72. Addressing barriers for conducting/participating in clinical trials among cardiologists

Abstract

Well conducted randomized controlled trials (RCT) provide answers to relevant clinical question with the highest level of evidence. However, cardiologist’s participation in RCTs remains disappointing low in Saudi Arabia despite the perception of its benefits for patients and clinical practice. The purpose of this study is to identify the challenges and barriers for cardiologists participation in RCTs as perceived by cardiologist’s working in King Abdul-Aziz Cardiac center, Saudi Arabia. A self-administered questionnaire was completed by cardiologists from different subspecialties working at King Abdul-Aziz Cardiac Center, Riyadh. All cardiologists working in this center were invited to participate. The questionnaire used was validated before in a previous multicenter study conducted in the United States. A total of 61 cardiologists (consultants, Associates and Assistant consultants) participated in the study with a response rate of 91%. The mean duration of clinical practice was 7.5 ± 7.9 years. Half of the cardiologists reported that they did not participate in any RCT before. Among those who participated, only 21.3% were principal investigator (PI) or co-investigator, while others only assisted in enrolling patients. Most cardiologists (90%) agreed that RCTs improve patient care and an overwhelming majority (98.4%) reported that they would like to be involved in RCTs in the future (86.9% as PI). In addition, 77.0% of the participating physicians believe that their organization is encouraging them to participate in RCTs. However, many cardiologists cited barriers to participating in RCT including lack of time (70.5%), lack of training/experience (74.5%) and lack of ancillary support staff (70.5%). This study identified a group of barriers that should be tackled in order to promote the active involvement of cardiologists in future RCTs. Most cardiologist are very enthusiastic about RCT, but they lack the skills and support staff to initiate RCTs. Future efforts should tackle these identified barriers to increase participation in multicenter and investigator initiated clinical trials.