PRENATAL CARE AND DELIVERY ROOM STAFF ATTITUDES TOWARD RESEARCH AND THE NATIONAL CHILDREN'S STUDY

LM Mudd*, V Skorokhod, S Nechuta, MR Elliott, JM Lepkowski, N Paneth and the Michigan Alliance for the National Children’s Study

(Michigan State University and the University of Michigan)

BACKGROUND: The cooperation of healthcare personnel will be essential for implementing protocols of the upcoming National Children’s Study (NCS)

PURPOSE: To assess attitudes of prenatal care and delivery room (DR) staff to recruitment and data collection for the NCS and towards research incentives.

METHODS: Staff from seven prenatal clinics (N = 82) in Kent County, MI and all three county delivery rooms (N = 167) completed an anonymous survey assessing willingness to participate in recruiting efforts (clinic staff) or data collection procedures (DR staff) for the NCS, as well as the amount of desired incentive, barriers to research, research experience, and demographics.

RESULTS: Clinic staff included 34 office workers, 28 nurses, 11 medical assistants and 6 physicians/physician assistants. DR staff included 127 nurses, 19 support staff, 11 physicians and 10 technicians. Clinic (92%) and DR staff (94%) felt that medical research was “very important”. Clinic staff agreed to display or personally hand out brochures (72%), and verbally describe the NCS (65%) to eligible women, but only 44% wanted NCS staff to recruit patients in their clinic. DR staff were open to collecting placentas (84%) and cord blood (77%) or allowing NCS staff to collect these items (82%, 78%); however, when given the choice, DR staff preferred to self-collect specimens. Past research experience, race, age, and years of work experience did not influence willingness to recruit or collect data. Most clinic staff did not require incentive to display or hand out brochures (68%) or verbally describe the study to patients (60%). To obtain a placental sample, 16% of DR staff specified = $10 and 45% felt no incentive was needed. To collect cord blood 15% specified = $10 and 51% felt no incentive was needed. Lack of time was the most common barrier to research in both prenatal care (57%) and DR (82%). Clinic staff reported patient flow (46%), and DR staff lack of space (38%) as barriers. Conclusion: Prenatal clinic and DR staff had positive attitudes towards research and were willing to participate in recruitment or data collection efforts for the NCS, but were aware of barriers to research in their clinical settings. Bringing in NCS study personnel conduct research was unpopular in both prenatal clinics and DRs.