Thinking of signing up for a clinical research trial but not sure what is involved? You may, quite rightly, have a lot of questions before signing up for one of our clinical trials. At CPS Research, we have decided in the coming months to publish a series of blogs that will hopefully help answer a lot of the questions you might have about signing up to a clinical trial.
For over 30 years, CPS Research has been providing a first-class research service to some of the biggest pharmaceutical and clinical research companies in the world. If there is one thing we know, it is clinical trials so let us walk you through a clinical trial with CPS Research…
Stage 1 – Complete a Survey
Before you can sign up to participate in your chosen clinical trial, we must find out if you are eligible to take part. Each clinical trial is unique and has its own set of criteria that each participant must meet to be considered eligible for participation. This is the first stage of our clinical trial process. In the surveys, we ask a range of questions about you and your medical history that are designed to determine whether you meet all of the criteria for eligibility. If you are eligible, we will ask you to leave your contact details for stage 2 of our process. If you are ineligible for a particular trial, hopefully, there will be another trial that you will be eligible for that interests you!
Stage 2 – Research Nurse
If you are successful in stage 1, the next stage involves a phone call with one of our experienced Research Nurses. Your designated Research Nurse will phone you shortly after completion of your survey to go through some more in-depth questions regarding you, your situation, and your medical background to confirm your eligibility. Sometimes at this stage, disqualifying criteria that were missed during the initial screening survey or only come to light at this second stage are discovered. Our Research Nurses will also take the time to explain the clinical trial in more detail to you and will be able to answer any initial questions that you might have regarding the trial. We’ll also go over some more general information relating to the study and any guidelines for the trial. Your first visit to our clinic will also be confirmed at this stage.
Stage 3 – Decision
Once your eligibility has been confirmed by our Research Nurse and your first appointment has been scheduled, we want to give you the time to make sure that you’re happy to attend and subsequently participate in our clinical trial. It is incredibly important for us both to make sure that taking part is the right decision for you and that’s why we like to give you the time to consider your options and decide for yourself. Taking part in a clinical trial is completely voluntary and you will always have the right to discontinue your involvement at any time during the trial if your circumstances change.
Stage 4 – Your First Visit
If you are happy to proceed, you will visit our clinic for your first visit. At your first visit, you will meet our nurses and doctors, who will again be on hand to answer any additional questions you may have about the trial process. We want you to be 100% comfortable with the process and we want to make sure you understand everything that happens during the trial. Our Doctors will also take the opportunity to obtain your written consent for your participation in the trial. During your first visit, our Doctors and Nurses will conduct any medical examinations and procedures that are necessary ahead of commencing the trial.
Stage 5 – Participation
After your explicit consent has been given and our doctors and nurses are happy for you to proceed, your participation in the trial begins! Depending on the trial that you are participating in, this may or may not involve taking active medication. Neither you nor our staff will know whether you have active medication or a placebo. This is known as a “Double Blind” and is why these types of trials can produce incredibly valuable results as there is no bias, whether conscious or unconscious, in any aspect of the trial from participants or providers. Your participation in the trial could take several months, or longer, and will usually involve periodical visits back to our clinic to check in with our Doctors and Nurses to ensure everything is going ok.
Stage 6 – End of trial
Once you have completed all of the requirements for the study, we will get you back into our clinic one last time for a final check to make sure you are ok and there are no issues. With that, your role in our research trial will be completed! You will have played your part in shaping the future of healthcare! Throughout the trial, or at the end of the trial depending on your preference, you will be compensated generously for your participation in the trial. With the trial finished, we all wait to find out the results! With many of our trials, the same trial is usually running in different cities and countries throughout the world so there might be some delay as we wait for all of the trials to finish. We will endeavour to keep you updated on the outcome of any trial that you participate in.
You can find out about the clinical trials we are currently recruiting for here.
Make sure you stay up-to-date with the latest news, developments and clinical trial updates on our Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and, of course, on our website.
