An appointment scheduling tool? A little bit too basic to be interesting? Well,depends who does it….

Any hospital, dentist’s office or GP surgery which takes full advantage of today’s digital possibilities enables its patients to make appointments online. It is a must and, as far as clinical trials are concerned, it is an integral part of an optimized trial enrollment procedure. But the Allyfe team, as usual, has gone one step further:

-First of all, the scheduling tool is fully integrated into the platform: the investigator and the patient can schedule and hold meetings, while moving seamlessly through the enrollment procedure. For instance, the investigator can confirm the patient’s eligibility following the self-eligibility questionnaire on the platform, which sends an automatic notification to the patient asking him to book a meeting on the platform.

-It handles online as well as physical meetings: unlike a dentist or GP’s scheduling tool, the Allyfe system can be used for online meetings (with integrated videocalls) but also for physical meetings, whichever is more convenient to the patient and/or the investigator.

-The scheduling setup offers the investigator maximum flexibility :

-it allows the investigator to set up his schedule according to his preferences and demands. He can select different meeting formats, for physical or online meetings, and at different enrolment steps (qualification, informed consent or screening meetings) with different durations. The investigator can also determine minimum advance booking requirements to avoid last-minute scheduling by patients and time off between his appointments. Of course, specific date ranges can be determined, and each day can be set up separately.

-each investigator can view the schedules of all the other members of the research team, to avoid conflicting appointments and facilitate teamwork.

-appointments made on the platform can be synchronized with investigators’ and patients’ personal calendars for a smooth integration into daily activities.

-The Allyfe team has been working hard on automatic notifications and systemic automatic reminders sent to the patient as well as to the investigator. Each appointment,but also each regulatory deadline is systematically reminded to the interested parties at a timing chosen by the investigator during the trial setting.

Hoes does this functionality benefit…

….the patient
Being able to schedule appointments online is a major convenience. It saves time, facilitates the patient’s trial participation and reduces his mental load. Making the patient’s life as easy as possible is a clear sign of respect for him, which enhances his engagement and can help to reduce dropout risks.

…..the investigator
Being able to customize his scheduling tool and manage his calendar without human intervention is a major time saving for him and could even turn into a dropout reduction factor. The fact of sharing his calendar with his colleagues optimizes collaboration and efficiency. Automatic reminders diminish no shows.They can even improve compliance when applied to regulatory demands, such as mandatory deadlines for withdrawal request reactions.

…..the sponsor
Whatever saves the investigator’s time and contributes to a potential reduction of patient dropout accelerates the enrollment procedure, which is any sponsor’s major objective. Automatic reminders which help meet regulatory deadlines are also extremely useful.

…..the CRO
How could they object to a fully integrated and flexible scheduling tool, which facilitates compliance and could contribute to dropout reduction? It sells itself….

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