Clinical research is the study that determines the effectiveness and safety of medicines, diagnostic products, and devices aimed at human use. Medical Practitioners may use these products to prevent, diagnose, or treat an illness. Clinical research involves carrying out trials to ascertain the effectiveness and safety of a drug before distribution to the public and ensuring regulatory compliance. Research and clinical trials in physiology and pathophysiology, epidemiology, health services, and mental health can all come into the frame of clinical research.
Simply put, it entails human subjects and allows the translation of basic research into new and novel treatments to improve the well-being of patients.
Today when people desire to opt for personalized treatments when they get ill, there is a demand for clinical research professionals. A career in clinical research allows individuals to develop treatments for patients to help them with their specific health concerns. As a career, clinical research has many advantages with myriad opportunities. Read on to find out why clinical research can be a good career option.
1- Clinical Research Is A Rewarding Career
It usually depends on what experiences and skills you bring to the table. Although clinical research provides a wide range of career paths, many individuals embark on their careers as clinical trial assistants (CTA) or clinical research coordinators (CRC). In these roles, you typically earn between $54,300 and $73,000 and are given employee benefits.
To start your career, you can enroll in a master’s clinical research management program, which can help you qualify for a wide range of new positions. While salaries tend to fluctuate between states, estimates suggest that your masters in clinical research salary will range between $71,507 and $112,124. Some of the occupations that clinical research professionals can pursue are clinical data manager, project manager, quality assurance manager, clinical research nurse, and regulatory affairs manager.
2- You Will Get An Excellent Opportunity To Help Humanity
If you are a person who loves to help others, especially in improving their quality of life and health, clinical research might be a good fit for you. While working in clinical research, you are involved in testing potentially life-saving drug treatments and medications before these products are available to the public for use. Based on the research and trials you conduct; you play an essential part in helping people receive the proper medical assistance they need to improve health or save a life. If you opt to pursue clinical research, be certain that you will make a difference in many people’s lives. It can be either through curing sick individuals or working to fight increasingly widespread problems, such as antibiotic resistance.
Clinical research is the amalgamation of intelligence and human efforts. While there are many reasons to go for this field, if you desire to have the privilege to enrich people’s lives, there’s a place for you in clinical research.
3- Many Career Paths
One of the many good reasons to become a clinical researcher is versatile work environments. The skills you learn in this field are used in multiple work environments, from the government to private companies to academia. You can apply your clinical research skills in a variety of settings, including
- Pharmaceutical companies
- Medical research organizations
- Clinical research organizations
- Government regulatory agencies
- Healthcare providers
- Academic institutions
- Healthcare payers
4- It Challenges You
Some people love to be challenged and work hard to prove themselves. If you are one of them, consider choosing a career in clinical research. While working as a clinical researcher, you will be responsible for writing reports, setting up studies and closing them, traveling to different places for research purposes, and monitoring clinical trials. Not only do you monitor tasks to ensure all rules are followed during tests, but you also work alongside experienced senior colleagues who can impart their knowledge and experience to you.
As a clinical researcher, you can always expect challenges because the field of medicine is constantly growing. You learn to adapt to advanced methods and technologies and apply them to your research and clinical trials.
5- You Like Flexible Jobs
You might want to become a clinical researcher because you like to have a flexible job. Many people get bored going to the same little work cubicle daily. A job that keeps you moving is what you love the most, then becoming a Clinical Research Associate (CRA) may be what you need. Contrary to what people usually think, CRAs don’t interact with patients or collect data. Their job is to travel to various research sites and validate data transcription. It is the job of CRA to ensure that every research site is acting according to protocols.
6- You Can Transition From Another Domain
Whether you come from a nursing or medicine background, your healthcare knowledge and your passion for people’s health can help you smoothly switch to clinical research. Moreover, your Registered Nurse (RN) or Doctor of Medicine (MD) degrees will allow you to gain competitive benefits and help you achieve higher positions, like Principal Investigator, who is in charge of a clinical trial.
7- Working To Advance Drug Development Is Fruitful
Even if the outcome of your research is not significant to any advancements, you can still feel proud because you have been part of an important process and tried your best. In addition, scientists can refer to your work to apply it to their research. Even if the research work you have conducted takes years to be published or approved as a treatment, your reward will be that you have played a great role in saving lives. Also, it is the role that assesses your ability for decision-making as these decisions can improve the lives of people who need the expertise of clinical researchers.
8- You Will Grow
Clinical research provides you with countless opportunities to acquire knowledge and experience as the field is all about research. By advancing your education to a master’s in clinical research management, you can take a step further, develop your professional role and step forward toward success.
Conclusion
Clinical research focuses on innovative ways to diagnose and treat diseases and prevent the symptoms of illness. Whether you are just beginning your career in clinical research, considering transitioning from a different field, or already working as a clinical researcher and striving to take on a higher role, there are multiple opportunities for you in various settings to make a difference in people’s lives. Professionals working in the clinical research domain are responsible for some challenging medical goals. Moreover, the flexibility, the benefits, and the rewarding nature of the field are a few of the reasons one may consider pursuing a career in clinical research.