The New Principles of Research Site Communications Best Practice

Research Site Communications - Newcastle Research Institute - Genesis Research Services

What management system does your site use to share information between people internal and external to your enterprise that is performed for site benefit and moreover, how does it help your site address risk?

I think this is something few clinical research sites ever really consider but is one of the most important aspects of site QM. This also highlights an area of progressive differentiation for sites and competitive edge. The sites that will progress and remain competitive long term are those who combine technical knowledge, business expertise and continual creativity. Simply put, the means of effective site communications are changing fast but the effectiveness of clear and concise messaging to key stakeholders remains the cornerstone mechanism for growing your business. Time and time again it has been proven in the history of business that intelligent adoption at the beginning of a technology cycle leads to huge competitive advantage. It is only through practice and the accumulation of new knowledge that one can change. The people who are open to this aggregation of new knowledge have the ability to change faster than anyone else.

Willingness to change also drives evolution of unique site business management of communications and development initiatives that centre on modern engagement in what is typically a very conservative industry. Contemporary principles of communications quality management sites should be researching and cultivating in today’s landscape to improve and sustain exclusive value reflect a currently underappreciated framework of innovation, underpinned by what will in the future be considered as essential foundations of site management.

Research sites now and in the future should build their communications systems with specific reference to the new, modern-day best practice concepts of connection including:

Participatory Culture

Sites should be willing to create and systematically manage a culture with relatively low barriers to trial access and participant engagement, strong support for creating responsible strategic messaging and formal internal mentorship whereby the methodologies of what is known by the most experienced team members is passed along to new staff.

Technological and Social Convergence

Sites need to responsibly manage and progress the bringing together of new technology and clinical trials for participants and enhance access to your services for potential clients

Content Creation

Gone are the days of just letters and phone calls. How will you manage your sites communications across a variety of traditional and digital platforms? Can you learn to create, present and improve your own materials over time and deliver a more genuine message and add value?

Digital Platform Governance Models

With websites, digital and social media communications site managers need to consider operating procedures, management plans and reliable policies related to:

  • User Experiences such as Design/Branding, Navigation, Overall usability standards, Domain/URL Standards, Accessibility
  • Technical Platforms: Security, Infrastructure and Hosting, Development Methodologies
  • Business Process: Legal standards and Review, Email Marketing, Site Metric Measurement and Reporting

Innovation and Technological Intermediation

The more technology, automation and adoption of digital systems means an important function of communications management is to act as disseminators of that knowledge about technical improvements or efficiencies across your industry stakeholders to support their own decision-making of whether to adopt, use or otherwise; such is the expectation you acquire as standard setter and as an evaluator of the technology you have introduced to the market.

Digital Ethnography and Research Methodologies

Through the use of digital communications such as text, email, social media, website and electronic databases you gain important insight into the scientific description of your participants, their customs, habits, and mutual differences. Social media’s such as Facebook are essentially a massive data collection tool, a social science search engine, providing a map of not only what your intended study population are thinking, but of how that population is actually thinking.

By mapping each of the processes used to manage these communications frameworks, including their sequence and interaction with each other, you can build consistency, innovation and customised messaging to your all of your consumers.

Dom Bailey