Testing treatments
Subtitle: better research for better healthcare
By: Imogen Evans, Hazel Thornton, Iain Chalmers
Contributors: Thornton, Hazel, 1935-; Chalmers, Iain
Publisher: Pinter & Martin; Pinter & Martin Limited; Pinter & Martin Ltd.
Published: 2010
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 116
ISBN-13: 9781905177356
Subjects: Clinical medicine; Research
Description: "How do we know whether a particular drug, therapy or operation really works, and how well? How reliable is the clinical evidence? Are clinical trials truly unbiased? And is current research fully focused on the real needs of patients? Such timely and pressing questions are raised and resolved in this inquiry into modern clinical research, with far-reaching implications for daily medical practice and patient care. What emerges is the surprising truth that clinical research is neither as unbiased nor as relevant as patients have every right to expect, but that everyone - patients, doctors and researchers - can do much to change current practice and achieve better healthcare." "Spanning the gamut of illness and therapy - from mastectomy to thalidomide - this book explores a vast range of revealing case-studies, enlivened throughout by anecdotes and eyewitness accounts drawn from the direct experience of patients, practitioners and researchers."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Paperback.
Table of contents: title: New - but no better or even worse; title: Used but inadequately tested; title: Key concepts in fair tests of treatments; title: Dealing with uncertainty about the effects of treatments; title: Clinical resarch: the good, the bad, and the unnecessary; title: Less research, better research, and research for the right reasons; title: Improving tests of treatments is everybody's business; title: Blueprint for a revolution.