NIH YouTube Channel

I have always thought YouTube would be a great way to attract people to clinical trials.  There are a lot of barriers to clinical trial participation – lack of knowledge about how they work, availability and a lack of trust in the medical establishment.  I think a lot of these barriers can be at least partially addressed through the creative use of video.

Minority recruitment for clinical trials is often a challenge for drug sponsors.  That is true, in part, because many are lacking in minority investigators to recruit participants.  YouTube presents a great way for patients who have participated to talk to patients that might be interested, and for the information to be passed virally to people who might be curious about participating in a clinical trial.

To that end, see what NIH has done.  NIH opened a YouTube channel nearly a year ago on October 2.  While there are only 42 subscribers and 1093 channel views (EyeonFDA’s YouTube channel opened in early August has 1009), I would attribute this at least in part to a lack of promotion of the site by NIH, not unlike most who are using YouTube – there is a lack of awareness of how to drive traffic.  (Hint, it needs to be an integrated digital approach).

I am incorporating many of their more interesting vids onto the playlists on the EyeonFDA YouTube channel, particularly these about clinical trial recruitment in cancer onto the Oncology playlist.  Check these clinical trial vids out.