gateway back !

[ssa2016]

I participated in studies at the old Cetero/Pracs facility in St. Charles in 2011 and 2012. Since Pharma Medica took over the site, I've participated in 2 studies. I was enrolled in a third slated to start in June but it was cancelled. I agree with a lot of the previous posts regarding the site, especially the food. They didn't have any studies available during the month of August. The schedule seems to have changed recently regarding when the studies start and end. For example, a lot of them used to run from Friday night to Sunday morning or Sunday evening. Now, a lot of them are scheduled for a start on Thursday evening through Saturday or start on Saturday evening running through Monday. The ones that started on Friday evenings and ended on Sundays were more convenient for me because I wouldn't have to miss any work. Fortunately, I have some vacation days saved up so I can participate in one that starts on Thursday evening and ends on Saturday. They don't administer a physical until the day the study begins and also have one when it ends. There are some other differences as well. Check-in is generally at 4:00 p.m. the first period if you dose the following morning, and 6:00 p.m. for the return periods. For some of the studies, you have the option of showing up within a 1 hour window of your scheduled return blood draw, which is somewhat convenient. Also, they generally dose at around 7:30 in the morning, which is different from Cetero/Pracs who would dose around 5:30 or 6:00 a.m. Therefore, you don't have to get up at 2:30 a.m. the day of dosing but can sleep in a little bit. Last, you may have to wait a little longer after your study is over if the payout for the study exceeds $2500. If it does, you don't get paid until a week (6-7 business days) after the study is completed. If it's less than $2500,you generally receive your pay 4 business days after the study is completed. Aside from that, a lot of the same rules apply as before. They do give you priority for studies if you complete one and meet all the requirements, as well as giving you priority for another study if one you're enrolled in is cancelled. I hope this helps.

[ssa2016]

I recently completed a study at Pharma Medica in St. Charles, MO covering 4 consecutive weekends. In my opinion, this place is really having some issues and I’ve come to the conclusion that it may not be worth it to ue participating in studies at that location. Here are some of the “lowlights” of my stay there.

• The study was originally set to commence on February 13, 2015. However, they weren’t able to find enough participants, so the study was pushed back 2 weeks. As a result, some of us had to re-screen for the study, which wasn’t too much of an issue for me. We were promised that if we re-screened, we would receive priority for the study and receive an additional $100 in compensation for the re-screen. The additional $100 was supposed to be distributed after the end of the second period, when we received an interim payment of $500. They didn’t have the $100 for me at the end of the second period, but I received the $500 payment. I called the office the next Monday and was informed that the check for the $100 would be sent to me in the mail as I wasn’t able to come out and pick it up in person due to scheduling conflicts. That was a mistake as I haven’t received the $100 payment in the mail yet. They informed me they can’t do anything about it until either 3 weeks pass or it’s returned to them. It’s not too much of an issue with me, but I’m going out there to get the check for the final payment when it’s ready and not rely on them to send it in the mail. There also seemed to be a lot of shuffling on the staff's part to get us the interim $500 payment after the second period. It was almost like they weren't going to pay us the interim payment if no one mentioned it.
• The food has gone from decent to bad since I participated in 2 studies late in 2014. The sandwich they serve the night of check-in, which is a chicken salad sandwich, resembles and tastes like spackle. I ate it the first week, ate all the rest of the meal save for the sandwich the second week, and didn’t eat any of it the last 2 weeks. The lunch they served was very bland chicken served in chunks with a pita, and the dinner they served was a bland and tasteless beef stroganoff served with very dry brown rice. The soup, vegetables and fruit they served with lunch and dinner were fine, but the rest of both meals were very average. The food at the studies I participated in late in 2014 was much better.
• The overall accommodations with regards to the clinic were very average at best. The pillows they provide for the beds are poor and I needed 2 to sleep on at nights. There’s barely any padding/stuffing in the pillows and you may as well use the towels they provide for a pillow. The bunkroom was as hot as an oven on one of the check-in nights, which was very uncomfortable. Speaking of uncomfortable, they still have the same hard, uncomfortable chairs to sit in during the studies. One of the staff informed us during one of my stays in 2014 that more comfortable chairs would be provided, but that hasn’t happened.
• There was a very high element of individuals there who had been to jail in this study. I heard quite a few conversations of other participants talking of their criminal records and time in jail. We also had the pleasure of spending all 4 weekends with one participant who spent most of her time yelling on her phone at various individuals.
• There was some major confusion among the staff for our final blood draws on the Sunday we were released for the final period. I don’t know what was going on, but some of the blood draws weren’t done on time. They already got in trouble for not following procedures in one of their studies last year.

