Academic medical center clinical research professional workforce: Part 2 - Issues in staff onboarding and professional development

Jacqueline M Knapke; Michelle Jenkerson; Peg Tsao; Stephanie Freel; Jessica Fritter; Shirley L Helm; Penelope Jester; H Robert Kolb; Angela Mendell; Megan Petty; Carolynn T Jones

doi:10.1017/cts.2022.412

Academic medical center clinical research professional workforce: Part 2 - Issues in staff onboarding and professional development

J Clin Transl Sci. 2022 Jun 3;6(1):e81. doi: 10.1017/cts.2022.412. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Jacqueline M Knapke^{1

2}, Michelle Jenkerson³, Peg Tsao⁴, Stephanie Freel⁵, Jessica Fritter^{6

7}, Shirley L Helm⁸, Penelope Jester⁷, H Robert Kolb⁹, Angela Mendell¹, Megan Petty¹⁰, Carolynn T Jones^{7

11}

Affiliations

¹ University of Cincinnati, Center for Clinical & Translational Science & Training, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
² University of Cincinnati, Department of Family & Community Medicine, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
³ Washington University - St. Louis, Center for Clinical Studies, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
⁴ Stanford University, Spectrum, School of Medicine, Palo Alto, California, USA.
⁵ Duke University, School of Medicine, Duke Office of Clinical Research, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA.
⁶ Nationwide Children's Hospital, Clinical Research Services, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
⁷ The Ohio State University, College of Nursing, Master of Clinical Research Program, Columbus, Ohio, USA.
⁸ Virginia Commonwealth University, C. Kenneth and Dianne Wright Center for Clinical and Translational Research, Richmond, Virginia, USA.
⁹ University of Florida, Clinical Translational Science Institute - Workforce Directorate, Gainesville, Florida, USA.
¹⁰ University of Rochester Medical Center, Center for Leading Innovation and Collaboration, Rochester, New York, USA.
¹¹ The Ohio State University, Center for Clinical Translational Research, Columbus, Ohio, USA.

Abstract

Background: Defining key barriers to the development of a well-trained clinical research professional (CRP) workforce is an essential first step in identifying solutions for successful CRP onboarding, training, and competency development, which will enhance quality across the clinical and translational research enterprise. This study aimed to summarize barriers and best practices at academic medical centers related to effective CRP onboarding, training, professional development, identify challenges with the assessment of and mentoring for CRP competency growth, and describe opportunities to improve training and professionalization for the CRP career pathway.

Materials/methods: Qualitative data from a series of Un-Meeting breakout sessions and open-text survey questions were analyzed to explore the complex issues involved when developing high-quality onboarding and continuing education opportunities for CRPs at academic medical centers.

Results: Results suggest there are several barriers to training the CRP workforce, including balancing foundational onboarding with role-based training, managing logistical challenges and institutional contexts, identifying/enlisting institutional champions, assessing competency, and providing high-quality mentorship. Several of these themes are interrelated. Two universal threads present throughout all themes are the need for effective communication and the need to improve professionalization of the CRP career pathway.

Conclusion: Few institutions have solved all the issues related to training a competent and adaptable CRP workforce, although some have addressed one or more. We applied a socio-technical lens to illustrate our findings and the need for NCATS-funded academic medical centers to work collaboratively within and across institutions to overcome training barriers and support a vital, well-qualified workforce and present several exemplars from the field to help attain this goal.

Keywords: Clinical research professional; clinical trial competency; diversity; onboarding; recruitment; retention; socio-technical systems; training; workforce development.

Abstract

Grants and funding