Admit it. This snappy title got your attention! It gets even better because the subject of this blog is money – the green stuff. I’m writing about this topic today because I’ve recently been asked a couple of times by prospective patients: “How much will it cost me to participate in the study?” If this blog had sound effects, this last sentence would have been followed immediately by the sound of a record stylus being jerked off a record. I was surprised that volunteers expected they would need to “pay to play.” So, let’s set the record straight:
YOU SHOULD NEVER PAY ANYTHING TO BE INVOLVED IN A LEGITIMATE CLINICAL TRIAL.
In fact, the reverse is true. There is often – but not always – a small stipend paid to study volunteers for each study visit. The stipends are modest by design and are intended to cover the volunteer’s expenses for trial participation (gas, parking, child care, etc.). Good clinical practice mandates that a stipend can’t be so large as to be coercive and potentially influence the patient volunteer’s decision to participate.
So, this is our dirty little secret: We do give a monetary stipend to our trial volunteers for their participation in our studies. In clinical research, we don’t like to talk about volunteer stipends because we don’t want to influence a volunteer’s decision to participate. Truthfully, most of our volunteers tell us they are not participating for financial gain but because they realize the study might benefit themselves and other patients down the road.
The Clinical Research Center is currently seeking volunteer patients in studies for Type 2 diabetes, walking difficulties after a stroke, those with very high triglyceride levels, COPD and contraception. For the record, each of the volunteers who qualify for participation in these studies receives a modest stipend for each study visit!
If you are interested in learning more about clinical trials, contact the Clinical Research Center at 541-766-2163, or send an email to research@corvallisclinic.com or fill out our Research Study Information Requestform. And, don’t forget to follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/corvallisclinicresearch.
– Julie Carrico is Associate Coordinator of The Corvallis Clinical Research Center
