Screening To Start Date (Down Time)

[carmel]

Those of you who travel from one study to the next... what do you do if you arrive in.. let's use Covance in Madison, Wisconsin for example. You arrive in Madison on August 3rd for the screening. The start date isn't until August 24. That's THREE weeks! And it was recommended in another study that we screen EARLY. As early as we can to avoid being placed as "back-ups." How do you guys do it? That's really like going two months between studies. Since you can't screen for the next one for an entire 30 days.

But my real question is... if you live in Philadelphia for example.. you've now got to go all the way back home while you wait for the start date. So I'll estimate that if you are lucky to get a cheap flight... you will spend at least $400 round trip. Two roundtrips is almost $1k. So that $3500 that Covance would pay you turns out to be $2500k. And taking the bus isn't any cheaper. I just checked. Taking the car saves a little, but not worth it for the wear and tear. You still gonna spend an aweful lot on gas.

So do you guys just stay put in a youth hostel/couch surfing?

Note: Not too much activity here. Do you guys visit another forum, and would you mind sharing?

[antecubital]

You can usually SCREEN before the end of the 30-day washout period, but you can never actually DOSE in a new study before that. So if your last study dose was on June 1, and you screen for another one on, say, June 15, you should be okay as long as you're not taking another drug before July 1.

Screening for a long-distance study can be like a crap shoot. Be prepared to lose several hundred dollars.

I often wonder myself why this forum is so slow.

[antecubital]

When you say "from one study to the next", it implies that people can consistently finish one study and within exactly 30 days be in another one. It usually works out that the next one you find about is starting too soon, or longer than 30 days out.

Or maybe one big study is enough for a while, and you don't even bother to look for another one for six months.

I don't think there are many people who do "one study after the next" without seriously taking risks with their health by taking one experimental drug before the previous one has left their system. (Or, more realistically, taking the chance that one clinic will find out about you doing a previous study at another clinic and banning you for life.)

Some of us do travel for studies, but not always "from one study to the next". For me, it's to do a good study when I need extra cash, and go back to my life and business.

[carmel]

Jul 7, 2012 18:36:38 GMT -5 antecubital said:

You can usually SCREEN before the end of the 30-day washout period, but you can never actually DOSE in a new study before that. So if your last study dose was on June 1, and you screen for another one on, say, June 15, you should be okay as long as you're not taking another drug before July 1.

Screening for a long-distance study can be like a crap shoot. Be prepared to lose several hundred dollars.

I often wonder myself why this forum is so slow.

Hey antecubital! So glad my fish hook caught you! See, when people see soing fresh they are more inclined to respond. I knew that. I can see people are visiting. It says down below there's been members who visited. They just don't post. I often do that myeslf. If I see a forum is dead I'll say "next." But in this case, this is all there is. Take it or leave it. I'm being truthful and not diespectful to the site owner but the structure and layout of this site is pretty bad. It sounds as though Paul Clough is on the road all the time and doensn't have a lot of time to fix it. I read in a few different posts that he actually killed the forum once and restarted. Wow! That is suicide for most forum owners. That can totally alienate people.

Anyway, back to the important stuff.

I was thinking that the screening didn't want you to have anything showing in your blood? Don't they withdraw blood at screenings? sounds pretty strict. I had to stop all my vitamins for them in preparation for the screening. Unless she meant the study in case I get in. I will be doing the $1320 study posted on their site: Clinical Study - New Haven. I actually called back to see if I could switch to the $7k one. I didn't realize I was playing with fire when I made that call. She told me on the phone that "no, I can not do that. That would be considered study hopping." I thought I'd be given a break since is my first time ever. In a way it's good because this will be a test for me.

But I'm also looking for a job at the same time. If I get hired somewhere, then it will be very hard to do the $7k 7 overnight study. Do you guys find jobs where the owner is okay with you taking off for a week? What kind of employer is okay with that? Or maybe we should make soing up? Say we need to go to hospital for "medical reasons"?

