Tag: Jill A. Fisher

This paper responds to the criticism that “observer effects” in ethnographic research necessarily bias and therefore invalidate research findings. Instead of aspiring to distance and detachment, some of the greatest strengths of ethnographic research lie in cultivating close ties with others and collaboratively shaping discourses and practices in the field....

This article analyses the ways in which research coordinators forge professional identities in the highly gendered organizational context of the clinic. Drawing upon qualitative research on the organization of the clinical trials industry (that is, the private sector, for profit auxiliary companies that support pharmaceutical drug studies), this article explores...

Structured AbstractObjectives:The Vanderbilt Evidence-based Practice Center systematically reviewed evidence on treatment of overactive bladder (OAB), urge urinary incontinence, and related symptoms. We focused on prevalence and incidence, treatment outcomes, comparisons of treatments, modifiers of outcomes, and costs.Data:We searched PubMed, MEDLINE®, EMBASE, and CINAHL.Review Methods:We included studies published in English from...

In this paper I explore the politics of trust in the clinical testing of pharmaceuticals in the US. Specifically, I analyze trust in terms of its institutional manifestations in the pharmaceutical clinical trials industry. In the process of testing new drugs, pharmaceutical companies must (1) protect their proprietary information from...

Today, more than 75 percent of pharmaceutical drug trials in the United States are being conducted in the private sector. Once the sole province of academic researchers, these important studies are now being outsourced to non-academic physicians.According to Jill A. Fisher, this major change in the way medical research is...

BACKGROUND: Radio frequency identification (RFID) is an emerging technology that is rapidly becoming the standard for hospitals to track inventory, identify patients, and manage personnel. METHODS: Research involved qualitative methods including participant observation and interviews with hospital staff members and industry consultants in the United States. RESULTS: Hospital staff, especially...

This paper queries the pharmaceutical industry’s concept of “ready-to-recruit” populations by examining its recruitment strategies for clinical trials and the types of human subjects who participate in these drug studies. The argument is that the pharmaceutical industry has profited from a system comprised of what can more aptly be characterized...

This paper aims to expand standard conceptions of current ethical issues by discussing pharmaceutical clinical trials in terms of the broader political economy. Specifically, it explores one important characteristic of the political economy in the United States: the trend towards the neoliberalization of health care. First, it provides an overview...