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Post by vark on Jan 30, 2013 23:21:35 GMT -5
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Post by vark on Jan 27, 2013 14:45:35 GMT -5
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Post by vark on Jan 27, 2013 14:38:23 GMT -5
varies by site.
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Post by vark on Nov 30, 2012 18:31:25 GMT -5
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Post by vark on Nov 22, 2012 19:03:56 GMT -5
just cross the clinic off your list of clinics. it happens. we can't all go to every clinic.
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Post by vark on Nov 22, 2012 18:48:19 GMT -5
thermometer. if it's too hot or too cold in your room, you want to be able to document it with numbers. noise cancelling headphones? i'll put that on my wishlist. noise is probably my biggest problem at studies.
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Post by vark on Nov 22, 2012 18:31:33 GMT -5
we're always against that, at least officially, which is why you need to look carefully at those longer studies when you sign up for them. i might have made a mistake earlier this year doing a $3000 study that was split up over 3 months. but sometimes you can find a sleep study or a device study or a marketing panel type thing that doesn't involve dosing. or since it's xmas, there's a lot of temp places hiring short term right now (not that most of us would take a job if offered.)
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Post by vark on Nov 22, 2012 18:20:49 GMT -5
Great post. I am a regular at reddit.com/r/frugal where such topics are discussed. I'm like you, it's megabus if i can, greyhound when i can't. join the road rewards club, not a big savings but might as well. if you your tickets early they are cheaper; i always go last minute because plans can change. Don't take the last bus that gets you there on time, take the one before that. Things happen. Hostels if there is one, otherwise motel6 or some indian-owned place, or sleep in the car, or couchsurfing.com. (Which means host couchsurfers when you can, and go to their local drinkfests, don't just mooch for studies.) Gasbuddy.com is your friend. McDonalss and starbucks and panera have wifi at nearly every exit. Every town has a library. I don't usually check amtrak because the schedule is always wrong and a few dollars more, but that might be a fun change of pace. I usually take a local bus or walk instead of using a cab. At least take a bus to get close then get a cab. I don't fly; getting cheap air tickets is not in my skill set. The $30 cab ride from st louis airport to cetero seems unavoidable if i'm not driving. I don't anything online except my bus ticket. This year's going well. I've made $15K and have several screenings lined up.
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Post by vark on Oct 27, 2012 22:06:40 GMT -5
right. i had two bad years and was going to give it up this year. my labs are fine but my ekg is iffy. but this year went ok. your best bet might be to live in a town that has studies, so you can screen often, and do soing else that leaves you flexibility to do studies now and then.
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Post by vark on Oct 7, 2012 20:03:40 GMT -5
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Post by vark on Sept 22, 2012 18:17:55 GMT -5
Just out of curiosity how are you and others finding out about all the available hostels?
I just googled hostel (name of town). I had had fun hosteling around england with my girlfriend back when i was younger. edit: oh the hostel info was right on the jalr page about buffalo, if i'd noticed. = i screen in october for a $3500 study at celerion lincoln. anyone in lincoln i can crash with? otherwise i'll just get right back on the bus.
= update: i screened. i had trouble finding the place, so i was late, and they were ok about that, but i think that's why my blood pressure was high and i didn't get to finish the screening.
Tom's a trip; I like him.
what i learned, if true: they screen about 3 times as many as they need. assume some of those drop out or have bad labs, so you are competing with about twice as many people as they need, and the next step is a phone call where first to get through gets the spot. (i was 6 minutes late on my callback to springfield earlier this month which is why i didn't get in there.)
but there's a catch. people who have screened before and didnt get in, get a free pass and don't have to do the call-in thing. some studies fill this way and nobody who calls in gets in. so you should plan on likely having to screen twice to get in once. this favors the locals who have low costs to screen; it cost my around $300. but i got to see the place and get my foot in the door, and i might go back. i guess the best strategy is to screen for any old study the first time, get your free pass, and then wait for a high pay study. i had a free pass from their jersey location, but i didn't bring that up, because they apparently only let you screen at one of their three locations, not all three. they wouldn't let my roommate screen in lincoln because he is registered at jersey; i had re-registered at lincoln. the bus station is in the middle of nowhere, and the prices back were different from what greyhound had said they would be.
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Post by vark on Sept 19, 2012 11:54:07 GMT -5
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Post by vark on Sept 19, 2012 10:37:50 GMT -5
"Just out of curiosity, what did you say to the clinic to convince them to let you stay? Asking in case I ever find myself in this situation. Look forward to hearing your reply."
well, it's odd, if you are from out of town they won't talk to you on the phone, so it took a few emails back and forth, but i just assured them i'd be able to find a place to stay and i was eager to do the study. they hadn't said i couldn't, just suggested it might not be a good one for me. review to follow shortly.
I ended up spending one night at a fleabag motel, 5 nights at the hostel (6 counting when i stayed there at screening,and they have a tough 5 night maximum rule) two nights at a couchsurf. (couchsurfing.com). my experiences with hostels and couchsurfing have been positive. (well, i can't always find a couchsurf when i want one, but when i find one they are good.)
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Post by vark on Sept 13, 2012 12:05:36 GMT -5
the main problem the clinics have with out of staters is we don't always show up for exit physicals, etc. a person could live in mexico right across the b from az and be pretty close, and maybe they've had a good track record of people showing up (because it's good money, in pesos.) still, if this is soing that's bothering you, you could complain to the IRB or the FDA. I personally have found IRB's to be a rubber stamp for whatever big pharma (c_v___) wants, but it lets you move your complaint up a notch. no-out-of-staters policies have costs me a lot of money over the years. right now i'm in a study 500 miles from home, living out of a hostel, took a little convincing for them to let me in.
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Post by vark on Aug 28, 2012 0:34:05 GMT -5
(well i'm very happy whenever i can get a 3 week study for $3500. i'm about to do one of those.)
I've had two experiences with celerion NJ. The first time, I get there, they had cancelled the screening and not bothered to tell me. 1000 mile round trip wasted. The second time, they called me to come screen. 3 of us went together to save gas. another 1000 mile round trip wasted. they screened 100 people for like 5 spots, but they didn't take any of us, they only took 5 people who had done studies there before. so i have very little trust for this place.
what i learned from this: always, always, ask how many people will be screened for how many spots. many of the clinics won't want to tell you this, but it's our right to know so be persistent and rephrase the question until you get some hard data. it can save you wasted trips. ask for the calendar and consent agreement to be emailed to you. most places won't do this, but ask anyway. a lot of the time, there is some info in the consent agreement that they don't tell you over the phone, so it's another way to avoid making wasted screening visits.
how about you guys, are there questions you always ask that get you extra information?
i looked into their lincoln location, since i had a nice study in omaha recently, ($3500 for 3 weeks!) but they usually make you take a second wasted trip to see the dr instead of doing both the same visit. we all know those physicals take about 2 minutes. if they don't have enough respect for us that they can't take 2 minutes to save us driving 1000 miles, it's not really the kind of place i would want to do a study. so celerion is near the bottom of places i would screen; they would have to have soing pretty good to entice me out there to screen,and i would just expect it to be a wasted trip. i do have one friend who is headed there now to do a $4000 study, so i guess it's possible. oh, also the new jersey one is right next to asbury park, so you could go to the beach after you screen.
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