An institutional strategy to increase minority recruitment to therapeutic trials.

Purpose: Participation in therapeutic clinical trials rarely reflects the race and ethnic composition of the patient population. To meet National Institutes of Health-mandated goals, strategies to increase participation are required. We present a framework for institutional enhancement of minority clinical trial accrual.

Breast cancer presentation in an urban health care Safety Net system.

We examined the Safety-Net referral process for breast diseases to identify factors contributing to delays within it. Each record was mapped to a time line beginning with first abnormality and concluding with definitive diagnosis/treatment. The median interval between first sign and definitive diagnosis/treatment was 93 days.