Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Word of the Day: clinical trial

Word of the Day WhatIs.com
Daily updates on the latest technology terms |October 25, 2017
clinical trial

A clinical trial, also known as a clinical research study, is a protocol for evaluating the effects of experimental medical or behavioral interventions on health outcomes. This type of study gathers data from volunteer participants and is typically funded by a medical institution, university, non-profit group, pharmaceutical company or government agency.

The goal of a clinical trial is to determine if a new test or treatment works and is safe. Data is presented in terms of trends or overall findings and data anonymization tools are used to protect personally identifiable information (PII) about specific participants.

In the United States, strict rules for conducting clinical studies have been put in place by National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Federal Drug Administration (FDA). Trials are divided into four stages:

Phase I - Researchers test an experimental drug or treatment with a small group of volunteers to evaluate the treatment's safety, determine a safe dosage range and identify side effects.

 

Phase II - During this phase, the experimental drug or treatment is given to a larger group of volunteers to see if it is effective and to further evaluate its safety.

 

Phase III - The experimental study drug or treatment is given to large groups of volunteers. Researchers continue to collect data to confirm its effectiveness and monitor side effects. If the experimental drug or treatment is effective and can be used safely, it will be evaluated and potentially approved for use by the general population.

 

Phase IV - Once a drug or treatment has been approved for use by the general population, researchers continue to gather data from the clinical trial participants.

Clinical trial management systems

Clinical trial management systems (CTMS) are often used to handle the massive amounts of data that is collected and generated during a trial. Such systems facilitate accurate clinical documentation, helping to streamline, standardize and manage budgeting and finance, patient recruitment and management, compliance with government regulations and investigator management. CTMS software is often designed to integrate with other systems, such as electronic data capture and business intelligence (BI) systems.

Benefits of a CTMS include:

  • Executive dashboards to facilitate operations for individual and related studies.
  • Reporting and tracking features.
  • Data dictionaries to ensure data consistency.
  • Integration with cloud-based data science technology to improve predictive signal management
  • Integration with pharmacovigilance software to monitor drug trials and catch errors and discover side effects before they become dangerous.

Quote of the Day

"Pharmacovigilance software analytics systems have become increasingly important in light of tighter regulation of the life sciences industry -- and incidents such as a recent French clinical trial in which a person died and five were hospitalized." - Shaun Sutner

 

Trending Terms

data anonymization
personally identifiable information
NIH
clinical documentation
clinical decision support system
remote patient monitoring

 
Learning Center

Remote patient monitoring changes clinical trials
Clinical research organizations running drug trials can cut their budgets and collect more data by deploying remote patient monitoring technology.

Clinical trials, collaboration drive life sciences opportunities
The life sciences market is growing, with clinical trials information management being a key driver. But the market contains some cultural challenges for solution providers.

Pharmacovigilance software helps detect lethal drug trial errors
Using pharmacovigilance software systems, pharma companies and healthcare providers can better prevent lethal medication-related errors, expert says.

Ongoing clinical studies show new value for patient social networks
Will proactive participants in patient social networks lead clinical trials? See how two studies point pave the way for future possibilities.

EHR adoption may not support clinical studies as proponents hope
Proponents of EHR adoption often talk about how the technology will support clinical trials by making it easier to recruit patients and get them signed up for appropriate studies.

Writing for Business

The FDA reclassified sutures as Class II medical devices in the early ______.
a. 1990's
b. 1990s
Answer

 

Stay In Touch
For feedback about any of our definitions or to suggest a new definition, please contact me at: mrouse@techtarget.com

 

Visit the Word of the Day Archives and catch up on what you've missed!

 

FOLLOW US

TwitterRSS
About This E-Newsletter
This e-newsletter is published by the TechTarget network. To unsubscribe from Whatis.com, click here. Please note, this will not affect any other subscriptions you have signed up for.
TechTarget

TechTarget, Whatis, 275 Grove Street, Newton, MA 02466. Contact: webmaster@techtarget.com

Copyright 2016 TechTarget. All rights reserved.

No comments: