Use of video-recordings of site-based interviews for quality assurance in a study of subjects with schizophrenia and persistent negative symptoms.

Site-independent ratings derived from audio-digital recordings of site-based interviews are often used for quality assurance monitoring to affirm ratings reliability in CNS clinical trials. The present study of subjects with schizophrenia and persistent negative symptoms used video instead of audio recordings of site-based interviews and thereby facilitated visual observation of the subject by the remote rater. "Paired" site-independent scores of the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and Brief Negative Symptom Scale (BNSS) were obtained from video-recordings of site-based interviews.

A global measure to assess switching antipsychotic medications in the treatment of schizophrenia.

Objectives: It is common practice to switch antipsychotic medications in the treatment of patients with schizophrenia to enhance clinical efficacy and/or reduce drug-related side effects. The conventional Clinical Global Impression (CGI) of severity scale is a well-understood measure to track switching effects but does not differentiate between the severity of clinical symptoms and the impact of side effects..