Thoughts from a Lab Rat

It seems silly that I have to keep writing about this but my thoughts of the week come from my own experiences and those of my close friends. It seems more and more people feel they don’t have to follow simple rules. They feel like the clinics are treating them like children. Why would people feel like this? Because they are required to do stuff during the study? They are required to be at their procedures before the procedure starts? They are required to follow the rules of the clinic? They are required to do things they feel they shouldn’t have to do? Why? Because that is part of the study.

When you sign an informed consent form and house rules form, you are agreeing to follow the rules of the clinic, to complete all of the required procedures and to be on time. Why is time so important? Because the sponsors (drug companies) of the studies are paying millions of dollars to research and develop new medications to help your family and friends to have better pain medications, shorter flu symptoms, an erection when the time is right and treatments for thousands of other ailments.

Studies are conducted to see how the drug affects different people but in order for a study to be conclusive, every subject must complete the study in the same way ie eat the same foods, blood collected at the same times etc. It may not seem like a big deal to you but when a sponsor has to pull a study because the data is useless, it just means that the clinic you are going to will lose a client and that will equate to less studies in the future. It all goes around.

Many of the clinics I go to ban cameras including camera phones yet people still sneak them in and get upset when they are discovered. They argue that they weren’t going to use the camera. Well, if you sneak a gun on a plane but you weren’t going to hijack the plane, does that make it okay? No! Rules are rules! Rules are created in response to problems in the past to prevent problems in the future.

The vast majority of the volunteers DO follow the rules and make the effort to complete their studies properly. It’s just a few bad apples that spoil it for everyone else. So do yourself a favor, realize that doing a study is a serious responsibly and can have serious consequences both seen and unseen for those who choose not to follow the rules.