I certainly don’t expect four-star accommodations or five-star meals, but after my recent experience I don’t know how much more I’ll be going back there. I have priority for each of the next 2 studies I’m eligible for, and I’ll give them two more chances to clean up their act. If they haven’t, I won’t return. It’s really not worth it in my opinion.

[ssa2016]

I just completed a 4-weekend study at Pharma Medica in St. Charles, MO. The study had 3 returns for each weekly period and is supposed to pay $2400. There was no interim payment issued for this study. Since my last visit, I thought I’d report on what has changed and what hasn’t changed. I’ve also made note of issues I hadn’t reported on before.

What hadn’t changed:
• Accommodations are still the same in that they still have the same bunk beds and uncomfortable pillows. In one of the bunk rooms, they had the bunks pushed so close together that you couldn’t stand up between them. The only way I could get in and out of my bunk was to climb through the front of the bunk. They still have the same chairs to sit in during the study periods.
• They still keep most of the bathrooms locked outside of the 4-hour restriction after dosing. I don’t know why this is done, but for whatever reason they keep doing this. I didn’t report on this earlier when I was participating in a study from February to March this year.
• There seems to be confusion and miscommunication amongst the staff for certain procedures. For example, we were required to show up at 3:00 p.m. on the Friday of the first study for check-in. However, the staff wasn’t ready for us until almost 4:00. As per the staff, they were informed our check-in was at 4:00.
• The snack given the night of check-in is still the same, tired old chicken salad sandwich. As this was a fasting study, I ate all of it save for the chicken salad itself. As per the staff, this isn’t likely to change anytime soon.
• You still have at least 1 person having animated conversations with someone on their cell phone for all periods. Also, some participants chose to play their music without listening to headphones so we all could hear. This happened about 5 times per period and only once did the staff tell them to turn it down or use headphones.

What had changed:
• The food given at the regular meal times was much improved. The main course for lunch is a sirloin/roast beef sandwich and the main course for dinner is a chicken breast. It was much improved over the previous fare which was bland and dry.
• The participants seemed to be much more respectable and hardly any felons or jailbirds. The “criminal element” was much less present than the last time. I doubt this is permanent, as there really isn’t any screening process that I’m aware of at this facility to keep such people out of studies.
• The checkout procedure on the last days of the study was much smoother and the final procedures I participated in today went very smoothly. I didn’t see any major hitches or confusion on the part of the staff aside from the potential miscommunication about the check-in time.

All in all, this study was a better experience than the one I previously participated in. I do plan on addressing some of these complaints to Pharma Medica in the near future. I’m still not thrilled about the facility itself and the way they run things, but I’ll see what they have to say about my suggestions. My guess is they’ll probably put them in a circular file somewhere, but it’s worth a shot.

[ac]

Listening to music without headphones is inexcusable. There's never a time that's ok inside of a clinic. That needs to be dealt with one way or another. Your description of the bunk bed situation is also unacceptable. We're human beings and need to be treated as such. Most clinics are reasonable but some are taking the cost savings to an extreme. I would focus on those two issues. The rest aren't so bad. Oh, the locked bathrooms could be a problem as well. Do they them in a timely fashion when asked? Going to the bathroom isn't an optional thing, it's a physical necessity. Failure to provide adequate/timely use of a restroom is a lawsuit waiting to happen.

[ssa2016]

The bathroom situation probably isn't all that bad. It was just me being kind of grumpy. They do unlock the bathroom for you if you ask. You may have to wait while they track someone down with the key, but usually it's not too much of a wait or problem. One point to pull away from my comments is if you're participating in a study for the first time, don't expect all of your fellow participants to be respectful (i.e., the playing of music so everyone can hear). Provided, not everyone's like this, but some are.

