Phone Communication:
- Mobile Phone Tools: Hiding or Modifying Caller ID Display – Provides detailed instructions on how to use the Doximity Dialer App and how to mask the display of one’s personal mobile phone number when contacting research participants.
- Phone Communication Procedures Manual – Provides guidelines for different scenarios requiring phone calls with the participant or proxy.
- Telephone Scripts: Challenging Participants – This script is intended to help research staff facilitate communication with participants who are more challenging than the typical participant, for a variety of reasons; health, family-life, lack-of-interest.
- Telephone Scripts: Phone Follow-up – This script is intended to help research staff facilitate communication for scheduling and completing follow-up via phone.
- Telephone Scripts: Scheduling In-person or Home Visit – This script is intended to help research staff facilitate communication for scheduling and completing in-person (e.g., research clinic) or home visits.
Written Communication:
- Written Communication Procedures Manual – Provides guidelines for different scenarios requiring mail correspondence with the participant or proxy.
- Templates of Letters – Provides example letters and postcards to mail to participants for varying scenarios, for example a “Thank You” letter after completing an assessment or a “Hard-to-find” letter for unreachable participants.
- Newsletter Templates (example) – Modifiable templates to inform participants of updated study information (e.g., new study staff, recent study publication, discussion about disease/ailment, research visit specifics, etc.)
- Thank You, Birthday, Sympathy, and Get Well Cards – Modifiable templates to mail to participants or their family in order to remain in contact during the study. Such mailings may help verify the participant’s or proxy’s address between study assessments.
- Thank You Card – send after completion of study assessment.
- Birthday Card – send out monthly to participants celebrating their birthday that month
- Sympathy Card – send after learning of a death of participant or in their family or support network
- Get Well Card – send after learning of participant’s or their family’s sickness (e.g., hospital re-admission)
- Certificate of Achievement (with place for picture) – A retention resource to keep the participant engaged with the study as well as give them an update on their progress since entering the study. It is intended to be mailed or given to the participant after completion of their in-person appointment.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact us: contact form. This work is still in-progress. We expect many changes and updates. To receive notifications of new or updated resources from this project, please subscribe to our newsletter. 
This work, created by Dale M. Needham, MD, PhD and the Johns Hopkins University Outcomes After Critical Illness & Surgery (OACIS) Group, was funded by NHLBI R24HL111895, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.