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NIH Sponsors New Website to Help Patients Understand Clinical Trials

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This week the NIH launched a new website, NIH Clinical Research Trials and You. In a Feb 6 press release, NIH Director Dr. Francis S. Collins said “The ability to recruit the nec­essary number of vol­un­teers is vital to car­rying out clinical research.” The idea behind the website is to help patients under­stand how clinical research works, and what it’s like to participate.

The site offers a menu of “basics” about clinical trials, addressing topics like:

What are clinical trials and why do people par­tic­ipate? What is clinical research? Who par­tic­i­pates in clinical trials? What do I need to know if I am thinking about par­tic­i­pating? What ques­tions should I ask if offered a clinical trial? How am I pro­tected? What happens after a clinical trial is com­pleted? How does the outcome of clinical research make a difference?

There’s an imperfect glossary of terms, a selection of patients’ and investigators’

See more NIH Sponsors New Website to Help Patients Under­stand Clinical Trials