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Clinical research is the study of health and illness or disease in people. Clinical research is the study of health and illness or disease in people. 

Clinical trials are research studies that test a medical, surgical, or behavioural intervention in people. Often, a clinical trial is designed to learn if a new treatment is more effective or has less harmful side effects than existing treatments. It may also include improving the quality of life for people living with a life-threatening disease or chronic health problem.

By volunteering to participate in clinical research, you can help scientists develop new medicines to treat and prevent disease. Many well-known treatments that are used today, such as chemotherapy and treatments for hypertension and diabetes, would not exist without research participants. Whether you’re healthy or have a medical condition, people of all ages and backgrounds can participate in clinical trials.

They want to contribute to discovering health information that may help others in the future.

Participating in research helps them feel like they are playing a more active role in their health.

The treatments they have tried for their health problem did not work or there is no treatment for their health problem.

Whatever the motivation, when you choose to participate in a clinical trial, you become a partner in scientific discovery. Participating in research can help future generations lead healthier lives. Major medical breakthroughs could not happen without the generosity of clinical trial participants.

Here’s what typically happens in a clinical trial or study:

Research staff explain the trial or study in detail, answer your questions, and gather more information about you.

Once you agree to participate, you sign an informed consent form indicating your understanding about what to expect as a participant and the various outcomes that could occur.

You are screened to make sure you qualify for the trial or study.

If accepted into the trial, you schedule a first visit, which is called the “baseline” visit. The researchers conduct clinical tests during this visit.

For some trials testing an intervention, you are assigned by chance (randomly) to a treatment group or a control group. The treatment group will get the intervention being tested, and the control group will not.

You follow the trial procedures and report any issues or concerns to researchers.

You may visit the research site at regularly scheduled times for clinical evaluations and discussions with staff. During these visits, the research team collects data and monitors your safety and well-being.

Clinical trials test how a medicine affects people with a certain medical condition or lifestyle therefore not everyone will meet the criteria to participate in every trial. After you consent to participate, the research staff will ask questions and perform tests to see if you are eligible for the trial during a screening visit. The screening may involve blood tests, scans, scopes and a physical examination.

To be eligible to participate, you may need to have certain characteristics, called inclusion criteria. For example, a clinical trial may need participants to have a certain stage of disease or demonstrate failure to other treatment classes of medication for that disease. Participants with certain characteristics may not be allowed to participate in some trials called exclusion criteria, which includes factors such as specific health conditions, abnormal blood results or medications that could interfere with the treatment being tested.

Many volunteers must be screened to find enough people who are eligible for a trial or study. Generally, you can participate in only one clinical trial at a time. Different trials have different criteria, so being excluded from one trial does not necessarily mean you will be excluded from another.

For more information about clinical trials, you may look at the following sites:

Clinical Research Trials and You
National Institutes of Health
www.nih.gov/health-information/nih-clinical-research-trials-you

ClinicalTrials.gov
www.clinicaltrials.gov 

Every study is different, but clinical trial participants usually do not have to pay out-of-pocket costs to participate. Generally, the clinical trial sponsor will cover all research-related costs, the trial medication and any special testing or procedures that are required for participation.

When traveling for clinical trials, patients may have to spend money to get to the research site and pay for meals away from home, this also includes time spent away from work, the sponsor will usually cover these costs.