Honorarium or coercion: use of incentives for participants in clinical research.

Nurses are frequently involved in the recruitment of subjects for clinical research studies when their patients are potential study participants. As professionals, it is nurses' responsibility to make sure that patients are treated with beneficence when they are included in clinical research. Financial incentives are frequently used to encourage participation, and the concern has been raised that this practice could be coercive, especially for people who have limited financial resources.