12 September 2024
Planning and running a clinical trial just got easier, thanks to the launch of Health Translation Queensland’s (HTQ) Clinical Trials Hub.
HTQ Executive Director, Professor John Prins, said the new Clinical Trials Hub has resources for every clinical trial stage.
“In one central online location, we have provided useful resources and tools for teams to effectively plan, manage, and track the progress of their clinical trials,” Professor Prins said.
“The feature tool, My Clinical Trial Planner, guides teams through the 4 clinical trial stages, outlining the many steps at each stage.
“We believe this will be of benefit to clinicians from design to delivery of clinical trials.
“For a personalised experience of the My Clinical Trial Planner, researchers can register their trial to save their progress, reorder or add tasks, include notes and links, collaborate with others and more.
“The Clinical Trials Hub is HTQ’s latest initiative supporting a robust, innovative and high-quality clinical trials ecosystem in Queensland.
“The idea originated from our team’s experience with clinical trials and their desire for a one-stop-shop for everything related to clinical trials to upskill people and make it easier for them to navigate the clinical trials process.
“The clinical trials space has also been on the HTQ Board’s radar for some time and it has been supportive of the development of the Clinical Trials Hub.
“By improving clinical trial capability in Queensland, we advance health care innovations leading to improved health outcomes for us all.”
Recognising the value of the online resource, HTQ’s project managers Dr Helen Breathnach, Senior Manager, Research Facilitation, and Sara Gottliebsen, Senior Manager, Research Governance, were passionate about getting it right.
Dr Helen Breathnach explained the development of the Clinical Trials Hub was a collaborative project.
“Some of Queensland’s top clinical trial experts from across the HTQ partnership volunteered their experience and expertise to this project.
“We are also grateful to the people involved in clinical trials who shared their thoughts, ideas and feedback throughout the development and user testing,” Dr Helen Breathnach said.
Sara Gottliebsen emphasised the stakeholder engagement component was substantial and critical to the project’s success.
“It was a co-design process with stakeholders from both within the HTQ partnership and across Queensland. Over an 18-month-period, we worked closely with more than 40 individual participants from different professional backgrounds on a range of activities, including project scoping, website and content development, and user testing.
“Our stakeholders represented health, research, industry and education sectors, and brought a diverse range of subject matter expertise, skills and insights reflecting the breadth of the clinical trials ecosystem,” Sara Gottliebsen said.
HTQ heard from clinicians and new trial coordinators how frustrating it is to find the information they need for trials from many different sources.
The HTQ Clinical Trial Hub will save research teams time and effort by providing the information they need to get started in one place.
One of the key stakeholders involved in the development of the Hub, A/Professor Ingrid Hickman from the UQ ULTRA Team for Clinical Trial Capability echoed the sentiment.
“The Clinical Trials Hub is the very thing that we all wish we had when we started our clinical trials journey. It is that repository of information that you can go to to get started. I encourage all who are starting out in clinical trials to go the Clinical Trials Hub and start planning your clinical trial today,” Ingrid Hickman said.
Start planning or tracking your trial today at clinicaltrialshub.htq.org.au.
Quicklinks
Health Translation Queensland acknowledges the Traditional Owners and their custodianship of the lands on which we live, work, and play. We pay our respects to their Ancestors and their Descendants, who continue cultural and spiritual connections to Country. We recognise their valuable contributions to Australian and global society.