One of the reasons I haven’t written much this past week is because I was participating in a paid clinical study. This is the first paid medical trial I have done this year although I do participate in a couple of medical studies last year. Whenever I write about doing these paid studies people want to know how they can do paid medical studies as well. It is pretty simple and I’ll break down the process to make it easy for others to find and participate in paid research studies themselves.
The process of doing this medical study started last Wednesday. First, I called a clinical research facility I had done a study with before to find out if they were offering any current studies. To find a clinical research facility in your area look at websites such as GPGP.net(guinea pig get paid) or JALR.org (just another lab rat)which have lists of facilities. If you live near a major metropolitan area there is probably a clinic research facility near you. These facilities use advertise in the local media as well.
Once you find a clinical research study you call them and see what studies are available that you qualify for. The studies qualifications are usually based on age, gender, BMI, or some combination of these. My over 30 BMI disqualifies me from many studies and the fact that I don’t have a gall bladder disqualifies me from many studies too. There are usually still some studies I can qualify for though.
Once you have qualified for a study the recruiter will set up a screening appointment for you. These appointment usually last for 2-3 hours. During the appointment you usually will have blood drawn, give a urine sample, have your vital signs taken, and ECG taken, complete a medical history, have your height and weight recorded, and receive a physical from a doctor. Depending on the study you may have some more medical procedures. If everything is ok the facility will contact you and let you know when to report for the study.
The time frame between screening for a study and starting a study varies but it is usually a week or two. In my case I called last Wednesday, had my screening on Thursday and started on Friday. The process is normally more spread out then that but the facility was having trouble finding enough volunteers for this somewhat large medical trial and I just happened to have the good timing to take advantage of their shortage.
If you don’t qualify for the study then you have wasted some time because you don’t get paid for screening only for participating in the actual study. Depending on what disqualified you it is possible to set up a screening for another study.
Before you report for the study the facility will give you instructions on what you need to do before starting. This is usually stuff like avoiding caffeine, strenuous exercise, and prescription and non-prescription medicine for a certain period of time before entering the study. They should also give you information on the house rules and what you need to bring.
Once you arrive at the study you should get a schedule of what you are going to do. In my most recent study I arrived on a Friday afternoon and there were no procedures that day just a couple of meals. On Saturday I had to get up at 3am to start the medical testing. They took vital signs and a baseline blood draw. A couple of hours later I was dosed with the study drug and had blood drawn every two hours for the next 30 hours. I wasn’t wild about this since it made it difficult to sleep but it wasn’t too bad. Every study is different but generally there will be lots of blood draws.
This study allowed everyone to leave the facility 36 hours after dosing with the drug although I did have to be back for a follow up visit 12 hours after leaving the facility. The duration of your visit will vary but usually the longer you are required to stay the more money you will make.
Upon completing the study you will receive a check to compensate you for participating in the medical study. Depending on the facility the check will either be given to you at the facility or mailed to you at a later date.
The facility I just was at does clinical trials of generic versions of already approved prescription medicines which seems pretty safe to me. I usually don’t feel any effects at all from taking the medication and there has only been one study where I experienced unpleasant side effects.
Doing a paid medical study is pretty easy. Basically all you have to do is call to set up a screening appointment and then show up. I consider it fairly easy money although others would disagree with me. If you are interested in doing a paid medical study all you need to get started is find a facility near you and give them a call. This post is getting long so I’m going to wrap it up. If you want to do a medical study his is enough information to get you started, all you need to do is actually take action.
If you have any questions about participating in a medical trail leave me a comment and I’ll answer as best I can.