microkate

Depends on your facility. At ours, you do not need to be an assistant first, though many people work up to CRC. Assistants have no special qualifications. They help with studies, data entry, and with regulatory paperwork, but the CRC/research nurse is in charge (think nurse vs CNA). Pay is pretty low. However, at a nearby facility, their "assistants" do the same job we do as coordinators. CRCs/research nurses run the studies and do essentially the same job. At our facility, CRCs require a degree of some kind, a nursing license, or a couple years of research experience. To be classed as a Research Nurse (same job but higher pay), you need a BSN and 2 years of nursing or research experience.

You absolutely should take a look at Oncology research. You'll use your brain and develop a whole new knowledge bank, but you don't have to make critical decisions on the fly. I'm very type A, want to do everything perfectly, get very anxious under pressure, and I love being in research. When there's a decision to be made, I have plenty of time to sit down, read carefully through everything, and then consult with someone else if I need to.

Don't write it off yet. One job, I had interviewed with that manager previously. Didn't get it, but she strongly encouraged me to apply again when I had a little more experience. Next time a spot came up, I applied, and emailed her to let her know. I got an almost immediate rejection email from HR. The manager had to go specifically request my application, and I ended up getting the job.

See if you have a local Medical Reserve Corps. Ours is run through the Dept. of Health as part of the Emergency Management section, and provides volunteers for events and emergencies. Tons of variety - blood pressure screenings, vaccine clinics, event first aid, WIC assessments, STD clinics, rabies shot clinics for animals, public health education, and staffing emergency shelters. Many tasks are open to anyone who completes the basic training, but there are also RN specific jobs. Best part is it's flexible - you sign up for one event at a time. We also have a free clinic that is happy to take volunteer staff. As a student, I helped with the medication assistance program. As an RN, I'd love to volunteer with them as clinical staff, but just don't have time right now.

It's doable, if you have a good support system & everything goes well with the pregnancy & birth - which is not a guarantee. I started my ASN pregnant with my first, already had all my gen ed classes under my belt, so was able to take 10 weeks off. Came back to school with a newborn, then finished the program 28 weeks pregnant with my 2nd kid. Then, I started my BSN online a week before baby 2 was born. Came home from the hospital 2 days post C-section and wrote a paper. Yeah, I had morning sickness and sleepless nights. I typed up care plans with my baby tucked in a wrap, and found places to pump while at clinicals. It wasn't easy, but frankly it's never easy to have kids. What I would do is consider the what-ifs. What if...I have a difficult pregnancy & have to leave school? Check your school's leave of absence policy. With mine, I could take a medical leave of absence and join the next cohort if things didn't go well. I would be delayed, but wouldn't have to start all over. I didn't need to, but knowing that was a possibility made me more comfortable with taking the risk.

The CITI program (CITIprogram.org) looks good - the CRC Foundations & Advanced courses together are $300. One of my co-workers did this program: Online Training for Clinical Research Coordinator l June 218 Batch and was very happy with it. SOCRA & ACRP are the two main certification bodies, and they both offer educational programs. ACRP members can also access the forum, which can be helpful if you have questions about how other sites are handling things. You'll have a steep learning curve, because even with a research background, there are a lot of things you'll have to figure out as you go. For books, my favorites are: "Clinical Research Manual: Practical Tools and Templates for Managing Clinical Research" "The CRC's Guide to Coordinating Clinical Research" Good luck with the interview, and feel free to PM me if you have any questions!

Hi Quendi - I came into clinical research nursing with a lab background that included clinical research, followed by nursing experience. I emphasized exactly what you did - I already knew how a protocol worked, was familiar with the IRB, etc. You could look into a clinical coordinator course, as well, either online or in person and mention that you plan to do that (maybe they'll pay for you to do it?). It can be very helpful if you don't have an experienced research nurse to train you.

