Mayo Clinic: By the People, For the People

As an intern writing health blogs for various clients at the marketing firm I work at last summer, I had to be sure that my facts were thoroughly researched and could be back by real sources. I frequently visited The Mayo Clinic’s main website to double check facts that I found elsewhere on the internet and was happy to be able to find almost everything I needed. The Mayo Clinic is in a unique position of being widely trust and widely backed that it is able to do research, and provide care based on their findings. With such a large patient base they could easily just take the data that accumulates in their clinics and use it for research without a single worry. However, they act as a role model, putting the patients first in every situation. Instead of just taking data, they send each patient a letter, asking permission to use their data in a research study, explaining that their confidentially woul be kept and that they could easily say no if they wanted to.  All patients who give their data are informed given to option to participate, and with such high trust in the Mayo Clinic, up to 90% of patients agree. “Mayo patients trust that the Mayo Clinic will do the right thing,” a quote from an article on confidentiality on the Mayo Clinic’s website. This trust is what is missing from the relationships between consumers and other companies that collect and track data.

Now once the Mayo Clinic has this data, they do not keep it to themselves. They post information about their ongoing research, up-coming trials, and research findings on their website for all to see. The data that was given never left the public eye. The patients were given the chance to give their data freely, knew what it would be used for, and then got to see the findings of the research that their data was part of. The research that the Mayo Clinic is able to perform with their patients data is ultimately for their patients. The Mayo Clinic also lists information for those who are interested in Clinical trials but are unsure of how to start or what it would men for them. Additionally the Mayo Clinic is a Not-For-Profit Organization and so is not trying to turn a profit through the collection and sale of their patients data. All of their work goes back into their clincs back to the good of their patients.