Curious about clinical research nursing

cdscmb · Feb 15, 2014

I guess it depends on what the job responsibilities are. I'm guessing most places are different depending on how large they are and what type of research trials they do. At my location we mainly do phase 1 trials, which typically has healthy participants. It is quite a bit of a change from the floor. The following is specific to my place, but I assume most places are somewhat similar.

At my location, we have clinical research coordinators who are RNs that (among many other things) write protocols, collaborate with the research sponsor and the medical/scientific staff and screen participants to join a study. They are essentially managing the research studies. It is a salaried, M-F 8 hour day job in the office with some time spent in the clinic. I'm considering doing it in the future.

We also have clinical research nurses who follow whatever the protocol says to do. This is my current position. I'm essentially doing nursing tasks, but there's not an overwhelming number of participants with new admissions coming constantly like there was on the floor. If the protocol says to take vitals at 0900, 1300 and 1800, you take vitals at 0900, 1300 and 1800. If a blood draw is to be done 30 minutes post meal, you draw 30 minutes post meal, etc. You may dose participants with an experimental drug. You monitor for adverse events like headaches and rashes including serious adverse events like anaphylaxis or worse. We do procedures as well. Some participants have biopsies, so we prep the sterile field and assist the MD/NP. We read the protocols and have to be knowledgeable about what is allowed or not allowed. Participants may not be able to get out of bed for the duration of the study, or they may be required to exercise every day, etc. I may be assigned one participant for the day, maybe 2 if needed. I've never had more than that.

The nice part is that the participants are typically healthy and don't take any medications. So unless required by protocol, no assessments, no massive 9am med pass, no emptying bed pans, no heart monitors, no worrying about respiratory depression from too much pain meds, no PEG tubes, trachs, wound vacs, isolation, etc, etc.

I work M-F 8 hour days and get paid the same as I did working night shift on the floor (going from 36 to 40 hours makes up the difference) and we have off on all the major holidays. The atmosphere is much more laid back as well. We have casual fridays. The doctors, lab staff and research PhDs are all friendly and we seem to work more as a team compared to how the hospital operated. I feel like my input is not only listened to, but respected here. I don't feel micromanaged like I did on the floor. I won't get written up for clocking in >5 minutes before a shift or being

I'm sure there's much more I'm missing, but that's the basics. If you can manage a team of patients on the floor, you can function as a clinical research nurse. However, you have to keep in mind the big picture: you are not fixing this patient during this admission. You aren't clearing up pneumonia or helping someone recover from an auto accident. You may be dosing with an experimental drug that is approved for sale 10 years from now, or helping to understand a metabolic pathway. You're contributing more to health care science for the future than you are to an individual at that admission (with the exception of research on life saving measures or something like a cancer drug). I wouldn't suggest trying research nursing as a new job option if you want to end up back on the floor in the future. That's not to say it can't be done, but you will likely not be using many of your nursing skills on a daily basis. Also, if you leave before your first year on the floor, you may not have that magical "one year of experience" another unit may require. If it's something you're interested in, go for it! You may find you love it and you never want to leave (like me).

BeachsideRN, ASN · Feb 25, 2014

Curious, what is the average salary for clinical research nurses? I am applying to nursing school (BSN) for the fall semester. I already have a degree in chemistry and a masters of public health. I have experience in benchside biomedical research and am currently doing survival analysis for a tumor clinic. I'd like to stay in research and just move onto clinical based trials, but I am finding it difficult to find information regarding potential salary, given my background.

Peanut&Buttercup · Feb 26, 2014

Thanks for the information about your experience, cdscmb. I'm really interested in being a research nurse. It seems like it would be really hard to get my foot in the door without any research experience. Is a BSN typically required? I'll hopefully be starting an ADN program this fall. I think I'd like to get my BSN, but probably while working (if I can find a job!)

oh, and impossiblepluto, just apply! If you get an interview, you'll get a chance to learn more about it. And if you get the job, you can freak out about it then. :). No point in freaking out before you ever apply!

colorfulmetaphor · Feb 26, 2014

To the OP: I am a research nurse who started off as an acute care nurse.. but I just wanted to say, before giving up on bedside care.. have you looked at any places, such as a med-surg floor with a strong orientation program and less patients? Just saying you might feel differently about it in a better situation. I left my inpatient job because I was moving and thought it might be a good opportunity to try a new challenge. I worked in tele/stepdown for about 4 years and I do use a lot of that knowledge on a daily basis. However there are also many people who are not RN's who work as study coordinators (similar job to a research nurse). It's such a different kind of job it's hard to say what the best background is for it.

