The general public as a whole are lost when it comes to the complete understanding of how a clinical trial can benefit their potential treatment plans. There is enough information on the web by all means, but how do you get the information to an individual and explain both the potential benefits and potential downsides as well as potential failure too. Clinical trial information is best when you have a partnership of both the physician and the patient making a team evaluation, and the availability needs to come at the point of care to initiate pursuing a trial, something that is not currently done very well today. The physician does not have the time with seeing the vast amount of patients to mine and find this information, and the consumer again is perplexed on where to start looking on the web.
From one of my prior posts, here’s a solution in the works that can bring this information to both the point of care and give the patient information and the creation of a formatted letter to request participation in a trial, and again, until we mine and get the information at the point of care, using real time and up to date medical data, it’s going to be a struggle.
The site is still a bit of work in progress, but investigators, physicians and patients can already look up information at the website below and again with integration at the personal health record level and an EHR, the search time, information, availability can be brought under one roof quickly, after all you still have to find candidates and want the most updated information from the trial side, and from the consumer side, simplicity and having enough data that is user friendly is key. It’s all about software integration and usability, to flow the necessary mined and educational information to all. The investigators do not get involved until contacted by a consumer; however they can see a listing of potential candidates by conditions and current medications taken, nameless and anonymous, as to potential candidates, as this leaves the choice totally up to the patient/physician without a consumer being marketed until they have made the decision to pursue. BD
One potential solution is a Personal Health Records vendor that is working to bridge the gap and get the initial information started, at the point of care. The software can integrate not only at the PHR level, but can also be included in a EHR to help the physicians with immediate alerts in the chart as to what is available.
HealthVault Personal Health Records gets a Facelift - Match records and find clinical trials
This is nice and much simpler and easier to navigate. I like it, not that the old one was bad by any means, this is just a much easier format to work with. I have provided some screenshots below. It is much easier to find the information you want. 
One in particular I found of interest was the ability to use a service and match your records to a site that can qualify you for clinical trials. This could certainly help cut to the chase if you are interested in participating.
A fascinating gallery of cases illustrates the perils investigators face. Particular emphasis is given to the "clinical trial," the so-called gold standard for medical research. Its seven fatal flaws show succinctly why getting the right research answer is so problematic. In example after example, the author challenges the notion that medical research is too complex for the average citizen to comprehend. Understanding the imperfect world of clinical research allows the reader to step up and begin to ask his or her own questions, to challenge conclusions, to have doubts and not be afraid to raise them. People who care about their health and the health of others should not be innocent bystanders. They have a right, maybe even an obligation, to become involved. After all, it's their health that is at stake.
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