Medical Research Information at KFH Research

Medical research is done to increase the knowledge that is available in the field of medicine. In recent years there have been enormous strides made. Modern medicine is radically different from the way it was just a few decades ago. This is largely because of the massive increase in knowledge that we have gained from medical research. Continued research is critical however if we are to continue to improve our level of medical care.

Medical research is basically broken down into four parts; the first of these is basic science. This is largely what people think of when they think of medical research, it is normally done in a laboratory, although a lot of modern day basic science is actually theoretical. The point is that it is done with the intention of learning more. The researcher will not be out to cure cancer for example, but to learn more about cancer, what causes it, how it spreads, things like that. This research will later for the basis for most of the other research that follows. This research is normally done at university research labs.

The next part of medical research is usually the applied science phase. This is where the scientists take the information that was learned during the basic science research and try to apply it for practical use. In our cancer example this is where they would actually try to find a cure for cancer. That being said most of the research has more modest goals; a medication that slows the spread of cancer would be more likely. The research that is done at this stage is usually performed by pharmaceutical companies looking to develop new products.

The next step in medical research is the clinical trials. This is where the new treatments developed during the applied science phase will be tested to determine how well they work. They will also be tested to make sure that they are safe. Most people are familiar with this type of research; this is normally a double blind study. Half of the subjects are given the medicine the other half are given a placebo. Neither the patient nor the researcher knows who got the placebo. If the treatment actually works there should be a statistically significant difference in results between the two groups.

The last phase of medical research is translational research. This is where the new treatments that are developed during the applied science phase and tested during the clinical trials phase are studied for wider adoption. The goal here is to determine how to make sure that a new treatment can benefit as many people as possible. In many cases it will be necessary to prioritize resources and part of the study is on how that should be done. This part of the research will also cover things like how to make sure that doctors learn the new procedure. This will allow the treatment to become more widespread.