What Do Clinical Research Coordinators Do (including Their Typical Day At Work)

Job Description

Clinical Research Coordinators plan, direct, or coordinate clinical research projects. Direct the activities of workers engaged in clinical research projects to ensure compliance with protocols and overall clinical objectives. May evaluate and analyze clinical data. They also maintain required records of study activity including case report forms, drug dispensation records, or regulatory forms.

Other tasks include:

• Oversee subject enrollment to ensure that informed consent is properly obtained and documented.
• Schedule subjects for appointments, procedures, or inpatient stays as required by study protocols.
• Monitor study activities to ensure compliance with protocols and with all relevant local, federal, and state regulatory and institutional polices.
• Perform specific protocol procedures such as interviewing subjects, taking vital signs, and performing electrocardiograms.
• Dispense medical devices or drugs, and calculate dosages and provide instructions as necessary.
• Record adverse event and side effect data and confer with investigators regarding the reporting of events to oversight agencies.

We asked Clinical Research Coordinators how satisfied they are with their job. Here is what they said.

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75% of them said they were satisfied with their job and 62% said they find that their job makes the world a better place or helps to make someone else’s life better.

Typical Day At Work

On a daily basis, Clinical Research Coordinators maintain required records of study activity including case report forms, drug dispensation records, or regulatory forms. They schedule subjects for appointments, procedures, or inpatient stays as required by study protocols.

A typical day for a Clinical Research Coordinator will also include:

• Perform specific protocol procedures such as interviewing subjects, taking vital signs, and performing electrocardiograms.
• Monitor study activities to ensure compliance with protocols and with all relevant local, federal, and state regulatory and institutional polices.
• Track enrollment status of subjects and document dropout information such as dropout causes and subject contact efforts.
• Assess eligibility of potential subjects through methods such as screening interviews, reviews of medical records, or discussions with physicians and nurses.
• Direct the requisition, collection, labeling, storage, or shipment of specimens.

We asked some Clinical Research Coordinators a few questions to find out what else does their work day look like. Here is what we found.

	Do you have telephone conversations everyday in this job?	98% said yes
	How important is it to work in a team in this job?	66% said very important
	Do you have group discussions everyday in this job?	72% said yes
	Do you talk or work with customers everyday in this job?	36% said yes
	Do you have to deal with angry customers everyday in this job?	0% said yes
	Do you have to make decisions everyday in this job?	47% said yes

Other responsibilities

Besides their typical day, Clinical Research Coordinators also contact outside health care providers and communicate with subjects to obtain follow-up information. They may also track enrollment status of subjects and document dropout information such as dropout causes and subject contact efforts.

On a weekly to monthly basis, Clinical Research Coordinators Schedule subjects for appointments, procedures, or inpatient stays as required by study protocols. They might also Communicate with laboratories or investigators regarding laboratory findings.

In addition, they Order drugs or devices necessary for study completion.

Although specific duties may vary, many of them Participate in preparation and management of research budgets and monetary disbursements.

To some Clinical Research Coordinators, it is also their responsibility to Contact industry representatives to ensure equipment and software specifications necessary for successful study completion.

Working life

More than 40 hours per week

Regular schedule like a 9 to 5

In a typical work week as a Clinical Research Coordinator, you can expect to work more than 40 hours per week.

Is this right for me

People who are suitable for this job tends to like starting up and carrying out projects. They like leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business..

They also like working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. They like searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

You can read more about these career personality types here.

Explore other careers

http://www.bls.gov/OOH/management/natural-sciences-managers.htm

http://www.sciencemasters.com/

http://www.npsma.org/

http://www.aaas.org/