Good luck! It's a pretty steep learning curve at first. Feel free to PM me if you have any other questions

I've been a clinical research nurse (oncology as well) for just over 2 years, and I love it. Don't get me wrong - there's still frustration, occasional boredom, sometimes going from bored to frantic very quickly. I don't miss 12 hour shifts at the bedside! I have a huge amount of autonomy in my day-to-day work, and a great collaborative relationship with our providers. Some of our studies follow up for 10 years, so you still get to develop a good rapport with patients. During a typical week I will screen about a hundred patients (some are super quick, some take a lot of time), attend 1-2 tumor conferences, attend 2-3 patient visits (make sure the doctor documents the necessary assessments, collect questionnaires, maybe collect labs, process the blood & ship it out, then complete data entry for the visit), enroll 2 patients on an easy radiology study, and spend a lot of time tracking patients through our EMR and phone calls. On top of that there are webinars/training/reading for new studies or study updates, audits, and other admin-type tasks. Sometimes I have to help patients with insurance, appointment, or transportation issues. I do feel like I've lost a lot of my "bedside" skills, but honestly, I could pick those up again pretty quickly if I needed to. I draw blood for labs, but that's about it. I do a lot of focused assessments & medical history review, but I don't do full head to toe assessments anymore. Sometimes I do neurocognitive testing or other specialty assessments. I also feel like I have learned SO much about disease progression and treatment compared to bedside nursing. My site isn't grant funded, but with research there is always pressure to enroll. 2 patients per month is a reasonable expectation, depending on the studies & patient population you have available. My site has 5 full time coordinators, and our enrollment goal is 30 per year. Some studies might only enroll 1-2 patients per year, and then we have some simple studies that enroll several per week.

Like everything else, it depends on you, but it is entirely possible. During nursing school I was pregnant, then in school with a baby, then pregnant with a toddler. Yup, I was tired a lot, but I made it through with a high B average. As for finding jobs, it depends on the local market. I lucked out and as a new grad found a job right away at a decent nursing home, three 8 hour shifts per week. 6 months later I moved into a hospital doing two 12s/week. My husband is active duty military, and when we moved, I found a new job immediately. Once you have a couple years of experience, you should not have much trouble moving and finding new jobs. An awful lot of military spouses are nurses for precisely that reason. I'd stick with RN, just because of the options you'll have later.

I moved into oncology clinical research. I still work with patients as I enroll them on clinical research trials and follow them throughout the protocol, but a lot of what I do is administrative. It's still a lot of work, but more intellectual, less physical, much less stressful.

I graduated there in 2012. Overall, the program was decent. Most of our instructors were great, although I know several have left. After talking with other folks, I don't think it was significantly better or worse than any other in the area. Our class had a 100% NCLEX pass rate. I'd weigh why you want to go there over another program though, because it is really expensive in comparison. In my case, my husband was set to move and any of the other programs would have meant living apart for at least a year, between the time before I could start and in how much longer it would take. The money wasn't such a big deal because I used part of my husband's GI Bill. If we had been staying in the area, I would have probably done ODU to begin with. As it was, I got my AAS. at MCI, then almost immediately started my BSN through ODU. I'm done with that now, and it was the right way to go for me.

Ah, gotcha, that's not how it sounded from the first post.

I always try to set up both swap days at the same time to avoid that kind of issue. If I'm the one needing a favor, I always offer to take any day that they want off. Normally, however, if I need a day off I just approach the per diem nurses. I've never had a problem finding someone to take the shift. I also try to accommodate if someone needs a day off when I can. It's just like helping each other out during a shift. It's always contingent on my babysitter being available though. Someone mentioned a part-time nurse wanting to stick to part-time hours - I don't consider that selfish at all. I work 0.6 by choice, so I can have a good work-life balance. While I don't mind an occasional extra shift, I'd be working OT every week if I took all the requests. Also, I have tiny children, and due to working evenings/nocs I have to specifically arrange child care. If I get a call an hour before the shift (happens a lot), chances are slim that I can make it.

I'm working 2 12hr nights a week, and get tons of time with my kiddos! I do have basically 2.5 days out of the week where I sleep, but we have dinner together before I go to work, and I see them a little in the AM. That also gives me 4 full days to spend with them - far more than I'd get working a normal job. That other half day I get childcare anyway and do homework. We go do more things because I have weekdays available, so nothing is is crowded. My kids are also young enough that they aren't in school, so weekday vs weekend doesn't matter to them.