Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41099180›Full record

ArticleClinical trials (London, England)2026

Patient notification about pragmatic clinical trials conducted with a waiver of consent: A qualitative study.

Stephanie R Morain, Abigail Brickler, Matthew W Semler, Jonathan D Casey

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Clinical trials (London, England), 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. A Framework of Institutional Obligations for Pragmatic Clinical Trials.The American journal of bioethics : AJOB · 2026
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Stephanie R MorainBerman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-7278-7517
Abigail BricklerDepartment of Bioethics and Decision Sciences, Geisinger Health, Danville, PA, USA.ORCID 0009-0009-7516-218X
Matthew W SemlerDivision of Allergy, Pulmonary, and Critical Care Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.
Jonathan D CaseyDivision of Allergy, Pulmonary, and Critical Care Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA.

Funding

Vanderbilt Institute for Clinical and Translational Research (VICTR) -Identifying correlates of functional immunity in SARS-CoV-2 convalescent plasmaUL1TR002243 · NCATS · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · PI Paul A. Harris, Wesley H Self · 2017 to 2026
$130.7M
Engaging Cooperative Sites for Trial Acceleration, Trust, Innovation, and Capability (ECSTATIC)U24TR004437 · NCATS · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · PI Gordon Raphael Bernard, Jonathan Dale Casey · 2023 to 2026
$19.9M
NCATS NIH HHS U24 TR004437NCATS NIH HHS UL1 TR002243
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundSome scholars have proposed that investigators and health systems should notify patients about their enrollment in pragmatic clinical trials conducted with a waiver of consent. However, others argue that decision-making about notification requires judgment, and reports suggest considerable heterogeneity about whether, when, and how individuals enrolled in pragmatic clinical trials with a waiver of consent are notified about that enrollment. Empirical data can inform this decision-making.

methodsWe conducted semi-structured interviews with knowledgeable stakeholders involved in conducting and/or overseeing pragmatic clinical trials conducted with waivers of consent, including investigators, those charged with the oversight of human subjects research, and operational leadership. Interviews were conducted via video conference from September to December 2024 and were audio-recorded and professionally transcribed. Data were qualitatively analyzed using an integrated approach, including both a priori codes drawn from the interview guide and emergent, inductive codes.

resultsTwenty-three of 28 experts invited to participate completed interviews. Respondents described rationales both for and against notification. Rationales for notification included both appeals to moral values (respect for persons, respect for autonomy, and transparency), as well as instrumental goals (promoting understanding of and/or support for research, avoiding downstream surprise, and supporting buy-in). Rationales against notification included preserving scientific validity, perceiving notification to lack value, and concerns that notification might be burdensome for patient-subjects or undermine trust and/or clinical or public health goals. Decision-making about notification was context-specific and reflected features related to the study design, the health system setting, the patient population, the clinical condition, and the intervention(s) being evaluated. While some factors were consistently described as weighing against notification, including scientific validity or decisions for which a patient would not be offered a choice outside the research context, other factors resulted in divergent decisions across different pragmatic clinical trials (or even across different sites for the same trial).

conclusionsWhile several rationales support notification about enrollment in pragmatic clinical trials conducted with waivers of consent, the relative value and practicability of notification is context-dependent. Some features, such as the need to preserve scientific validity, may appropriately weigh in favor of forgoing notification. However, evidence of divergent decision-making for similar trials suggests the need for a framework to guide future notification decisions. These data can be an important input to inform future framework development.

Indexed as

Informed ConsentPatient SelectionPragmatic Clinical Trials as TopicDecision MakingFemaleHumansInterviews as TopicMaleQualitative ResearchResearch Personnelinformed consentnotificationPragmatic clinical trialsresearch ethicstransparency

Identifiers

PMID41099180
PMCPMC12614351

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.