In the new normal, we hear a lot of talk about minimizing risk – making trade-offs between potential exposure and living life (professionally and personally). For HCPs, this could mean seeing patients, but not participating in in-person research.
Though the steep decline of in-person research may be disconcerting for researchers, there are upsides to remote research – areas of opportunity that you may not have anticipated.
As a 3-decade healthcare recruiter, here are some ideas for embracing the new normal:
1 Go wide. You’re not limited to a few urban areas any more. We can recruit nationally – in suburban areas, as well as in smaller cities.
2 Get out-of-the-box. Instead of seeing the same HCPS in a specific research facility, remote research allows you to bring in fresh faces with unique perspectives.
3 Be a time traveler. Rather than limiting yourself to groups in one day in one location, you can travel across the country “seeing” groups from North to South, East to West.
4 Leverage tech. Homework assignments, patient charts, self-complete forms, concepts and stimuli – all of this can be executed, so it feels like you’re in the same room as your HCP.
5 Think old-school. Ship stuff! We regularly coordinate product/ prototype shipments, so HCPs have the physical items you want to share.
True, with remote research, you might be missing your favorite food in CA or GA or MA, but hopefully these upsides will keep you, well, uplifted.