Clinical Research Coordinator vs stick with staff nsg??

Specialties Research

Published

Hi I'm an "old nurse"...will be 50 this year and have been nursing 30 yrs next year. Ive spent all this time as a med-surg telemetry nurse. The physical demands (many patients over 350 pounds)..and the understaffing issue have gotten to me. I'm thinking of taking a job in clinical research though I don't know the salary yet. Its full time and I've been part time my whole life while we raised 3 kids!...My last is going off to college in Sept. I do love bedside nursing except I dont know how long I can keep up the pace and physical demands. Since I need to work until I'm 60-65, I probably need to change to a less physically demanding job? Could those of you who have these jobs write about your love (or hate!) of this kind of work? I would really appreciate any input. I have a diploma but they would be willing to train me. Thanks, Mary

mchrisrn

23 Posts

Hi I'm an "old nurse"...will be 50 this year and have been nursing 30 yrs next year. Ive spent all this time as a med-surg telemetry nurse. The physical demands (many patients over 350 pounds)..and the understaffing issue have gotten to me. I'm thinking of taking a job in clinical research though I don't know the salary yet. Its full time and I've been part time my whole life while we raised 3 kids!...My last is going off to college in Sept. I do love bedside nursing except I dont know how long I can keep up the pace and physical demands. Since I need to work until I'm 60-65, I probably need to change to a less physically demanding job? Could those of you who have these jobs write about your love (or hate!) of this kind of work? I would really appreciate any input. I have a diploma but they would be willing to train me. Thanks, Mary

mchrisrn

23 Posts

Hi I'm an "old nurse"...will be 50 this year and have been nursing 30 yrs next year. Ive spent all this time as a med-surg telemetry nurse. The physical demands (many patients over 350 pounds)..and the understaffing issue have gotten to me. I'm thinking of taking a job in clinical research though I don't know the salary yet. Its full time and I've been part time my whole life while we raised 3 kids!...My last is going off to college in Sept. I do love bedside nursing except I dont know how long I can keep up the pace and physical demands. Since I need to work until I'm 60-65, I probably need to change to a less physically demanding job? Could those of you who have these jobs write about your love (or hate!) of this kind of work? I would really appreciate any input. I have a diploma but they would be willing to train me. Thanks, Mary

wincha

339 Posts

I'm considering this also and am about your age but have worked 20 plus years. Haven't been in direct patient care for 10 and have been doing telephone triage but the hours are bad and I need to make a change. I sent my resume and will see what happens. The pay appears to be in the ballpark. Not my per hour rate but not bad. Let us know how the interview process goes.

GirloftheSun

39 Posts

I am a clinical research nurse and I love it. It's quite a bit different than working on the floor. When I go home I'm not exhausted like I was working in the hospital. If you like to work autonomously, than research is a perfect fit. You basically do everything and will end up knowing more about the protocol than the PI (prinicipal investigator).It is also exciting to be on the cutting edge. You are also involved in the informed consent process and may sometimes do all of it without the PI. The downside is there is a ton of paperwork. Since this is research, and depending on which phase the study is, and if it is a medication study, you will report adverse events and serious adverse events. You interface with many people (sponsorer, monitors, pharmacists, PI, subjects, data manager etc). Being organized is extremely helpful for this line of work. Hospitals usually run on organized chaos but research must be very streamlined and organized or else you can't move to the next step--or your forget when this med was stopped, or when they need to have a blood draw etc..... The patient contact is limited but if you are okay with that you will do fine. I worked in the hospital for about a year and left as soon as I had the chance. I didn't enjoy it one bit. I felt like a "body" that was there to complete tasks. I respect those who stay in the hospital to work it's a very hard job mentally, physicially and emotionally. I can't say I would ever go back. Good luck with your endeavors with research. It's a different line of work and you will learn a lot of new things as well as utilize your nursing skill. You can then move onto monitoring where you can work from home, travel and make the big bucks!

wincha

339 Posts

The job I applied for did not say you needed research experience but 3 years of clinical experience and I have 20 not necessarily in that area but many areas including peds. There was another one that offered less money and also included blood draws since I haven't worked in direct patient care I went for the one with less patient contact. Do you have any ideas what they will ask in an interview for this position?

Also you were talking about later working from home making the big bucks. Can you further explain what getting experience in this field can lead to if I want to move up that career ladder?

mchrisrn

23 Posts

Thanks all for your helpful replies...I have no idea why my post posted three times originally!!....The interview went well. The staff was very down to earth and friendly. There are a few "snags". First, I asked her what the salary would be, and she responded, "well, what are your salary requirements". This was per email post interview. I responded that I wouldnt want any less per hour than I was getting at the hospital but that I didnt really know what the usual salary for this position was. ( I havent heard from her since so maybe she's still in shock reading my salary requirement!!!) I had done a little research online and I'm thinking I would be a Clinical Research Coordinator but I'm not really sure that would be my title. It seems they only make 37,000-50,000. I also read that they have to carry pagers and be available 24 hours a day. When I asked if 24 hour pager accessibility would be required she did say "yes". This is my biggest reservation about the job!! Otherwise if the salary was there and they firmly offered it to me, I would take it! Its based at a hospital office building but they do all drug research . Do you all have pagers on 24 hours!! What if youre in a movie and your pager goes off?? What if its 2am? What are you paged about? I did aske her to elaborate on the pager but like I said I havent yet heard back!! Thank you all so much. As much as I love bedside nursing, its getting to much with all they expect with understaffing, heavy lifting, demanding patients, doctors, families (cant blame them, I'd be demanding too), but some are just unreasonable as our hospital looks a bit like a hotel, they think they are in one!! Good luck at your job search and keep me "posted"!

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