Conferences Work to Establish the Specialty of Clinical Research Nursing
Episode # 52
Uploaded: December 27, 2010
Running Time: 4:04
CARRINGTON: From the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, this is CLINICAL CENTER RADIO. Clinical research nurses from more than 20 states and four countries discussed the "Road Ahead" November 17th through the 19th at the second annual International Association of Clinical Research Nurses conference. Conference attendees also had the opportunity to attend a special preconference, hosted by the Clinical Center's Nursing and Patient Care Services. Clinical Center Director Dr. John Gallin welcomed the nurses to the preconference and expressed his appreciation for the work of clinical research nurses.
GALLIN: The diversity of the types of nursing specialists make it all happen, and the recognition that the clinical research nurse is a sub-specialty that needs to be nurtured and developed and encouraged is, I think, of primary importance. I'm very pleased to see that this meeting has been started, we are delighted to be able to host this pre meeting here at the CC and to be a co-host of the meeting that is going to start tomorrow.
CARRINGTON: Dr. Christine Grady, acting chief of the CC Bioethics Department, delivered the conference's keynote. Dr. Grady described some of the central ethical tensions experienced by nurses in a clinical research setting and encouraged nurses to be active, vocal members of the research team.
GRADY: So I think what's wonderful about the opportunities for nurses in research is that there are many diverse roles, and each of them has its own absolute critical function in the conduct of clinical research. But all of us, regardless of the role that we have, are committed to quality research practices, high ethical standard, regulatory compliance, and human subject protection. And in order to be able to accomplish those goals, we need to be familiar, all of us, in our respective roles with the ethical challenges that we face, the principles, regulations, and other guidance etcetera for the ethical conduct of clinical research.
CARRINGTON: International Association of Clinical Research Nurses member and conference attendee Bertha Robbins, a clinical research nurse from Middlesex Hospital Cancer Center in Connecticut appreciated the conference's emphasis on defining the specialty of clinical research nursing.
ROBBINS: I think it's a great idea, I think it's about the only way you can really move it forward to actually get people to know what clinical research nurses, coordinators whatever you want to call them do, and whether there's a distinction when you are delivering clinical care in a protocol versus a nurse who is carrying out the protocol and maybe not delivering the direct care.
CARRINGTON: Other Clinical Center staff involved in the conferences included Dr. Clare Hastings, CC chief nursing officer, who was honored with the International Association of Clinical Research Nurses Distinguished Clinical Research Nurse Award, and nurse consultant Julie Kohn, who shared the clinical research nurse competencies as determined by the CC Clinical Research Nursing 2010 initiative. Lieutenant Commander Dr. Margaret Bevans of Nursing and Patient Care Services also presented "Defining CRN Practice: Results of a Role Delineation Study," at the preconference. For more information about clinical research nursing as a practice or if you're interested in learning more about nursing at the NIH Clinical Center log on to http://clinicalcenter.nih.gov. From America's Clinical Research Hospital, this has been CLINICAL CENTER RADIO. In Bethesda, Maryland, Kelli Carrington at the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.
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