Medical has come too far since the beginning of days. While medical researchers have played a huge role in that, the common people are just as much to be commended. Without people’s participation in the research, we’d still be succumbing to various common diseases. Such research studies in which people are involved are called clinical trials. Anyone healthy or sick can participate in clinical trials. However, people who contracted a novel or untreatable diseases can consider clinical trials as one of the treatment options.
The process of selecting a clinical trial for yourself or a loved one can be a daunting task and full of what-ifs. A simple yet thorough process can make help you make the right decision. Here’s how you can find the right one:
1. Gather Information about Your Diagnosis and History
Every clinical trial comes with its set of requirements. You can only participate in a trial once you meet all their requirements. Instead of going back and forth, the first thing you should do is, collect information regarding your diagnosis and treatment history. This information includes:
· Type or stage of the disease
· Symptoms
· All the past treatments and the dates you received them, the drug names, and number of treatments
· Test results
You can gather all this information with the help of your existing healthcare providers. Assemble all your medical records and then move on to the next stage.
2. Look for All the Available Clinical Trials in Your Vicinity
For convenience purposes, the clinical trial you decide to join should be near to your residence. You can conduct simple internet research to find all the listed clinical trials near you, or you can join a service that matches people with clinical trials. It’s highly recommended to rely on official sources such as clinicaltrials.gov to get a listing of all the publicly and privately conducted clinical studies. You can also get in touch with us to learn about the soon-to-start clinical trials in your area.
3. Narrow Down your Choices
Not every clinical trial on the list would be suitable for you. You’ll need to find one with the requirements that fit your medical status. Since you already have your medical diagnosis and history, this process would be easy. Once you meet the eligibility criteria of the clinical trials, explore further guidelines to see if they are suitable for you.
4. Explore the Risks and Benefits
Risks in clinical trials are inevitable because of all the unknown factors. Since you cannot eliminate risks from the trials, what you can do is, choose one with benefits that outweighs its risks. For this, you need to read up the guidelines of the clinical trials, contact them to get more information and visit your doctor to get more insight into it. In the end, if you think the benefits are worth the risks, go for it.
Every person has their reasons to participate in a clinical trial. You’d know you made the right choice when you’ll make your decision based on those reasons alone.