Clinical Research $$

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I was a CCRC during/after nursing school. I left because the hours did not go with night school but I do miss it. I've been an RN in an ICU for over a year now. How much are clinical research nurses making? And is it for running studies or would it be more lucrative to audit sites?

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Specializes in Research,Peds,Neuro,Psych,.

Working at the site as a CCRC does not pay that well. I make less money than any floor nurse that I know, and that's with 5 years of experience plus my certification. The real $$ in research is, like you said, in auditing/monitoring as a CRA. This is something that I have considered off and on and am recently considering again. The only downside for me is that CRA's have a higher stress job and travel anywhere up to 65-80% of their time, and I have young children. The average salary, however, is substantially higher. Depending on the company I believe the range is upper 50's to upper 80's and some pay even more, depending on experience and time with the company.

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Appreciate the info. I know a lot is expected of them (ie fly home at midnight and be in the office at 8). Thanks for your input!

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Specializes in CCU (Coronary Care); Clinical Research.
Working at the site as a CCRC does not pay that well. I make less money than any floor nurse that I know, and that's with 5 years of experience plus my certification. The real $$ in research is, like you said, in auditing/monitoring as a CRA. This is something that I have considered off and on and am recently considering again. The only downside for me is that CRA's have a higher stress job and travel anywhere up to 65-80% of their time, and I have young children. The average salary, however, is substantially higher. Depending on the company I believe the range is upper 50's to upper 80's and some pay even more, depending on experience and time with the company.

I agree with what beach has said. I personally could not be a CRA though. The paperwork would drive me crazy!!!!! I think that I am a farily organized coordinator but I still make mistakes, sifting though all that stuff, especially for the more complicated studies/patients would drive me crazy. And the traveling is also tough...Good luck with your decision...

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I'm a research nurse and make about the same amount of money as floor nurses in my city. I do not have CCRC certification, but I've done this type of work for 15 years now. Works out to about $25/hr.

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Specializes in Research,Peds,Neuro,Psych,.

Hey again..I wanted to let you know that I sat down to read my ACRP Journal magazine and they had an article in there about CRA salaries. Apparently they quoted similar salary figures, and also gave an average of $68/hr. for hourly-paid CRA's. I don't know how many CRA's are hourly unless they are independent contractors.

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hi! i'd just like to ask beach nurse if you are a site clinical research nurse doing research for a pharma company? i'm doing a clinical trials for pharma companies and one pays per patient's visit, the other pays me a monthly salary. it's not much, but for part time work it's already ok. is it the same there in the us? im being petitioned by a hospital to be their staff nurse, but i'm planning to apply as a research assistant for the meantime since i'm still to take the NCLEX.

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I was a CCRC during/after nursing school. I left because the hours did not go with night school but I do miss it. I've been an RN in an ICU for over a year now. How much are clinical research nurses making? And is it for running studies or would it be more lucrative to audit sites?[/QUO

I've been an RN at a CPU for the past 11years now. The pharm company has a clinical agrmt with local university hospital and we do Phase 1 clinical drug trials (first time in man drugs). Study coordinators must be RNs and they start at $35/hr with full benefits. Most of us work per diem with a sliding pay scale at $37/40/43 per hour. Since study nurses are hard to comeby here in NJ (yes, everyone would rather be a CRA, regrdlss of the intense travel), our manager is very flex with shifts.Due to some study protocols we stagger shifts, and some do 7-11am, 7-3 or 8-4. 9-5,3-11 and so on. The work is plentiful(after all pharm companys pour $$$ into research)and most of us can get OT any time we like. I did the CRA for 2 years and made 68K/yr (1998-2000) but the traveling and mundane paperwork made me go back to hands on.

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