Enhancing the clinical research workforce: a collaborative approach with human resources

Denise C Snyder; Heather Gaudaur; Mark Marchant; Laura Viera; Andrea McCubbin; William Verble; Angela Mendell; Christine Gilliam

doi:10.3389/fphar.2024.1295155

Enhancing the clinical research workforce: a collaborative approach with human resources

Front Pharmacol. 2024 Feb 7:15:1295155. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1295155. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Denise C Snyder^{1

2

3}, Heather Gaudaur⁴, Mark Marchant⁵, Laura Viera⁶, Andrea McCubbin⁷, William Verble⁸, Angela Mendell⁹, Christine Gilliam¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Duke Office of Clinical Research, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States.
² School of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States.
³ Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States.
⁴ Rewards and Recognition, Office of Human Resources, Duke University, Durham, NC, United States.
⁵ Clinical Trials Administrative Offic, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), Birmingham, AL, United States.
⁶ North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH), Chapel Hill, NC, United States.
⁷ Office of Research, College of Medicine, University of Kentucky (UK), Lexington, KY, United States.
⁸ Human Resources, University of Kentucky (UK), Lexington, KY, United States.
⁹ Center for Clinical and Translational Science and Training (CCTST), College of Medicine, University of Cincinnati (UC), Cincinnati, OH, United States.
¹⁰ College of Medicine Human Resources, University of Cincinnati (UC), Cincinnati, OH, United States.

Abstract

Jobs for clinical research professionals (CRPs) have grown increasingly complex over the past 20+ years. This is due largely to additional administrative burden for investigators, study teams, sponsors, Clinical Research Organizations (CROs), and sites, particularly Academic Medical Centers (AMCs). Furthermore, National Institutes of Health (NIH) has reduced capacity to effectively fund research recognizing this is dependent on the overall congressional budget, which creates greater pressure for clinician scientists to secure external support. It is widely known clinical research will continue to become increasingly more complex for clinician scientists. This manuscript explores adoption of a clinical research competency-based job classification framework from the Joint Task Force for Clinical Trial Competency (JTFCTC) across several AMCs and the role of Human Resources (HR) in facilitating this process. This collaboration focuses on fostering successful projects tied to the business case in order to address equity and improve support for the clinical research enterprise.

Keywords: academic medical center (AMC); clinical research coordinator (CRC); clinical research nurse (CRN); clinical research professional (CRP); human resources (HR); workforce development.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The authors would like to acknowledge funding from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number UL1TR002553 (Duke), UL1TR003096 (UAB), UM1TR004406 (UNC-CH), UL1TR001998 (UK), UL1TR001425 (UC). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.