Frequently asked questions
Clinical research studies are heavily regulated to ensure the safety of participants. Studies must be approved by an Institutional Review Board (IRB) before they can begin, and the research team is required to follow strict guidelines to protect participant safety. Participants will be monitored throughout the study.
"Clinical trial" and "clinical study" are often used interchangeably, but they do have slightly different meanings in a medical research context:
Clinical Study: This is a broad term that refers to any type of research involving human participants that's intended to add to medical knowledge. It does not necessarily mean that a new treatment is being investigated.
Clinical Trial: This is a type of clinical study where participants are assigned to specific interventions, usually randomly, according to a research plan or protocol created by investigators. These interventions may be medical products, such as drugs or devices; procedures; or changes to participants' behavior, such as diet.
Clinical trials can be further divided into:
Interventional trials, where the researchers actively manage the test treatments, which can include medications, procedures, or lifestyle changes.
Observational trials, where researchers observe the participants and measure outcomes, but do not affect changes in the participants' care.
In summary, a clinical trial is a subtype of a clinical study. All clinical trials are clinical studies, but not all clinical studies are clinical trials.