Implications for Precision Accelerated Clinically Embedded Research (PACER): A novel technology-enabled approach to conducting minimal-risk research in outpatient community healthcare settings.

Current challenges in the clinical research landscape include insufficient enrollment of study participants, lack of study participant diversity, protracted study progression, and the siloing of research within academic medical centers. Recent advances in technology could minimize barriers to produc...

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Main Authors: Emma Friedman, Kelly Nicole Michelson, Shruti Sehgal, Russell Steans, Mohammad Hosseini, Matthew J Baumann, Amanda K Venables, Theresa L Walunas, Justin Starren
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318533
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author Emma Friedman
Kelly Nicole Michelson
Shruti Sehgal
Russell Steans
Mohammad Hosseini
Matthew J Baumann
Amanda K Venables
Theresa L Walunas
Justin Starren
author_facet Emma Friedman
Kelly Nicole Michelson
Shruti Sehgal
Russell Steans
Mohammad Hosseini
Matthew J Baumann
Amanda K Venables
Theresa L Walunas
Justin Starren
author_sort Emma Friedman
collection DOAJ
description Current challenges in the clinical research landscape include insufficient enrollment of study participants, lack of study participant diversity, protracted study progression, and the siloing of research within academic medical centers. Recent advances in technology could minimize barriers to producing effective, timely, and comprehensive clinical research by addressing issues from study design to dissemination of results. Particularly, the Fast Health Interoperability Resources standards and Clinical Decision Support Hooks could support data acquisition, sharing, and expansion of research across organizations and disparate electronic health records. We developed a novel approach, Precision Accelerated Clinically Embedded Research (PACER), that leverages these advances in healthcare technology to integrate very short, minimal-risk research activities into clinical encounters. PACER could enable scalable, efficient, and cost-effective clinical research and has enormous potential. However, PACER also presents potential ethical, sociotechnical, and implementation quandaries. The current study aimed to obtain insights on these matters from relevant individuals. We conducted 47 qualitative semi-structured interviews with patients, clinicians, research experts (individuals involved in developing and conducting research), and bioethicists. We sought participants' perspectives on the potential ethical, sociotechnical, and implementation issues raised by PACER. We identified five key domains: impacts on clinical research, consent, compensation, impacts on people and organizations, and implementation. We examined interview participants' views using bioethical principles of autonomy, justice/fairness, beneficence, and nonmaleficence. While participants had diverse views, these insights highlight important considerations for PACER implementation and suggest areas for future empirical work.
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spelling doaj-art-b9563bd31f304b6ab18c55013dde8a402025-08-20T03:51:30ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01204e031853310.1371/journal.pone.0318533Implications for Precision Accelerated Clinically Embedded Research (PACER): A novel technology-enabled approach to conducting minimal-risk research in outpatient community healthcare settings.Emma FriedmanKelly Nicole MichelsonShruti SehgalRussell SteansMohammad HosseiniMatthew J BaumannAmanda K VenablesTheresa L WalunasJustin StarrenCurrent challenges in the clinical research landscape include insufficient enrollment of study participants, lack of study participant diversity, protracted study progression, and the siloing of research within academic medical centers. Recent advances in technology could minimize barriers to producing effective, timely, and comprehensive clinical research by addressing issues from study design to dissemination of results. Particularly, the Fast Health Interoperability Resources standards and Clinical Decision Support Hooks could support data acquisition, sharing, and expansion of research across organizations and disparate electronic health records. We developed a novel approach, Precision Accelerated Clinically Embedded Research (PACER), that leverages these advances in healthcare technology to integrate very short, minimal-risk research activities into clinical encounters. PACER could enable scalable, efficient, and cost-effective clinical research and has enormous potential. However, PACER also presents potential ethical, sociotechnical, and implementation quandaries. The current study aimed to obtain insights on these matters from relevant individuals. We conducted 47 qualitative semi-structured interviews with patients, clinicians, research experts (individuals involved in developing and conducting research), and bioethicists. We sought participants' perspectives on the potential ethical, sociotechnical, and implementation issues raised by PACER. We identified five key domains: impacts on clinical research, consent, compensation, impacts on people and organizations, and implementation. We examined interview participants' views using bioethical principles of autonomy, justice/fairness, beneficence, and nonmaleficence. While participants had diverse views, these insights highlight important considerations for PACER implementation and suggest areas for future empirical work.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318533
spellingShingle Emma Friedman
Kelly Nicole Michelson
Shruti Sehgal
Russell Steans
Mohammad Hosseini
Matthew J Baumann
Amanda K Venables
Theresa L Walunas
Justin Starren
Implications for Precision Accelerated Clinically Embedded Research (PACER): A novel technology-enabled approach to conducting minimal-risk research in outpatient community healthcare settings.
PLoS ONE
title Implications for Precision Accelerated Clinically Embedded Research (PACER): A novel technology-enabled approach to conducting minimal-risk research in outpatient community healthcare settings.
title_full Implications for Precision Accelerated Clinically Embedded Research (PACER): A novel technology-enabled approach to conducting minimal-risk research in outpatient community healthcare settings.
title_fullStr Implications for Precision Accelerated Clinically Embedded Research (PACER): A novel technology-enabled approach to conducting minimal-risk research in outpatient community healthcare settings.
title_full_unstemmed Implications for Precision Accelerated Clinically Embedded Research (PACER): A novel technology-enabled approach to conducting minimal-risk research in outpatient community healthcare settings.
title_short Implications for Precision Accelerated Clinically Embedded Research (PACER): A novel technology-enabled approach to conducting minimal-risk research in outpatient community healthcare settings.
title_sort implications for precision accelerated clinically embedded research pacer a novel technology enabled approach to conducting minimal risk research in outpatient community healthcare settings
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0318533
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