When Tech Meets Human Touch: Building Flexible Trial Support

Clinical trials need flexibility, but most systems are rigid. Conor Garrett from Scout Clinical explains how they built flexibility into every layer of their patient payment and travel logistics services. From customizable portals that adapt to site preferences to a 24/7 patient liaison team that steps in when flights get canceled or payment issues arise, Scout's approach is people first, technology enabled. Conor shares why technology supports the process but people support the experience, how they listen to site feedback and actually implement changes, and real scenarios where human intervention prevented patient dropouts. Learn why balancing automation with human touch matters and how flexible systems remove friction so sites can focus on what matters most. 

Transcript

Jimmy Bechtel: 0:01

Welcome to SCRS talks provided by the Society for Clinical Research Sites. Thank you for joining us as we explore the latest insights, trends, and innovations shaping clinical research today. I'm Jimmy Bechtel, the Chief Site Success Officer with SCRS, and I have the pleasure today of being joined by Conor Garrett, the director of site Strategy and engagement with Scout Conor. Really excited to talk to you today about flexible approaches to how we execute our clinical trials. The value that sites find in that and, what we can do to build that flexibility into our clinical trials. But before we jump into that, I'd like to start first with learning a little bit more about you and Scout.

Connor Garrett: 0:42

Yeah. Thanks Jimmy. And, and thanks for the opportunity. yeah, so as you mentioned, my name is Conor Garrett and I am the Director of Site Strategy and Engagement at Scout Clinical. I suppose a little bit of, a background from me. I originally started actually in labs in, one of our larger CRO. companies and then progressed through the project management, with labs. But I have then had about 10 years or so experience working in the clinical clinical trials background, but with Scout and with a, A small sort of, biotech company in, in Ireland. so yeah, I, I suppose regarding Scout, we support clinical research sites, sponsors and participants by handling the logistics around trial participation. we manage everyday basics like routine payments and travel In some cases when issues arise, we obviously hop in there and also provide extra support when needed. we have more than 30 years of experience supporting trials for over 100 countries, and we're looking to obviously expand. our role is about removing friction so sites can focus on basically running their studies and taking care of their patients.

Jimmy Bechtel: 1:54

Excellent. Conor, thank you so much and really exciting to learn. A little bit more about this topic today and, thanks for sharing some more about Scout. So, as you mentioned, you guys have supported trials for over 30 years in over a hundred countries, which is really impressive to when you think about the grand scheme of things and what we do in clinical research, where we are. So in that experience. Getting into our topic, can you share why and why flexibility has become so critical for sites as you've seen that progression over the years?

Connor Garrett: 2:27

Yeah, look, it flexibility is, is critical because no two trials sites or patient populations operate the same anymore. we, we really have to understand that these sites are dealing with so many trials at one time. They're often juggling different systems, complex protocols and local regulations, we're at Scout, we're fully aware that we are a vendor for them, but we do our best to be their partner and remove the burden from sites using our portal. And yeah, obviously we can go into a little bit more details in terms of, the different levels of flexibility that we offer.

Jimmy Bechtel: 3:02

Yeah, absolutely. let's definitely do that. Conor, and I think it's really, important to recognize the need for that flexibility given the increasing complexity we see around protocols and clinical trial execution. When we look at how things continue to grow globally and geographically, and we're getting more specific with the type of patient we need, which Might necessitate our broader view. You know, we might be pulling patients in from different zip codes and different areas and different logistical challenges and services that a traditional site might not have available to them. So a lot of that builds in there. But, I know, we'll get into that a little bit as well. So we know, as you describe, Connor Scout is a really a people first organization with. Technology that is really driving the industry forward. So how do you balance that automation with human touchpoints in services like payments or travel logistics? We talk a lot about how we see that becoming an issue where we implement technology and especially in terms of AI and all these other really great innovations that we can see potential efficiencies from an effectiveness yet. The worry is that's gonna remove or reduce the human touch. So again, talk to me a little bit about being one of those organizations that is, so technology focused yet people first. How do you balance those two things?

Connor Garrett: 4:27

Yeah, it's a really good question. automation plays a huge role at Scout by driving consistency, accuracy, and efficiency. While we do wanna keep up to date with the latest technology, we can't ignore the human touch approach that we have, to support our patients and our sites. That's why our patient liaison team are available 24 7, 365 days a year for our patients and sites to contact either via email or by just picking up the phone. So, yeah, to summarize, technology supports the process, but people support the experience and that's really what we live by at Scout

Jimmy Bechtel: 5:04

and it's such an important cultural aspect of the work that you probably do and that we, the approach that you take, but finding, I think the operative, Point that you're making there is augmentation, right? you mentioned some great words around what the technology is able to do, but it's really de should be designed to augment the research staff at the site to be able to be more patient first with their patients and not necessarily replace them. because again, we don't wanna lose that human touch. We've heard time and time again, Conor, how important it is for those patients to have that personal interaction, that ability to be able to sit in front of, or have a conversation with someone who, really understands them and can empathize with them and can put them at ease and build that, layer of trust, for the clinical trial process that we really can't get with technology.

Connor Garrett: 5:58

Yeah, absolutely. And I suppose just to expand on that, you know, a lot of the positive feedback that we get is, not necessarily about our technology, but it's about our staff. This patient liaison was super helpful for getting, me from A to B, or this person was super supportive when my flight was constantly, et cetera. So. That's, you know, they, they're the sort of moments that we celebrate while also, you know, we do wanna balance, our technology as well. for sure, that's what we celebrate.

