Just 2% of ClinOps Teams Complete All of Their Tasks on Time

Previously, we shared survey results revealing clinical trial conduct changes and the impact these changes are having on the workload of ClinOps personnel. Today, we’ll look more closely at how these changes are affecting their ability to complete their work. 

To recap our first blog, 90% of respondents said their workload increased as a result of clinical trial oversight, with 30% saying the increase was significant. Increasing regulatory requirements, resource constraints and project complexity were some of the reasons cited for the work surge.

It’s not a surprise that many ClinOps teams aren’t able to handle the increased workload amid increasing clinical trial complexity. As a result, tasks are getting done late or not at all. And that’s exactly what our survey results showed.

Just 2% of respondents said they completed all their tasks on time. About 25% completed 75-99% of tasks on schedule and just under half -- 48% -- completed 50-74% of their tasks on time. These results indicate ClinOps team have more work than they can handle and need assistance prioritizing tasks. Teams are not able to finish a significant number of tasks on time and are spending a significant amount of time on tasks that aren’t value-added. As a result, important issues may not be addressed quickly, or even fall through the cracks.

Reasons cited for individuals’ inability to complete tasks on time included:

• budget constraints
• difficulties with patient recruitment and enrollment
• poor data and analytics
• multiple systems that don’t communicate with each other
• coordination between sites
• growing complexity of tasks

When asked where they focus their time, 53% of respondents said that at least ¼ of their time was spent on issues that had little impact on outcomes, and 17% are spending more than half their time on such issues. Inadequate site management and lack of prioritization were cited as the main reasons for this.

In our next blog, we’ll examine how clinical trial changes and resulting workload are impacting respondents’ ability to quickly identify issues and leverage insights to shape strategic direction.