Your second post... It does sound to me that Paul Clough and others here are traveling a lot. Look at those posts about hitching up in Indiana and staying at someone's house. They must sit around a long time. I'm not sure I could deal with that. It's one thing doing the study, but then having all that extra time... It's quite tricky this business. I would like to hear more from these folks who are doing the rounds.

BTW, if you could please posts your experiences with in my other thread in this section it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again for stopping in here to this lonely saloon located here in Ghost Town.

[antecubital]

doesn't allow people to screen for one study and then change to a higher paying study, generally. They think that if they allow that to happen, they'll never fill their lower-paying studies. They also don't really like it when you cancel screening appointments or worse, when you get accepted to check in, then cancel. If you do that too often, you risk getting banned.

If you get hired while you're in a big study, then you won't need the study, will you?

[carmel]

Jul 8, 2012 16:20:47 GMT -5 antecubital said:

If you get hired while you're in a big study, then you won't need the study, will you?

I will need the study. Because a study that pays $4k or more would take me months to earn that with the jobs that are available to me. $7.40 an hour times 40x4 = $1089. So about $1089 a month working at minimum wage. That is if I got the taxes right. I deducted 8%. So we're talking four months worth of work for one single $4k study.

Ya, I really goofed on the phone. Looking back now on the first call with the woman she almost tried to convince me into the smaller study. Not initially, though... to give her credit. But I hesitated in not being able to choose one. She listed them all on the phone. I should have said that I'd call her back. I didn't realize it was locked once I said that. She said I could always call back with any concerns... that's why I didn't worry too much about it. It's alright, though. I'll just wait to take the next one.

I'm rushing ahead here as it is. I don't even know if I'll pass this screening. We will see. Thanks again for stopping by.

[dangermouse]

Uprooting your entire life and moving to another city is not the easiest thing in the world (especially for the city I'm about to name), but if you've ever given thought to doing this for a living, move to NYC. For about $15 or less (via Greyhound, Peter Pan, Megabus, Fungwah/Lucky Star, etc), you can travel to Boston (sleep studies), NJ (Celerion & Frontage), Connecticut (Pzifer, Yale Medical School, Yale Stress Center), Baltimore (Parexel, SNBL, John Hopkins), and then there's Clinilabs right in Manhattan.

Also, not everyone can do it, but I don't mind taking Greyhound across the country. I've gone to California, Texas, and Florida to save some money. If you foresee yourself using Greyhound quite a bit in the future, make sure you sign up for their Rewards program. I've already gotten free tickets, 10% off, 20% off, 50% off, etc due to all the traveling I do.

[carmel]

Jul 7, 2012 19:30:56 GMT -5 antecubital said:

Some of us do travel for studies, but not always "from one study to the next". For me, it's to do a good study when I need extra cash, and go back to my life and business.

Hey antecubital. Don't know if you are still checking in here... but here's an update. I cancelled the screening in the end. I figured risk to my body wasn't worth it for $1300. I may do it for $8k, but not that low amount. My mistake. Where can you go for a good study? PPD has an $8k one without any outpatient visits. That would be ideal for me. I can not go anywhere where I've got to screen 2-4 weeks ahead of time, and then go back for outpatient visits weeks later. Covance looks nice, but they do this. It seems to come down PPD or nothing. And PPD has a bad reputation. Looks like I might as well even forget any of this really. You guys put up with a lot.

[antecubital]

Well, the thing with 2-4 weeks of outpatients visits after the study is whether the unit is giving you a partial payment to travel on. Say you do 2 weeks in-house, they give a check for $1500-$2000, then another check at the last outpatient visit. I could probably get by on that.

We're not really supposed to mention, on this forum, the multinational corporation you named that has a unit in Madison, so I'll just say "Madison". They don't guarantee ANY payment until 21 days after the end of the study. I can't get by on that. In practice, sometimes they'll cut you an early partial payment, but don't ever count on it, or you may find yourself SOL.

