Clinical Research Coordinator Level 1 Programme (September 2023 intake)

Empowering CRCs with Essential Skills for Effective Clinical Trial Management

Clinical research coordinators (CRC) play a pivotal role in running clinical trials, managing various responsibilities daily to ensure the smooth progress of the clinical research study. Their duties encompass a wide range of tasks, including participant recruitment and screening, and at times, even being an advocate for the participant.

CRCs are required to collaborate with multidisciplinary teams, ensure adherence to study protocols, ethical guidelines, and regulatory requirements. For junior CRCs, the learning curve can be steep in their early career.

Since 2018, SCRI Academy has been conducting the CRC Level 1 Programme for junior CRCs with less than a year of experience in conducting clinical trials to support their career development in this profession.

This Level 1 programme, which is run every March and September, aims to support CRCs in navigating the complexities of clinical trial management and to equip them with vital skills for the efficient running and administration of clinical trials.

This course provides a strong foundation for CRCs to learn the ropes on how to effectively carry out the above duties mentioned, as well as gauge protocol feasibility, draw up study budgets, conduct safety reporting to site closure.

To-date, over 280 junior CRCs have been trained and SCRI Academy welcomed another 30 junior CRCs to the 11th cohort of CRC Level 1 Programme in September 2023.

To make lessons engaging and relevant for the newly minted CRCs, interactive in-class games and role play was introduced to aid learning and recall.

SCRI Academy extends our heartfelt gratitude to training partners from the Clinical Research industry who have come alongside to nurture the next generation of clinical research professionals. In this run, our partner from Nanyang Polytechnic’s School of Health and Social Sciences provided an in-depth sharing on the Essentials in Clinical Practice, offering a comprehensive overview of Singapore’s healthcare system.

They also taught the CRCs valuable skills such as how to use a blood pressure monitor. This skill is essential as monitoring blood pressure is a standard practice used to assess cardiovascular health.

In some research studies, taking blood pressure readings may be essential to the study protocol or done as a baseline assessment. Being able to monitor blood pressure is also one aspect of safety monitoring. For example, blood pressure monitoring is one way to assess cardiovascular health or identify potential adverse effects related to certain investigational products or treatment therapies being administered in a research study.

We were also glad to have four senior CRCs from the CRC Educator Group to conduct some of these sessions and share about their own experiences to inspire the CRCs who are just starting out in this career.

This special CRC Educator Group was launched by SCRI Academy in 2022 with the aim to provide teaching opportunities for senior CRCs who are passionate about sharing their knowledge and skills.

The CRC Educators introduced the roles and responsibilities of a research team and brought the course participants through the entire process and each stage of a clinical trial.

It was an eye-opening and practical session which did not shy away from challenges that CRCs will likely encounter in their first few years on the job. This includes ensuring compliance with regulatory guidelines for clinical research, understanding the intricacies of research protocols, identifying suitable participants for a clinical research study, and cultivating communication skills to avoid misunderstandings, so as to facilitate smooth collaborations between the many groups that CRCs have to meet daily. These could range from the study’s Principal Investigator and the study site representative to the study sponsor and study participants.

The CRC Educators came prepared with many useful case studies from their years of experience and facilitated lively discussions with the course participants. Next, they brainstormed ways to find solutions and list down preventive measures.

Participants gained valuable insights from the trainers and exchanged stories with one another.

Over seven weeks, through the weekly group interactions and engaging sessions, the CRCs enjoyed many fun and authentic interactions, where laughter filled the air and firm friendships were formed.

SCRI Academy would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to all training partners – Nanyang Polytechnic, Health Sciences Authority, Q Squared Solutions Pte Ltd. and Ms Michellore Aguillar from the SingHealth Investigational Medicine Unit, for their unwavering support throughout the programme.

The next run of CRC Level 1 Programme will be in March 2024. Registrations are now open till 15 January 2024 at this link: https://for.sg/l1registration

Stay tuned for further updates.