The Order Things Happen In

Part of Research Assistant (ASSIST) Training: Following an Instruction Exactly.

About 2 minutes. Free, in your language, no account needed.

Sequence is part of the instruction

Some orders are arbitrary and some are load-bearing. You will not always be able to tell which from the page, so treat the written order as the order.

Two that are always load-bearing:

Consent comes before everything. No trial procedure happens before the participant has signed. Not a blood test, not a questionnaire, not a measurement taken "to save time". If a procedure would have happened anyway as part of their normal care, that is a judgment for someone senior, not for you.

Eligibility is confirmed before enrollment. Someone has to check the person actually meets the criteria before they are entered into the study.

Why "to save time" is the phrase to watch

Almost every sequence error starts with a good intention. The participant is already here, the room is free, the phlebotomist is available now and not later.

If you find yourself about to do something out of order because it is convenient, that is exactly the moment to ask. The convenience is real. The cost of the error is usually larger.

Preparation is not the procedure

You can set a room up, lay out supplies, print forms and check equipment before consent. None of that touches the participant or generates study data.

The line is whether the thing you are doing is a study procedure on a person, or a measurement that becomes study data. Before consent, you may prepare. You may not measure.

When you realize afterwards

If you discover something was done out of order, say so immediately. Do not wait to see whether it matters, and do not decide on your own that it does not. Someone else needs to assess it, and that assessment is far easier while everyone still remembers the visit.