Anyone who was/is a clinical research coordinator - do you have to have a strong stomach?

[redditorforfun2178]

I want to start as a CRC and eventually move in to a CRA position, and I am wondering what types of medical procedures you would need to be comfortable with watching in order to do the job. I don't consider myself squeamish, but I wan't to make sure I will be okay in the position. If you don't have a nursing background would you still be collecting specimens? Would you need to do something like an acu punch on a patient? If you do need a strong stomach what types of things would you have to see that require one?

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[Goro]

Most of the CRCs I've encountered simply enroll patients and keep track of the paperwork; they don't do anything clinical. Maybe they're take vitals.

 

[Means]

CRCs at my hospital can draw blood with a phlebotomy license and collect urine samples, but that is about the extent of their procedures.

 

[LukaDoncicLuk]

I'm a CRC and do a decent amount of clinical work. In my job, you have to be comfortable taking vitals, ECGs, assisting with infusions/injections, and collecting urine samples (you have them pee in a cup and you take the cup- it's not bad). You do not collect blood samples unless you are licensed to perform phlebotomy. I work in psych so the most squeemish I've gotten is with a few very malodorous patients. Some have hygiene issues due to their illness and others had some incontinency due to medical issues. It's a far cry from being a CNA in terms of patient care.

I don't envy CRAs.. It is hard to imagine a more boring career (at least for me).

 

[Wahkoon]

My position involves collecting urine and processing blood specimen. Some of my colleagues actually collect spirometry and 12-lead EKGs. On the other hand, my studies require me to be scrubbed into open heart surgeries... this is not typical, and your experience will vary depending on your specific role.

 

[redditorforfun2178]

My position involves collecting urine and processing blood specimen. Some of my colleagues actually collect spirometry and 12-lead EKGs. On the other hand, my studies require me to be scrubbed into open heart surgeries... this is not typical, and your experience will vary depending on your specific role.

Would this be a position within a surgery center? If I was uncomfortable in surgery would I just not apply to research coordinator positions within surgery centers?

 

[Wahkoon]

Would this be a position within a surgery center? If I was uncomfortable in surgery would I just not apply to research coordinator positions within surgery centers?

Surgery and critical care, most likely.

However, I know people in these departments that don’t have that level of interaction; they primarily deal with enrollment and paperwork. It would be easier to glean from a position description.

 

[Hirro]

Surgery and critical care, most likely.

However, I know people in these departments that don’t have that level of interaction; they primarily deal with enrollment and paperwork. It would be easier to glean from a position description.

Coordinators in the exact same departments at my workplace, for example, only deal with blood draws if they have phlebotomy training; lab staff process specimens. This will all definitely depend on the positions/studies you apply to.

 

[fyang0414]

The most intense thing we do is an injection that requires 6 needles and pair it with electroporation.

Frankly, it's literally shocking (ha) that anyboy volunteers for this specific study

 

[ColobomasAreWeird]

I'm a CRC for liver surgery and the most I've had to endure is tolerating the smell of bile when I have to take biopsies of the gallbladder and resected portions from the liver. I used to draw blood for a past clinical trial, but as others mentioned, you need training and certification before you do that.

 

[lalalallala]

You won't be collecting samples yourself but you need to be okay with watching blood draws or spinal taps (you don't have to look just be okay standing in the room). You'll likely have to carry urine, blood, or CSF samples. It all depends on what type of setting you work in. I worked in a ER so I needed to be okay with going into the trauma bay and potentially seeing a really gruesome injury or death. I had to go to every trauma that was called in case the patients became eligible for the studies that we were enrolling for. You would have a very different experience working in an outpatient setting for example. Much of the work of a CRC is paperwork/enrollment papers but there is a fair amount of being there while study procedures are being conducted and speaking to families.

 

[lalalallala]

If it makes you feel better many people have something they are squeamish about whether it is eyes, teeth, etc. I see you are a pharmacy student but you are posting in the pre-med forum? If it is something in particular that you don't handle well (blood, watching blood draws) then I would suggest watching youtube videos of whatever makes you uncomfortable while you are laying down. If it is just that you prefer not to see too much blood and gore, then I would pick a setting that is not ER, ICU, or surgery-related.

 

[cmars]

I’ve done blood processing for all my studies, some require drawing blood and doing injections as well. Different sites have different SOPs and some sites only have nurses or MAs delegates to drawing blood/injections. You could ask in your interview what tasks the CRC is delegated for but I’d say you should at least be comfortable processing and shipping blood samples. Most of the work however is chart review/paperwork