title: Organise a clinical trial.
abstract: Organising a clinical trial is a major undertaking involving a lot of hard work before during and after the study takes place and such trials are one endeavour where there are no short cuts. Cutting corners in an effort to save time, money or effort is usually quite obvious to the assiduous journal reader who will rubbish the conclusions and tarnish one's reputation for scientific validity. By taking time to carefully think through each stage and possible eventuality of ones plans it is possible to avoid many of the stumbling blocks that interfere with the conduct of a successful trial. Consideration of the contents of this article may help to clarify matters when organising ones first clinical trial or one may wish to attend one of a growing number of courses that give instruction in many of these matters.
authors.affiliation: Frimley Park Hospital, Portsmouth Road, Camberley, Surrey, GU16 5UJ. jeffgarner4@hotmail.com
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Garner
mesh_terms: D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D032984:Ethics, Research; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D018579:Patient Selection; D012196:Review Literature as Topic; D013223:Statistics as Topic