Jimmy Bechtel: 6:31

Yeah, that's a great example, Conor. You don't want to be in a situation as a patient where you are. We'll use a flight as an example, as you did, where you are, getting ready to go in for, maybe a scary visit or your first couple of visits in the clinical trial and you don't really know what's gonna happen. And this word clinical trial is swirling around your face. And despite all of your and our best attempts. It's still a little bit anxiety inducing for a patient. Tacked on with travel, which we know in today's day and age is an anxiety inducing activity in and of itself. and then your flight gets canceled or, it gets moved or modified or something like that. You kind of amp up the anxiety there. You don't want to have to, as a patient, particularly a patient who might not be as technology savvy, have to whip out your phone and try to figure out how to change that flight or navigate the system. You wanna be able to talk to somebody who puts you at ease and is able to help manage and mitigate those challenges and, and, and kind of that VIP experience way. Absolutely. And I know that that's something you guys really strive to, you gave a great example of really striving to help with that. So, Conor sites often deal with rigid systems. Shifting gears a little bit here, how do you build flexibility into the services themselves so that the sites can adapt when things don't go as planned? Right? We just talked about one example of how maybe patients are enabled through some of these systems, but let's talk a little bit again about. how Scout is really focusing on EE enhancing the site.

Connor Garrett: 8:03

a major driver of flexibility is how our portal is designed and, whenever I'm speaking directly with sites, principal investigators, et cetera. I always ask that, you provide us the feedback that we need because we're only gonna get better if you can provide us with this feedback. at Scout we know that there's no two studies that are the same. There's no two sites that are the same. so our portal is customizable down to. The site and patient level. for example, we allow patients to select their own payment preference and have an option to change midway through the trial, which, we've seen so many situations whereby, it changes needed and it definitely works seamlessly. We also support the likes of site and participant preference. making the portal itself patient accessible or restricted based on studies design. our project managers who set up these studies do a great job in terms of advising our clients in terms of what we feel is best. you could have the likes of maybe an older population that wouldn't be. too tech savvy. And in that case we would always recommend, that the sites submit these requests on behalf of them. our team does a great job of, reviewing the protocol and providing that support. And then that's reflected, in terms of how our portal is designed. So when changes occur, we can adjust configurations without disrupting any sort of site workflows.

Jimmy Bechtel: 9:27

And that's really cool. And I would argue Conor uncommon because we hear all the time sites try to give feedback to their partners, to their suppliers, to their tech companies, whatever you wanna call them, at any given time. And it's, again, we get stuck with this rigidity and being able to navigate that and change that. and almost it sounds like customize that experience or that aspect. For a site or for a patient is really, really powerful. And you're right, it does sound challenging and I'm sure a lot of listeners are gonna hear that and say, what the heck? You know, that's too hard for us to do. But going in with that approach and building something that, is focused on that and almost foundational to the execution of that, of that service or that aspect of the clinical trial is really cool because, it, I'm sure it goes a long way with the sites and it, it, it also shows. Not only do you listen to the sites, but you also then act as a result, which is a problem that we have just perversely within our industry, is we do a pretty good job of listening. I think what sets a lot of the SCRS partners like yourselves, apart from. Some of the others that are out there is that, we're able to witness and experience change. Sometimes that's incremental change as a result of it, but listening to the sites, we want flexibility. And then building that flexibility as a core component to your offerings is, is really, really cool. So Conor, we'll jump into our last question here. Can you share a scenario. For an example of where the flexible approach really solved something. A purely tech driven solution couldn't be. Again, we've been talking about this theme of flexibility and this kind of, the approach of technology enabled people or, using technology to augment the human experience. so again, share a scenario or an example of where you've seen that to be, something that's had a positive outcome.

Connor Garrett: 11:30

Yeah, I suppose just to start, we do have a lot of examples. you know, as you can imagine, especially around, travel, and we have obviously mentioned that, some things are just totally out of our control, outta the patient's control, outta the site's control. But yeah, I'd say when last minute participant issues kind of arise around, let's say travel or those payment changes, technology alone can't resolve them. So our team steps in to coordinate travel adjustments, address payment concerns, and communicate directly with the site or the patient so that hands-on support often prevents a missed visit or a participant dropout. And. You know, especially for the likes of flights and hotel accommodation, our team are right on that as well, which, I can't, praise them highly enough. we also have our patient navigator services, and typically we see that with the likes of elderly patients, very sick patients or visually impaired patients. our team can actually just pick up the phone and support them directly. so while tech is great. People are better.

Jimmy Bechtel: 12:32

I think that's a great sentiment to end our conversation on Conor. again, focusing on how we can augment the people who are better than the technology and, really support them in what they do and ultimately then support our patients. So really applaud scout's approach to building trial flexibility around the patient and around the people around the site. I look forward to continuing to see some of the great stuff that you all are doing. with that I think we'll begin to wrap our conversation.

Connor Garrett: 13:03

Thanks so much. This is a, obviously a great opportunity, for me. It's great for Scout and, it's always great to collaborate with SCRS. I suppose just to kind of summarize flexibility is built both into our technology and our services. so, you know, our goal is to make sure that clinical trials run more smoothly for sites and participants.

Jimmy Bechtel: 13:22

I couldn't agree more. Conor, and thank you for being here, and it was my pleasure to have this conversation with you. I hope everyone listening makes sure to check out other great site focused resources made available to our entire community on our website, my scrs.org, including other podcasts like this one, and opportunities to engage with our partners, like Scout and many others. Thanks for tuning in and for listening, and until next time.