Assessing the capacity of a clinical research coordinator (CRC) is one of many challenges involved in managing clinical trials—which are heterogeneous and increasingly complex, with rising regulatory burdens and tight budgets.
New European Union legislation that requires clinical trial master file data to be kept for 25 years from study completion requires actions from sites – including those based in the United States.
Academic medical centers face multiple hurdles to attracting a well-trained workforce of clinical research professionals (CRPs), with a lack of competency-based job descriptions and standardization across and within institutions. These stand in the way of successful recruitment, onboarding and retention.
In a recent three-year period, more than 40% of active principal investigators in the United States conducted just one industry-sponsored pharmaceutical clinical trial, the authors of a forthcoming article for ACRP’s Clinical Researcher journal report.
We need to take a careful look at how best to evaluate, implement, and re-evaluate technology use at all stages of the trial and patient journey. This will inform a technology strategy to help leverage platforms to work for our site staff rather than against them.