A day in the life of a clinical trial assistant

I know it’s a little cliché, but no day has been the same. As a clinical trial assistant, I get to work on a lot of different trials, rather than on just one, all in different stages, so I get to see a lot more of the process in a shorter time. You need good time management and organisational skills, and I love getting to do a little bit of everything, and getting to learn a lot, especially since this is my first job in this field, and I get to see what I like, and how I want to develop myself.

6:30am

• Get into the office, and congratulate yourself for making it
• Check your email inbox
• Check the trial inboxes (I base it on the subject line – if I understand it, I probably need to do something)
• Answer anything urgent
• Edit the to-do list (Usually I have a pretty good idea of what I need to do from the day before, but sometimes it’ll need to be reshuffled)

7:00am – 9:00am

• Data entry (the post tends to be collected and logged in the afternoon, and then entered the next morning)
• Greet co-workers and catch up!
• Answering emails, arranging meetings, ordering equipment/supplies for trials

9:00am – 12:30pm

This time tends to be more trial specific, and it can be a number of things, such as:

-          Create an Investigator Site File

-          Reviewing CRFs/Data Matrix

-          Attending Meetings, and taking minutes

-          Writing up and dispersing minutes from recent meetings

-          Printing and packing patient questionnaires

-          Testing the trial database

-          Creating a trial website

-          SOP Training

12:30pm – 13:00pm

• Lunch! (Need I say anything else?)

13:00pm – 14:00pm

• Meeting with the trial managers to discuss what needs doing on what trial (Since I’m working on two trials in set up, there’s always plenty to do)

14:00pm – 14:30pm

• Logging any mail received, and storing it to be processed later
• Start the to-do list for the next day
• Check the trial inboxes again if anything urgent has popped up

14:30pm

Home time!