Deciding to participate in a clinical trial is a personal decision that people make for a wide variety of reasons.

Regardless of their reason, participation in clinical trials can be a rewarding experience. The data collected from clinical trials leads to advances in medicines and treatments that we would not otherwise have.

It is an opportunity to take part in clinical studies that could potentially help not just the participants, but also many other people in the future.

Some people have a condition that traditional treatments have not been able to help. Their hope in participating in a clinical trial is that they will find a new treatment that will be able to help. Participation in a clinical trial may also give people access to experts in their particular ailment. They can gain an increased understanding and knowledge of their condition and new treatments that are being investigated. There is also the added bonus that they are not paying for their treatments.

Other people may not be sick at all, but are interested in contributing to the advancement of scientific knowledge. Some clinical trials need healthy people to use as a comparison or control group. Some healthy people may have had relatives or someone close to them who were affected by a certain disease. It is important to them to do what they can to help find better treatments and possibly a cure.

Participating in clinical trials is not a very common thing. One of the reasons for this is lack of communication between health care professionals and their patients. Also, the health care professionals may not be aware of clinical trials that their patients might be eligible to participate in. Increased communication could help more people make the decision to participate in clinical trials and thus help the advancement of treatments and medications.