[ac]

May 26, 2015 21:16:47 GMT -5 bentham said:

May 26, 2015 18:35:44 GMT -5 ac said:

Listening to music without headphones is inexcusable. There's never a time that's ok inside of a clinic.

It's my biggest complaint about these places--and yet I don't know of one clinic whose house rules explicitly forbid it. I asked to add a stricture against it to their house rules the last ten times I filled out a comment form there. Nothing.

For every instance of my seeing a staff member scold someone about this, I can count over a dozen instances of their walking by without saying a word. The general rule is: staff scold ghetto behavior when it's getting on their nerves. They don't care about it getting on yours.

I think it's only "forbidden" in the bedrooms and designated quiet rooms. I only expect quiet in the bedrooms and quiet rooms but I will get quiet in those rooms. I've gone to staff several times and will ue to until these rude people stop their unacceptable behavior. Bedrooms are for sleeping and quiet both day and night. If someone's being overly loud, ask them to be quiet. If they refuse then go to the staff. Too many people just do nothing and let them get away with it. If there aren't consequences for their behavior then their behavior won't change. I repeat, go to the staff every time someone is being inconsiderate/excessively loud. That's the only way it'll change.

[ac]

I also think it's unacceptable to not use earbuds/headphones ANYWHERE in a clinic. I just don't say anything unless it's in the bedroom or designated quiet room. I agree that it should be disallowed, in writing, everywhere inside a clinic at all times. It is "on the books" if it's being done in a quiet room/library like at . Also, Covance has it in writing that the bedroom is for quiet and you need to be quiet if asked even if it's not quiet hours. More needs to be done and hopefully it will be.

[vark]

"Also, Covance has it in writing that the bedroom is for quiet and you need to be quiet if asked even if it's not quiet hours. More needs to be done and hopefully it will be."

agree wholeheartedly with these comments, but keep in mind that asking that the quiet rule be enforced at covance is what got me banned there.
meanwhile, i check in at parexel in a few days.

[Deleted]

Vark, there are not a lot of participants at Pxl now, but (I think I heard) by June 2nd, they'll be near capacity. Enjoy your stay.

[ac]

May 28, 2015 23:50:09 GMT -5 vark said:

"Also, Covance has it in writing that the bedroom is for quiet and you need to be quiet if asked even if it's not quiet hours. More needs to be done and hopefully it will be."

agree wholeheartedly with these comments, but keep in mind that asking that the quiet rule be enforced at covance is what got me banned there.
meanwhile, i check in at parexel in a few days.

How could that get you banned? I've gone to the staff about loud participants multiple times and they did their job. One time they where a little slow and didn't do enough but they still did soing and it certainly didn't affect me in a bad way.

[vark]

A year later I am back here at pharmamedica. This time just for 4 weekends. Same problems listed above, no improvements. It's only bearable because we are only here a couple days at a time. Places like this (morgantown, springfield etc.) are designed for weekend studies, and work ok for that, but that model doesn't work well for longer, better paying studies.

forgot my laptop charger this week, and the computers here are 15 years old and slow.

hmm now they are recruiting for a $6K, similar to the one i'm doing for $3K, but they are looking for people who havent done a study for 6 months, and it lasts two months.

S1510D Males & Females - Ages 18-50 - - Non-Smokers
Period 1: Enter
@ Friday, November 06, 2015
4:00:00 PM Exit
@ Monday, November 09, 2015
9:00:00 AM
Return Blood Draws: 72, 96 hours after Period 1 dosing time.
Period 2: Enter
@ Friday, November 20, 2015
4:00:00 PM Exit
@ Monday, November 23, 2015
9:00:00 AM
Return Blood Draws: 72, 96 hours after Period 2 dosing time.
Period 3: Enter
@ Friday, December 04, 2015
4:00:00 PM Exit
@ Monday, December 07, 2015
9:00:00 AM
Return Blood Draws: 72, 96 hours after Period 3 dosing time.
Period 4: Enter
@ Friday, December 18, 2015
4:00:00 PM Exit
@ Monday, December 21, 2015
9:00:00 AM
Return Blood Draws: 72, 96 hours after Period 4 dosing time.
Compensation: $6000
Restriction: Female subjects using hormonal contraceptives or hormonal type of IUD are excluded from this study.
Notes: You could not have participated in a clinical trial for 180 days prior to drug administration