RCTs in general practice: consider the influence of patient expectation on your recruitment strategy

• Main Authors: Moyez Jiwa, Epi Kanjo, Jocelyn Dixon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Archetype Health Pty Ltd 2016-10-01
• Series: The Journal of Health Design
• Subjects: warts; cryotherapy; musa; primary health care

Despite the focus on a common condition presenting frequently in general practice, our study failed to recruit the requisite numbers. The attrition rate was difficult to interpret. It is plausible that people presenting with warts to general practitioners have already decided that they need cryotherapy and are reluctant to consider alternative experimental treatments even though the evidence for effective treatment with cryotherapy is poor. Patient expectation and the perceived pressure to acquiesce to patient demands in primary care greatly affected the recruitment potential of this trial.