Christina Canter, MT(ASCP), MEd, CCRP, RAC
Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
Objective: This study investigated clinical research personnel's current educational and training opportunities in order to explore if their needs were met.
Background: At many institutions, responsibility for running clinical studies involves several individuals working as a team to help run large scale studies. Although some research has been carried out regarding physician training in this field, few studies have looked at the education of other clinical research personnel. Competent clinical research personnel are critical to running safe and effective trials, but to date, only a small number of studies have considered their training or if the training received meets personnel's needs.
Methods: This case study used a qualitative, phenomenological research paradigm utilizing semi-structured asynchronous online interviews to gather data regarding research personnel training and their educational experiences. Inductive analysis was employed to reach a general conclusion from specific responses.
Results: High turnover and hectic schedules are by far the largest issues seen in relation to clinical research training. Current training methods also seem to be lacking and are not in line with the types of learning that clinical research personnel indicate they prefer- mainly direct interaction and practice. When research personnel were asked if initial training methods had prepared them for their job responsibilities, nine out of 13 respondents felt it had not.
Conclusion: Current clinical research personnel training needs to be updated to use methods more in line with personnel preferences. Improving initial training may also decrease the issue of personnel turnover by offering a strong training foundation.
