Clinical research trials are designed to be perfect experiments where everything including breakfast, swallowing the pill, blood pressure checks, and blood draws are carefully planned. Timing is set to occur at exact time points. This allows for consistent and meaningful data which will (hopefully) inform researchers on everything from how the drug is absorbed into the blood stream to how quickly it is metabolized. Safety, of course, is of the utmost importance. Study participants are therefore monitored carefully for untoward events. Everything is recorded and timing is noted to the exact second (using satellite synchronized clocks.)
My business trip to Nebraska was more of a formality than anything else. Staff at the clinical site performing our study are experts on this stuff. It is their bread & butter so to speak. For this reason, I was quite nervous about presenting to them. You could say that I planned for the worst but hoped for the best. Because of this bread & butter expertise, they were well versed in the drill. I couldn’t help but be nervous anyway and waking up 30 minutes before leaving for the site (thanks to human error on alarm setting) did not help matters.
