(1458) OPTIM: A Case Study of Recruitment and Retention Strategies to Mobilize a Professional Community

Introduction: Large sample sizes are necessary for research studies to evaluate clinically meaningful outcomes. These sample sizes are particularly challenging to achieve in the critically ill population where large amounts of data are available based on the rapid evolution of both patient characteristics and clinical interventions. We hypothesized that innovative methods of recruitment and retention could be implemented to generate a large database with endpoints sufficient to evaluate robust patient-centered outcomes including mortality.

Methods: The Optimizing Pharmacist-Team Integration for ICU patient Management (OPTIM) study recruited critical care pharmacists (CCPs) to prospectively collect data on CCP workload, enroll ICU patients for 100 days, and retrospectively collect data on patient characteristics, medications and interventions received, and outcomes. CCP recruitment strategies included emails through professional association listservs, emails to Critical Care Pharmacy Residency program directors, virtual information sessions, and opportunities for learner engagement. CCP retention strategies included weekly newsletter with study progress updates and FAQs, weekly participant spotlight, weekly virtual “office hours” for questions and individual support, quarterly enrichment sessions related to the research process, OPTIM-branded gift, and manuscript authorship opportunity for CCPs and learners if criteria met (e.g., 100 days, 200+ patients, complete data).

Results: 441 CCPs from 181 sites completed an initial interest survey to attend informational sessions. Of these, 74 sites including 171 CCPs completed regulatory requirements to participate, then collected workload data and enrolled patients for 100 days. Data collection began in 8/2023 with rolling site onboarding through 1/2024. An additional 68 students, residents, and pharmacists collected patient demographic and outcomes data. In total, 36,319 ICU patients were enrolled and retrospective data collection was completed for 33,679 (93%).

Conclusions: Innovative recruitment and retention strategies to promote teamwork and a common goal were successful in generating a large database of critically ill patients containing robust outcomes. This work demonstrates a potential model for professional organizations to coordinate multicenter studies.