Proposal and Strategy for Nursing-Led Research: Protocol for an Unfunded Clinical Trial

BackgroundClinical trials are known to provide cause-and-effect results and data with low levels of bias. However, a lack of funding for clinical trials, which are considered expensive, means that academic sponsors are rarely able to conduct them. Academic trials are consider...

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Main Authors: Leticia Carmen Simón-López, Ismael Ortuño-Soriano, Raquel Luengo-González, Paloma Posada-Moreno, Ignacio Zaragoza-García, Rubén Sánchez-Gómez
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: JMIR Publications 2025-02-01
Series:JMIR Research Protocols
Online Access:https://www.researchprotocols.org/2025/1/e56062
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author Leticia Carmen Simón-López
Ismael Ortuño-Soriano
Raquel Luengo-González
Paloma Posada-Moreno
Ignacio Zaragoza-García
Rubén Sánchez-Gómez
author_facet Leticia Carmen Simón-López
Ismael Ortuño-Soriano
Raquel Luengo-González
Paloma Posada-Moreno
Ignacio Zaragoza-García
Rubén Sánchez-Gómez
author_sort Leticia Carmen Simón-López
collection DOAJ
description BackgroundClinical trials are known to provide cause-and-effect results and data with low levels of bias. However, a lack of funding for clinical trials, which are considered expensive, means that academic sponsors are rarely able to conduct them. Academic trials are considered highly relevant for the valuable results they provide for clinical questions. This is why initiatives to conduct unfunded clinical trials have been identified as an important issue to pay attention to in future studies. Therefore, we present our initiative through Rogers’ theory, which is highlighted in the literature for diffusing innovative change across organizations. ObjectiveThe purpose of this paper was to describe our case regarding management for conducting a nonfunded nurse-led clinical trial based on our previous low-interventional clinical trial across a specific health organization and with nurses. MethodsWe conducted a low-intervention, nonexternally funded clinical trial using the human and material resources available on site. We managed our trial in a clinical trial unit where there were staff, sources, and ongoing commercial clinical trials. We conducted our trial based on an ongoing commercial trial, and, to do so, we needed behavioral changes. We relied on Rogers’ theory, and we identified strengths and barriers to change by analyzing actors' characteristics, perceptions of the situation, motivation, and information. Afterward, we divided the staff according to their characteristics related to innovation and change into permanent staff (research staff with a culture of change) and nonpermanent staff (nursing staff with occasional attendance and resistance to change). First, we preselected only those nurses who were more aware of change (innovators and pioneers) to participate in our trial to avoid a massive rejection, and later, we asked others to join (late adopters). We followed Rogers’ phases. For research staff who were aware of the funding, we focused on the “persuasion phase,” while for nursing staff, we mixed the “knowledge and persuasion phases” and used pioneers and early adopters as a positive example for other nurses as well as nonfinancial incentives (persuasion). Our trial consisted of different methods of vein cannulation, which was performed in the ongoing commercial trial. Thus, the entire development of our low-interventional clinical trial was conducted without interfering at any point with the parallel commercial clinical trial. ResultsOur management allowed effective conduct of our study, and we met our aims without external funding and without ethical impact during the commercial clinical trial. Costs remained low, primarily because the major expenses were covered by the commercial clinical trial as an inherent part of its design. ConclusionsOur initiative to conduct a low-intervention clinical trial with no or limited funding was cost-effective. This initiative can be used by researchers with valuable academic research questions who do not have the external funding to conduct studies. Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04027218; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04027218 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)RR1-10.2196/56062
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spelling doaj-art-054d4198501d4ba7bfd19f78df8b75e42025-02-10T13:00:36ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR Research Protocols1929-07482025-02-0114e5606210.2196/56062Proposal and Strategy for Nursing-Led Research: Protocol for an Unfunded Clinical TrialLeticia Carmen Simón-Lópezhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-2383-0942Ismael Ortuño-Sorianohttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5651-8376Raquel Luengo-Gonzálezhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1787-7795Paloma Posada-Morenohttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-4537-9870Ignacio Zaragoza-Garcíahttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-8606-1415Rubén Sánchez-Gómezhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-7071-9860 BackgroundClinical trials are known to provide cause-and-effect results and data with low levels of bias. However, a lack of funding for clinical trials, which are considered expensive, means that academic sponsors are rarely able to conduct them. Academic trials are considered highly relevant for the valuable results they provide for clinical questions. This is why initiatives to conduct unfunded clinical trials have been identified as an important issue to pay attention to in future studies. Therefore, we present our initiative through Rogers’ theory, which is highlighted in the literature for diffusing innovative change across organizations. ObjectiveThe purpose of this paper was to describe our case regarding management for conducting a nonfunded nurse-led clinical trial based on our previous low-interventional clinical trial across a specific health organization and with nurses. MethodsWe conducted a low-intervention, nonexternally funded clinical trial using the human and material resources available on site. We managed our trial in a clinical trial unit where there were staff, sources, and ongoing commercial clinical trials. We conducted our trial based on an ongoing commercial trial, and, to do so, we needed behavioral changes. We relied on Rogers’ theory, and we identified strengths and barriers to change by analyzing actors' characteristics, perceptions of the situation, motivation, and information. Afterward, we divided the staff according to their characteristics related to innovation and change into permanent staff (research staff with a culture of change) and nonpermanent staff (nursing staff with occasional attendance and resistance to change). First, we preselected only those nurses who were more aware of change (innovators and pioneers) to participate in our trial to avoid a massive rejection, and later, we asked others to join (late adopters). We followed Rogers’ phases. For research staff who were aware of the funding, we focused on the “persuasion phase,” while for nursing staff, we mixed the “knowledge and persuasion phases” and used pioneers and early adopters as a positive example for other nurses as well as nonfinancial incentives (persuasion). Our trial consisted of different methods of vein cannulation, which was performed in the ongoing commercial trial. Thus, the entire development of our low-interventional clinical trial was conducted without interfering at any point with the parallel commercial clinical trial. ResultsOur management allowed effective conduct of our study, and we met our aims without external funding and without ethical impact during the commercial clinical trial. Costs remained low, primarily because the major expenses were covered by the commercial clinical trial as an inherent part of its design. ConclusionsOur initiative to conduct a low-intervention clinical trial with no or limited funding was cost-effective. This initiative can be used by researchers with valuable academic research questions who do not have the external funding to conduct studies. Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT04027218; https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT04027218 International Registered Report Identifier (IRRID)RR1-10.2196/56062https://www.researchprotocols.org/2025/1/e56062
spellingShingle Leticia Carmen Simón-López
Ismael Ortuño-Soriano
Raquel Luengo-González
Paloma Posada-Moreno
Ignacio Zaragoza-García
Rubén Sánchez-Gómez
Proposal and Strategy for Nursing-Led Research: Protocol for an Unfunded Clinical Trial
JMIR Research Protocols
title Proposal and Strategy for Nursing-Led Research: Protocol for an Unfunded Clinical Trial
title_full Proposal and Strategy for Nursing-Led Research: Protocol for an Unfunded Clinical Trial
title_fullStr Proposal and Strategy for Nursing-Led Research: Protocol for an Unfunded Clinical Trial
title_full_unstemmed Proposal and Strategy for Nursing-Led Research: Protocol for an Unfunded Clinical Trial
title_short Proposal and Strategy for Nursing-Led Research: Protocol for an Unfunded Clinical Trial
title_sort proposal and strategy for nursing led research protocol for an unfunded clinical trial
url https://www.researchprotocols.org/2025/1/e56062
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