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The need for less expensive and more efficient clinical trials has increased in recent years with drug discovery occurring at an explosive rate, and yet the clinical trials process has changed very little over the past decade, an information technologies expert says.
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As every clinical trials administrator knows, its difficult to predict every problem and extra cost that might occur during a lengthy trial process. But with experience and following best practice guidelines, an administrator may find that all goes as well as planned.
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It started with the research nurses but soon other staff involved in clinical trials wanted to take part in the comprehensive training program being offered at The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston. Last year, the clinical research training program received the 2003 award of excellence for best practice from the Bethesda, MD-based Health Improvement Institute.
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The nine years that have gone into developing COEUS have resulted in software that research institutions may use, modify, and improve as they seek greater efficiency in data collection for research. COEUS brings core data from the study proposal and starts the set-up from the award process, says Stephen D. Dowdy, assistant director of MITs Office of Sponsored Programs, where COEUS was developed.
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A nurse checks in on a 72-year-old patient recovering from pneumonia and, after checking her vital signs, asks if theres anything the patient needs. Instead of asking for water or a snack, the patient replies, Will you pray with me? What is the appropriate answer?
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From the time of the ancient Greeks, learning about the human body and how to manipulate and treat it has involved the use of cadavers. Western medicine still relies on the use of cadavers for teaching purposes, but one aspect of the use of dead bodies has emerged in recent years as a point of debate: Should medical personnel obtain consent from family members before practicing medical procedures on a newly deceased person?
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When Providence Health Care system, a network providing health care at several sites in Vancouver, BC, was formed in 1997, the ethicist for the system saw an opportunity to build on that peer-adviser idea as a way to handle day-to-day ethical dilemmas. They created ethics mentors in every unit of every hospital in the system.
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One of the most difficult encounters for medical staff is simultaneously informing a family of the death of a loved one and bringing up the idea of donating organs and tissues. Staff awareness of resources to coordinate organ procurement and the staffs attitude toward organ procurement can make a big difference in an areas organ procurement rate.
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Dying patients discuss physician-assisted suicide; Public plea spurs new liver, plus some debate; Medical schools tighten conflicts-of-interest standards; Video: How to talk about medical errors.
