Thoughts from a Lab Rat

Free time can be the biggest problem for full-time lab rats. In the US, there is a minimum of 30 days washout (not participating in a clinical trial) between each trial. During this period, many people have part-time or even full-time jobs that allow them to knock-off for the trials. For people like me, I’m not much into working during my off period but I do some piece work when money gets tight. Waiting for your next study can be a job in itself. Keeping an eye out on the websites or calling the clinics every so often can leave little time for other things in life.

I try to get one or two day gigs off craigslist. It can be hit or miss most of the time but I find that I get enough work to keep me happy. I also free-lance as a balloon artist. I know several people involved with network marketing scams (ahem, I mean businesses). I’m not a fan of networking marketing but if it works for you, then more power to you. What you make out of your off time if totally up to you.

Cardinal Rule #5. Compete all parts of the study - Once you sign up to screen for a study, you should be committed to follow through with the study. Once you screen for a study, you should make every effort to check in. It is inappropriate to cancel a study once you’ve screened just because a better study comes out. If a study doesn’t have enough volunteers checking in, it may be postponed or cancelled. How would you feel if a study that you really wanted to do got cancelled because a bunch of people quit at the last minute? Okay then. it’s a two way street. Once you start the study, you should finish all parts including multiple stays, out-patients and follow-up phone calls.

I know several people who have violated this rule and have lived to regret their decision. The most common way people violate this is by jumping to better studies. Let’s say you signed up and screened for a $4,000 study that starts in 3 weeks. Then a $6,000 study comes out so you go screen for that one. This study starts roughly the same time as the first so you cancel the $4,000 study. Then the second clinic calls and informs you that the $6,000 study has been cancelled. Bummer. You cancelled the first study so now you have nothing. I have heard worse stories than that and they all end up the same way. They got greedy and tried to make more money in less time and ended up with nothing. I can’t seem to say it enough, ‘just sign up for a study and follow it through to the end.’ Whether the end be the end of the study or a cancellation. Don’t keep switching studies until you get what you want because studies get cancelled or postponed at an alarming frequency. Unless you have the money to wait six to eight weeks between studies for that big one everyone keeps rumoring about, you’d better just choose the best study available and be happy with something rather than nothing.