsors and sites. Well-planned, sustained support makes reaching those targets a more reliable outcome.

Ready to help your sites hit their patient recruitment goals?