Recruiting family physicians and patients for a clinical trial: lessons learned

BACKGROUND: The randomized controlled trial (RCT) is the most definitive tool for evaluating an intervention. However, methodological deficiencies may limit the internal or external validity of the RCT. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to describe the tactics used and the resources required randomly to select and recruit family physicians (FPs) and their patients aged 65 and older (seniors) for a community-based cluster RCT in primary care.