Conducting social research in a biomedical world

My job title is clinical research coordinator. I enjoy my work on a number of studies to improve physician-patient communication and I like to think I do it well. I maintain regulatory documents, obtain informed consents, enroll subjects and write institutional review board applications. Given my background, I am also involved in conducting literature reviews, writing grant applications and preparing article for publication.

I am preparing to take the Association for Clinical Research Professionals certification exam for clinical research coordinators http://www.acrpnet.org/MainMenuCategory/Certification/GetCertified.aspx. I am looking forward to taking the exam and obtaining this professional credential. But I am a little concerned. I meet all the qualifications for their definition of a clinical research coordinator (CRC), but as I reviewed the materials, I got a stark reminder of how, while the research we do about physicians and communication is valuable, it is completely foreign to the world of biomedical research.

It is not the first time I have encountered this. Most of the continuing education offerings for research professionals are geared toward the biomedical end of the spectrum. The IRBs are set up to handle all sorts of biomedical scenarios, but the questions can be difficult to answer when you are conducting a survey. And every once in a while, I encounter a doctor that we try to enroll in our study who thinks psychosocial research is "a waste of time."

But I know the research we do is valuable, even if occasionally overlooked in the biomedical world. The only reason this concerns me at all is that the certification exam I am preparing to take assumes all clinical research coordinators work on clinical drug trials. And while I have picked up some clinical trial knowledge in continuing education seminars, it is not my primary day-to-day work. So over the summer I will be giving myself a crash course in clinical drug trials, so that I will be prepared to take the exam. And hopefully this certification will be a valuable assets as I continue to pursue communication research in medical contexts.