Objectives: Practice-based research networks offer advantages over academic health centers for some clinical studies, but little is known about whether these studies can be performed with the same level of control as those directly supervised by academic clinical scientists.
Methods: This study from “The Dental Practice-Based Research Network” (DPBRN; www.DentalPBRN.org) reports on patient compliance during an ongoing study of patient satisfaction with restorative dental care. DPBRN comprises practices from 5 regions: Alabama/Mississippi (AL/MS); Florida/Georgia (FL/GA); Minnesota (MN); Permanente Dental Associates (PDA); Denmark, Norway, and Sweden (SK). Ultimately, 6,000 patients who have received a dental restoration as part of routine care will be enrolled. A total of 3,836 patients 19 years old or older have currently been recruited and consented. Immediately following the dental restorative procedure, the dentist completed a form about the visit, which was forwarded to the regional center. Participants/patients were asked to complete and mail a patient satisfaction questionnaire to the regional center the day following the dental visit. Once the patient questionnaire was received, participants were either mailed a $10 incentive card or received a gift bag with the same value.
Results: 215 dentists were enrolled in the study. To date, 3,836 dentist forms and 3,141 patient questionnaires have been received, for an overall patient questionnaire return rate of 82%. By region, return rates were AL/MS 79%; FL/GA 80%; MN 79%; PDA 91%; and SK 95%. Characteristics of patients who failed to return the survey are also presented.
Conclusions: The percentage of research participants who successfully returned data suggests that patients recruited from non-academic dental clinics are willing to participate in behavioral science research. The rate of return for the patient satisfaction questionnaires and their compliance with instructions was high, supporting the feasibility of using PBRNs for this type of clinical research. Support: U01-DE-16746, U01-DE-16747.