I work at a cancer center and I only work with blood cancers. Acute leukemia, chronic leukemia, MPN's, etc and the studies that the RN's at my job work with are all treatment related. There are other tissue collection type studies but they fall under different departments or are run by non-RN study coordinators. Many of our study coordinators also do trials with drugs depending on their experience level. I saw that someone posted above about how at their job phase 1 trials usually have healthy patients. Just be sure to clarify if you look in to that specifically, because so far the phase 1 studies I have worked with have had some of the sickest patients who have relapsed after all the standard treatments. I guess it just depends on the population/type of research. I spend time both inpatient and outpatient depending on what type of treatment the protocol requires (some are oral meds, some are IV chemos needing inpatient monitoring). As far as working with patients, I screen them for eligibility requirements, provide a lot of teaching about the study (when they will have to come in for exams & tests, side effects of the meds, how to properly take the meds, what other meds they can or cannot take with the study drugs), follow them for side effects, and alerting the MD's if noticing a side effect that may require intervention like stopping the study drug. I also do a lot of reports to the drug companies that sponsor the trial and to our own internal review board. I do some data entry but we have employees who are responsible for the bulk of the data entry. However I help with overseeing it to a certain extent. We have supervisors that are kind of like charge nurses.. help us with questions and tasks we are unsure of, delegate the work load, help us get new studies up and running, etc. At smaller sites the research nurse might do everything from data entry, phlebotomy to contracts, but at my site our roles are very defined because of our large volume of patients. It can be stressful when the study has a lot of enrollment at once or a lot of reports due at once. I have had times where I had just a few patients to look after and times where I was following more than 20 active patients which was definitely a challenge since I was newly finished with orientation. I had to learn how to manage my time since it was quite different from the structured daily schedule of being a bedside nurse. I am feeling much more confident now and at this point 20+ patients wouldn't be quite as intimidating. I do miss bedside care sometimes, and getting used to a monday to friday schedule was harder than I thought. I did enjoy all the holidays off though. My base pay is the same as it would be anywhere in my city as a bedside nurse. There just isn't any overtime pay or shift differential. There are a lot of great free educational opportunities since I work for a teaching hospital. The physicians that we work with are both investigators over the studies and are actively taking care of hospitalized and clinic patients. They teach us a lot and I really enjoy that aspect of it. We also work closely with PA's and NP's to help coordinate the patient's care. I may go back to the bedside some day (especially if we move again, my spouse is in the military) but for now I am really enjoying this job. I am just beginning to look at possible career advancements if I stick with research. I recently went to a conference and met many research nurses and study coordinators. Everyone had different types of work loads (for example, many of them worked on many different types of diseases). Be sure to get all the details of what you will be doing to see if it's what you want to do. I hope this helps...good luck with your decision!

colorfulmetaphor · Feb 26, 2014

Looking more at the post by CDSCMB - my position would basically be the same as the coordinator position they described. We have technicians who do the protocol specific tests (lab draws, EKG's etc). If the patients are outpatient taking oral meds, I would dispense them. But if they are hospitalized or needing an IV drug the inpatient nurse would give them (or they would go to an outpatient transfusion center). Those nurses take care of both regular and study patients. Since it is a cancer center most are ONC and most of our patients are on studies so they are very familiar with them. They are not considered a part of the research department though. I'm not sure if they have to read the protocols, but usually there are order sets for them to follow and we help clarify if they have questions. (Like for example.. the patient needs an anti nausea med, so if they see a protocol restricts a lot of meds they might call the research nurse to see what would be allowed, or if a patient is refusing a lab draw and it's for the protocol, they would notify us so we can make note of it.) If there is a really popular study they will be pretty familiar with what is required. I love hearing how other sites do things.

cdscmb · Feb 27, 2014

As you describe it, that sounds a lot like the research coordinators here. I like to think of them as a liaison between the sponsor, the investigators and the nursing staff and they physically manage the study itself (or multiple studies at the same time). They do a lot of teaching and the study success rides on their ability to combine what the investigators want to do with what is possible at the facility and explain it to everyone. It's a really cool type of nursing, definitely different from the traditional model.

My site generally only has healthy participants, but it sounds like your site has studies on investigational drugs that may be used for severely ill patients, possibly to cure a cancer or prolong life. There are so many different models, each site does something different, even on multi site studies.

My place hires ADNs and BSNs, I don't think they care what kind of program you did, as long as you're a good nurse and that you "get" research. That is difficult for a lot of nurses.

KelC · Mar 24, 2014

cdscmb Would you suggest this type of position as a new grad RN? I have recently been offered a position, similar to the one you described. Do you feel you have back up if need be? I am nervous to take something like this vs a hospital where I think the mentorship may be better.

KelC · Mar 24, 2014

cdscmb Would you suggest this type of position as a new grad RN? I have recently been offered a position, similar to the one you described. Do you feel you have back up if need be? I am nervous to take something like this vs a hospital where I think the mentorship may be better.

cdscmb · Mar 25, 2014

If you enjoy research and you want to do it for a career, yes. If you are absolutely unable to get a job as an RN doing anything else, yes (saturated job market). Although, if you are unsure this is what you want to do or you have any thoughts of specializing in another field, maybe not. What kind of research? If it's phase I clinical trials on cancer patients using experimental drugs, you'll probably learn alot that can be used in other specialties. But if it's more monitoring healthy patients, you may not learn much and if you decide you don't like it, you may find it hard to get a different nursing job.

michaellav · Jul 22, 2014

Hi

I am a nurse in the Philippines. I am interested of being a clinical research associate, may I ask just ask some few tips on how should I start this career?

Thank you so much. God bless.