Paying Attention
I have heard this happen to a lot of people and it has even happened to me! *Gasp!
What am I talking about? Mistakes. They happen.
Case in point. Last year I was screening for a study and I was told by the tech that I was excluded because my pulse rate was 100 and the cutoff was 90. I didn’t feel like my pulse was high. So as I was walking out to leave, something told me to go back and look at the machine. A closer inspection showed that my pulse was actually 70 and the tech was looking at a number that had nothing to do with the systolic, diastolic or pulse rate. I called the tech on this and another tech verified my claim and my pulse rate was corrected and I made it into the study. I have heard other stories with not so good results.
Unfortunately, most things are set in stone as soon as it is written on your records. If you say the wrong thing during a phone screening, they must take your first answer. It is important that you pay attention to everything that goes on during your screening, check in and other procedures throughout the study. Always check to make sure that techs are signing their initials and putting down the correct time. You don’t want to have your coordinator come to you a week later trying to find out who did your procedure last week. When giving a UA sample, make sure you’re using the right cup if subject information is printed on them. When doing vitals, check the results on the machine to the results written down. After doing many studies, you should be aware of your weight and height both in centimeters and inches and kilograms and pounds. Though these numbers can change, definitely be aware of these numbers as BMI is very important.
While you may say that it is up to the techs and staff to make sure that everything is being done correctly, mistakes still happen and many of these mistakes are easily caught if you’re paying the least bit attention. Nobody wants to get excluded from a study, especially for some silly mistake. After the fact, even mistakes mean nothing. Even if the staff made a mistake, you will still not get into the study. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the way clinics operate. So, pay attention to questions on the phone, during your screenings and throughout the study and hopefully everything will go smoothly. But of course, even the best laid plans run into wrinkles.
Tags: attention, mistakes, paying, samples, staff, techs, wrong
