Research as a Care Option

Transcript generated by AI

Announcer: 0:00

Welcome to the MedEvidence Monday Minute Radio Show hosted by Kevin Gettings of WSOS St Augustine Radio and powered by Encore Research Group. Each Monday morning, dr Michael Koren calls in to bring you the latest medical updates with insightful discussions. Medevidence is where we help you navigate the real truth behind medical research, with both a clinical and research perspective. So sit back, relax and get ready to learn about the truth behind the data in medicine and healthcare. This is MedEvidence.

Kevin Geddings: 0:30

Dr. Michael Koren joins us on Monday mornings. That's his voice, of course. He is a medical doctor, cardiologist, also a research scientist. He heads up ENCORE Research Group, and and I was talking with Dr Koren off the air too about, too, about the whole notion of accessing health care and how - maybe you don't think about this - but if you participate in a clinical trial, you're probably going to experience some of the most personal, attentive health care you may have ever experienced.

Dr. Michael Koren: 0:59

Yeah, we call that research as a care option. But this concept of access is a huge issue in modern life, and it's not just in healthcare. I'll give you another example, Kevin. Over the weekend I was trying to get all the details down for a cruise that we booked over the Christmas holiday, and it was one of these cruise ships that advertised that it has state-of-the-art simulators for sports and golf and all these sorts of things, and I thought, oh, isn't that cool. But one month before the actual sailing time I tried to book a reservation for one of these simulators and they're all booked up. So while it sounds great, it's going to be something that I just hear about rather than experience, because I don't have access to it. And we've heard these same complaints in medicine and, quite frankly, me and my practice are guilty of it. So I still see patients as a cardiologist and I have a lot of people that want to see me, but my next appointment is three to four months out. So while they technically can see me, the access is very difficult.

Kevin Geddings: 2:04

Yeah, absolutely. Well, those of us who have participated in a clinical trial with ENCORE Research Group of course it's just part of the whole process. You're going to be talking to a health care provider every week. You're going to go in, sometimes every week, for a visit. Of course you get compensated for travel and that sort of thing is part of that process.

Kevin Geddings: 2:30

And your overall health is going to be tracked, because that's typically part of the research that's going on anyway. Right, doctor?

Dr. Michael Koren: 2:33

Exactly, and the beauty is is that if you call us and ask for an evaluation, that'll be done relatively quickly almost always within a week, if not within a few days and once you're in a study and you call, you're going to get an answer back that day, because we have a responsibility to report all information that could be serious within 24 hours to the FDA.

Dr. Michael Koren: 2:50

So it's part of our mandate and because of that, you will get a feeling of being cared for and a lot of access, and that's why we call it research as a care option.

Kevin Geddings: 3:00

Yeah, indeed, when you are participating in a clinical trial with ENCORE Research Group, they're going to listen to you, they're going to talk to you. That's part of the research that's going on anyway: they want to see how whatever you're doing is impacting the rest of your health. But for once I can speak to this as a patient, you're not going to feel rushed, and I think doctor I think you probably hear that from a lot of folks we just feel increasingly rushed these days when we're trying to you know, access health care.

Dr. Michael Koren: 3:26

Absolutely, absolutely. I'll tell you a really interesting anecdote that I experienced recently as part of my role. These days, I'm the Chief Scientific Officer of a national company and I visit some of the other sites around the country that are also in our space. I went to San Antonio recently and I was visiting with the doctors and the patients there, and there was a patient that came in that was part of a study that's also happening in Jacksonville.

Dr. Michael Koren: 3:53

And I asked him why were you interested in this study? And he told me that the interaction with the staff was fabulous. It was to a point where, over the years, he's learned that when he gets a new diagnosis he calls up the research center to find out what's going on in that area, because he learns more about that area through research than any other means. And you know, there may or may not be an exact program, but he's going to get some information that's going to be invaluable. So I thought that was so interesting. He said that he's done it five times. By the way, this guy's a truck driver, you know reasonably intelligent guy, but it was much easier for him to get good information through the research process than a traditional care system, which he also has access to.

Kevin Geddings: 4:35

Yeah, a lot of you, if you feel like you have a symptom or something, you're immediately going to pull up Dr. Google and we would encourage you, before you do that, to search whatever health issue you have in mind on a different platform, right, Dr. Koren?

Dr. Michael Koren: 4:48

Absolutely. We have the MedEvidence platform that helps people understand The Truth Behind the Data, and we talk a lot about research as a care option. But more importantly, we talk about the fact that there are things we know for sure in medicine, stuff we don't know and a process to learn about the stuff we don't know.

Dr. Michael Koren: 5:05

So you can really figure out where you stand. We just dropped a really interesting podcast on norovirus, which is happening in epidemic proportions in Northeast Florida as we speak. It's not just a cruise ship issue Getting back to the cruise ship that I introduced a little while ago so learn more about that and we have ways of protecting people from it. So please use this opportunity to get to know what norovirus is, why you might be concerned about it, why your family members might be concerned about it and what you can do proactively to reduce the likelihood of having a pretty uncomfortable situation.

Kevin Geddings: 5:40

Dr. Koren, any closing thoughts before we let you keep driving this morning?

Dr. Michael Koren: 5:44

I hope everybody has a wonderful Thanksgiving and don't overdo it with the saturated fat, if that's possible.

Kevin Geddings: 5:50

There you go Well, Dr. Koren. Thank you very much, and we hope that you and your family have a great Thanksgiving as well. Thank you.

Announcer: 5:56

Thank you, Kevin.