I've never been to PPD or any other place in Texas to do any studies.

[carmel]

Aug 17, 2012 20:26:58 GMT -5 antecubital said:

they give a check for $1500-$2000, then another check at the last outpatient visit. I could probably get by on that.

We're not really supposed to mention, on this forum, the multinational corporation you named that has a unit in Madison,

Okay, thanks antecubital for your quick response to this. What I'm trying to say is... If I have to travel to Madison and spend $500 on plane ticket round trip. Do the screening. Come back home. Now I need anohter round trip ticket. We're up to $1k. And then once the study is done I'll need to wait a week and find a place to stay to do the outpatient visit.

How do you go about this? You said you only do occasional studies, so I'm assuming you aren't always on the road.

Why can't I say the "C" word? I noticed others have used it. Is there some kind of controversy with them?

[antecubital]

Carmel-- Traveling to Madison, yeah that's pretty much it, although it's cheaper to travel by Amtrak, Greyhound, and/or MegaBus. But you're still fronting several hundreds of dollars up front for screening, check-in/check-out, and outpatient visits.

I always look at doing a study in terms of how much I'll clear at the end of it after I've paid all my travel and lodging expense, and how long I can last without a paycheck. I've passed up a lot of good studies in Madison because I didn't have the cash up front.

The unit there issued some legal threats to the owner of this website, which you can look up here.

[mike]

I can't believe a lot of people who waste so much money on travel and lodging for studies that are long distances away that they have no guarantee of getting into at all.
I have a small van that I can live in for short periods (long enough to stay in the area from screening until check-in) and a nationwide membership at 24 hour fitness so I have a place to clean up.
ing multiple plane tickets (or making multiple long distance trips period) trying to get in one study seems crazy to me. You could blow $1000 or more and then what if you don't get in?

[antecubital]

Mike, I see your reasoning, but in my circumstances, owning a car makes no sense. I live in a city where I get around by public transit, walking, biking, and the occasional taxi cab or rental car. I live cheaply, by choice. I can't see myself wasting thousands a year on insurance, gas, repairs, traffic tickets, car payments-- on soing I may only occasionally need. And if I don't need it, I still have to pay for it. Buses and trains? I pay only when I travel. No bills to worry about every month. (But that's freedom to me: Having some cash hand to spend only when I need it, rather than having to pay bills every month for soing I may not need.) (I also am a big fan of prepaid internet and cellphone service.)

Then again, I limit my study activity to New York/Philly/Baltimore/New Jersey with occasional trips to Chicago/Madison-- and when I do travel there, it's by train or bus, which are much cheaper than flying. So it's not $1000s at stake, but $200-300 for screening and check-in. (Once I check in, I know I at least have an alternate check coming if I don't make it.)

(My occasional trips to Chicago/Madison are usually once every two or three years.)

[vark]

I never fly. Currently I go by bus, greyhound or megabus. I've gone thru 3 cheap cars in 5 years. My car is set up so i can sleep in the back.
Sometimes cheap hotels, split with a couple guys. Last trip a hostel, I'm not very good at couchsurfing but i'm signed up there.

I focus on places that are close to me. Haven't been to TX yet, or west coast.
I go, screen, come back the same night. I always assume I didn't get in.
My study buddy is the other way; he likes to go, assume he'll get in, and hang out a shelter or couchsurf. That one place wisconsin was indeed setting their screenings almost a month before the study, which really cuts into what you can make in a year. They don't think in terms of us professionals; they assume everyone is local and just doing it as a hobby. Recently they were doing some screenings closer to the study date, but right now I am not screening there at all.
I'm based in indiana. this year i've made trips to missouri, michigan, IN, WI, nebraska, and new york, some by car, some by bus. When i do a study, i expect to save half to cover screening expenses until i get the next study. I've had good years and bad years; so far this is a good year.