Clinical Trials

A clinical trial is a particular type of research study using human volunteers to answer specific health questions. Carefully conducted, clinical trials are a reliable way to find treatments that work and ways to improve health. Interventional trials determine whether experimental treatments or new ways of using known therapies are safe and effective under controlled circumstances. Observational trials address health issues in large groups of people or for populations in natural settings.

You can find out which clinical trials are taking place in Australia by visiting the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry at the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre, University of Sydney.

Follow the links below to find information about clinical trials and randomised controlled trials (RCTs).

Reviewed March 2009

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Participating in Clinical Trials
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Links to information about participating in clinical trials
45 Resources Found
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Title:   The Joanna Briggs Institute
Publisher:   The Joanna Briggs Institute
Description:   Brings together a range of practice-oriented research activities to improve the effectiveness of nursing practice and health care outcomes
Date:   Nov 2009
Title:   Media release. Boost for clinical trials in Australia
Publisher:   Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing
Description:   The Australian Government will boost Australia's profile as a preferred destination for clinical trials.
Date:   Oct 2009
Title:   Physiotherapy Choices: which treatment is best for me?
Publisher:   Centre for Evidence-Based Physiotherapy (CEBP)
Description:   Physiotherapy Choices is a database designed for use by consumers of physiotherapy services, including patients, their friends and families, health service managers, and insurers. The database provides a catalogue of the best research evidence of the effectiveness of physiotherapy interventions.
Date:   Oct 2009
Title:   PEDro - The Physiotherapy Evidence Database
Publisher:   Centre for Evidence-Based Physiotherapy (CEBP)
Description:   PEDro is the Physiotherapy Evidence Database. It has been developed to give rapid access to bibliographic details and abstracts of randomised controlled trials, systematic reviews and evidence-based clinical practice guidelines in physiotherapy.
Date:   Oct 2009
Title:   Cancer clinical trials extended to regional patients this Daffodil Day
Publisher:   Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing
Description:   Cancer patients in Bendigo, Wodonga, Coffs Harbour, Port Macquarie and Hobart will now be able to benefit from new cancer treatments as part of clinical cancer trials.
Date:   Aug 2009
Title:   Research and Innovation
Publisher:   Novita Children's Services
Description:   Introduction to research conducted at Novita Children's Services.
Date:   Aug 2009
Title:   Placebo effect
Publisher:   Better Health Channel
Description:   A placebo is any medical treatment that is inert (inactive), such as a sugar pill. Around one third of people who take placebos (believing them to be medication) will experience an end to their symptoms. This is called the placebo effect.
Date:   Jul 2009
Title:   TGA - Therapeutic Goods Administration
Publisher:   Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing
Description:   Home page of Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA). TGA is Australia's regulatory agency for medical drugs and devices.
Date:   Jul 2009
Title:   Clinical trials
Publisher:   The Cancer Council Victoria
Description:   Clinical trials take laboratory research results and translate them to a clinical setting. Trials are an important final step in a long process to prove the effectiveness and safety of cancer treatments.
Date:   Jul 2009
Title:   Australasian Cochrane Centre
Publisher:   Australasian Cochrane Centre
Description:   The Australasian Cochrane Centre is one of a number of Cochrane centres established worldwide to co-ordinate the activities of the Cochrane Collaboration. It is part of the Monash Institute of Health Services Research, Melbourne. and is funded by the Australian Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing.
Date:   Jul 2009
Title:   NCOR - neoadjuvant chemotherapy in ovarian cancer: a systematic review
Publisher:   National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre (NBOCC),National Breast Cancer Centre (NBCC)
Description:   A systematic review has been undertaken to identify evidence for the administration of neoadjuvant chemotherapy before cytoreductive surgery is performed.
Date:   May 2009
Title:   Hep C Treatment Snapshot - Bleeding Disorders
Publisher:   Haemophilia Foundation Australia
Description:   An update on current hepatitis C treatments and treatment experiences of people with bleeding disorders and hepatitis C.
Date:   May 2009
Title:   Surrogate outcome markers in research and clinical practice
Publisher:   Australian Prescriber
Description:   There are some valid surrogate markers of disease progression which can be reliably used to monitor chronic conditions, and as treatment goals. However, the clinical utility of many surrogates is open to question and their validity is largely untested.
Date:   Apr 2009
Title:   ARPANSA - Code of practice for the exposure of humans to ionizing radiation for research purposes (2005)
Publisher:   Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA)
Description:   This Code of Practice is designed to ensure that researchers proposing to expose research participants to ionizing radiation provide the participants and the Human Research Ethics Committees with information that allows consent to be properly considered by the research participants and approval considered by the Human Research Ethics Committee.
Date:   Feb 2009
Title:   Publication bias in clinical trials due to statistical significance or direction of trial results
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   The validity of a systematic review depends on the methods used to conduct the review. If there is a systematic bias, such that studies with statistically significant or positive findings are more likely to be published and included in systematic review...
Date:   Oct 2008
Title:   PaCCSC
Publisher:   CareSearch
Description:   The Palliative Care Clinical Studies Collaborative (PaCCSC) is a research group looking at improving the quality of care for patients through access, awareness and quality use of palliative care medicines in the community through clinical studies.
Date:   May 2008
Title:   Interpreting risks and ratios in therapy trials
Publisher:   Australian Prescriber
Description:   In randomised trials and systematic reviews of trials, the effects of new treatments on dichotomous outcomes can be expressed in several ways including relative risk, absolute risk, odds ratio and hazard ratio.
Date:   Feb 2008
Title:   Audio-visual presentation of information for informed consent for participation in clinical trials
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons, Ltd. for The Cochrane Collaboration
Description:   Informed consent is important for people who are thinking about participating in a clinical trial. Information for informed consent could be presented on the Internet, DVD, video cassette or by other means. ...
Date:   Nov 2007
Title:   National statement on ethical conduct in research involving humans
Publisher:   National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
Description:   The purpose of this Statement is to provide a national reference point for ethical consideration relevant to all research involving humans. It identifies the ethical principles and values which should govern research involving humans.
Date:   Mar 2007
Title:   How prescription drugs are developed
Publisher:   Australian Prescriber
Description:   Modern drug development is a risky business both for pharmaceutical companies and patients. Many thousands of promising compounds need to be tested.
Date:   Dec 2006
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