We asked Linda Fowler, Urology Research Specialist Nurse, what made the difference in getting recruitment going in Stevenage:

"When we initially decided to be part of the UPSTREAM study, we had looked at numbers of benign prostate surgeries in the past year and we were sure that we would have no problem recruiting! How wrong we were.

We checked referrals and highlighted potential patients, informed the team, and waited........time passed but no recruits (at first that is!) Quite a few patients were screened but not suitable or didn’t want to participate or were already booked for urodynamics. 

Both Amanda and Kwame were really supportive and together we went through our recruitment techniques and they shared some very good tips.

The following month we were the highest recruiters.  

What did we do?

• Continued vetting referrals, adding in the brightly coloured trial reminders provided by the trial team
• Attended clinic to look through the notes highlighting potential subjects
• Screened all men who might be heading for prostate surgery, not just those actually listed for surgery.
• Reminded the team of the study at each weekly meeting.
• Asked the clinic nurses to put out study reminders at each clinic.
• Liaised with the Nurse Practitioners as they see men who have had retention episodes and we can follow these up to see if suitable. 

This month hasn’t been as good but at least we know that we can do it!"