Thoughts from a Lab Rat

I have been doing studies for over three years and most of my studies have been at PPD in Austin. I started out at the old building on West Ben White and was in the last study in the building and one of the first studies in the current building off East Ben White near the airport. The reason it’s my main clinic is due to the volume of studies they run. Every week, there are usually five to ten new studies recruiting. The facility is one of the largest single site locations in the US. The building itself is huge with PPD occupying the majority of the space. The screening area is spacious and bright. When you arrive for a screening, you need to check in at a kiosk and apply the nametag to your shirt. You will be called to one of the four screening rooms where a recruiter will go over the informed consent and study information. Once finished, you will go to the lab area which is large but often jammed packed with people screening, checking-in and doing out-patient visits. Screenings later in the day are usually less crowded. Screening at PPD takes two visits, the first for the lab tests and the second if you pass the labs, for the physical.

Once you check into a study, you will be thoroughly searched and then escorted to the clinic on the second floor. There are three sections which are independent of each other. The Beach is the hospital dorm where telemetry, cardiac monitoring and other procedure intensive studies are done. The main dorm is open and contains around 64 hospital style beds. The City and Mountain are the general population areas with 4 bunk beds to windowless rooms. The Mountain also has a small hospital section called the Meadow which is used primarily for dental studies. At max capacity, PPD can accommodate over 300 subjects at one time. And on the most weekends, capacity will be reached. Each of the three sections have two big screen TV rooms, a rec room with a pool table and a computer/quiet room with six public computers in each. Each section also has a dining area and a procedure room where most procedures are done. The food is prepared on site and is good and filling but a bit on the bland side. Most studies will have three meals plus a snack. There is wifi access for laptops but it is fire walled preventing the use of some games and downloading services. The decor in each area matches the section name. Beach style chairs in the Beach, green and wood chairs in the Mountain and so on. Each study has a T-shirt color which you have to wear at all times. The showers seem to be lagging as not all the stalls work well and hot water can sometimes be scarce.

Overall, PPD is ran very well considering the size of the clinic. The staff are friendly and dedicated to their jobs. The housekeeping department does a great job maintaining the facility. Just be sure to read the house rules and follow them and everything will work out.

Hope you all are finding studies and aren’t getting stuck over the holiday like I and a few of my fellow lab rats. Thanks to all the volunteers and staff who have to work since making the world a better place doesn’t stop for holidays.

If you’ve ever done an ECG intensive study with the sticky tabs, then you know what a messy residue they leave on your skin. There is a simple and easy way to get it off without alcohol pads or hard scrubbing with a washcloth. Take the tab off and then dab the residue with it several times. The residue on the skin will stick to the residue on the tab. After several or so dabs, all the residue on the skin will be gone leaving a clean and non-sticky surface.

Well, it’s been quite a rough year so far. Just not having a lot of luck as far as getting into studies is concerned. Just little things getting out of whack like too much potassium (strange as I don’t eat bananas) or my blood pressure is too high. Unfortunately, that is part of the game. You will have times when you don’t get into studies and it always seems to be at a time when you want the money the most. If you are excluded from a study for a laboratory result, it doesn’t necessarily mean you are unhealthy. It just means that your results were out of the range the sponsor was looking for. Your lab values change from day to day and I’ve said it a millions times that it’s amazing that all the things they check for are ever all within range at one time. You just gotta make sure you eat healthy, don’t do any heavy exercise and keep trying. And by way, a lot of people like me, get nervous and overexcited during vitals. So your results are artificially high. As soon as I dose and know I’m in the study, my BP is rock solid in the mid range. So, a few tips, don’t look at the machine or the clock, keep your feet flat on the ground, wear loose clothes, breathe deeply and just relax. Your friend in time, Paul

I’ve touched on this subject before but it’s something that never grows old. While in a study, you are required to report any adverse events you experience. This can be as simple as a headache or as serious as feeling like you’re going to pass out. Anytime you feel anything but normal, you need to contact the on duty paramedic or approximately trained staff. You will not get in trouble for reporting adverse events. In fact, that is one of the major purposes of conducting a clinical trial. You see those TV commercials all day long and somewhere the announcer will rattle off a list of side-effects. Those side-effects are discovered by us! So, it is very important to tell the staff right when they start and when they end. Also, it is important that you do not discuss how your feeling with other subjects. Though it may seem that side-effects maybe bad, consider that many drugs developed for one purpose can be used for other purposes based on the side-effects. A drug that causes drowsiness may be prescribed as a sleep aid. A well known erectile dysfunction drug was originally developed to treat high blood pressure. So, don’t be afraid to report your adverse events. The study doctor will determine whether the adverse event is caused by the study drug or not.