If you are thinking of becoming a Clinical Research Coordinator or have an interview coming up for this role; here are 5 important transferable skills, you need to consider.
Verbal Communications
One of the most important skills you need to have for this position is to be able to communicate with different types of people. Besides your colleagues, you have to effectively interact with physicians and using your knowledge of medical terminology and being able to explain the clinical trial protocol in scientific terms is a way to catch the attention of the physicians. On the other hand, you have to explain the clinical protocol to the patients in simple words thus, being compassionate to patients is critical in this position. You also need to communicate with sponsors/CROs; responding to their questions and concerns and having the ability to satisfy them is an important factor and will increase the chance of your site to be selected for further studies with the same sponsor/CRO.
Detail-Oriented
As a coordinator you are dealing with study medication dispensing and you are responsible for checking the patient chart and reporting any adverse events or serious adverse events to the sponsor. In these scenarios having attention to details is crucial. Moreover, you need to enter the data in eCRF. A detail-oriented person will notice and fix any mistake in data entry quickly.
Time Management
If you are great at multitasking, the Clinical Research Coordinator position is a good fit for you. In this position, you need to visit and communicate with patients and physicians, schedule appointments, enter data, respond to the Emails from sponsors, and schedule visits with CRAs, etc. Therefore, having strong time management skills can help you to complete all the required tasks.
Quick Learner
A Clinical Research Coordinator must be a quick learner. Some clinical sites have more than 10 studies available for enrollment and you need to learn and understand clinical protocols quickly. It’s not always possible to memorize every details of the protocols but, having the overall inclusion/exclusion criteria in mind is helpful when you are looking for new patients. Moreover, each sponsor/CRO have their own EDC platform and learning to work with different platforms is essential to accordingly enter data and answer queries.
Passionate about helping people
If you are someone who have a passion for helping others and would like to have an impact on patients’ lives, Research Coordinator is a good career to consider. However, you have to keep in mind that some patients will respond to a clinical trial very well while others might have some adverse events or no significant change in their condition.
Showing the hiring managers that you have the required skills for the position, would make you a successful Clinical Research Coordinator candidate and can help you to land your dream job.