I made this podcast to answer the Christmas questions-answers of Solène, Anne, Mary, Laetitia, Liliane, Fiona, and Jeremiah on the CRA profession.

Good listening to all!

Solene

Hello, currently in a research thesis on stem cells, in the context of heart disease, I was wondering what contribution a doctorate brings on the CV of a CRA? Advantage or disadvantage? Thanking you in advance.

In fact, a doctorate does not have any special contribution when starting a CRA career. It is neither an advantage nor a disadvantage. On the other hand, in the public, this can be an advantage in terms of salary and position. It seems to me that you can start as a clinical research engineer with a doctorate. On the other hand in the private sector I did not see any difference, there are perhaps companies that make a difference and make it possible to become project manager more quickly but still it is not sure. So for me there is no advantage and disadvantage. To be CRA you need a BAC + 3 to a BAC + 4.

Anne,

Do you know where I can find a version of the September 2016 Single Contract in English?

I answered your question belatedly but there was an update of the site of the single contract on February 10, 2017 and in this update they put online the English versions. So now you can pick them up.

Mary

Hello, looking to reorient myself, I wanted to know if CRA is a profession that recruits actively at the moment and if the trainings are valid? Thank you for your reply.

The CRA profession is a job that has been recruiting for several years. For me these recruitments do not seem to weaken. You can watch by going on the LEEM to see the amount of ads for this profession. They are quite numerous so there is work. As regards training, yes they are valid. Then there are schools that are more renowned than others. I think what you have to do to make your choice is to find out from the schools the percentage by session of the students who have managed to find a position. I think that’s the best way to find out if people find a job quickly or not.

Laetitia,

A center is aware of protocol deviations, for example value other than the one recommended by the protocol. When monitoring, should these protocol deviations be reported in the monitoring report? Knowing that the center is aware of this and has already provided an explanation.

Any deviation from protocol must be reflected in your monitoring report. That’s what’s expected of you. In case of an audit, the fact of not having put these deviations in the record could be prejudicial. The center is aware of this, yes, it has given an explanation but has it given preventive and corrective actions in relation to this problem? Normally on good clinical practice, it should follow the protocol to the letter. Any deviation from the protocol is a deviation and must be reported in your report and the center must find solutions to the problem.

Liliane,

Hello Vanessa! I want to train to become a clinical research associate but I hesitate between private training and public training. Can you advise me on that? Is it easy to find a clinical researcher job after training? Can you give me advice so that I can train as best I can?

To choose between private and public training, you also need to know where you want to go. If you want to work in the public, public training would be more appropriate. Public training is carried out by members of the general public. Private training is carried out by professionals from the private sector. So in general if you do a private training you will have more chances of being hired in the private and if you do a public training you will have more chances of being hired in the public. Except possibly for all that is master. That is where it really depends, but I’m talking about IUDs here.

Is it easy to find a job after training? I cannot tell you whether it’s easy or not. Everything will depend on you, your ability to defend your CV, your ability to present yourself, your personality. If you are there at the right time, in the right place and where you are going to apply. There are plenty of things you need to get online so you can get a job as a clinical researcher. So if you are looking for advice to train best I think you need to know according to the different schools the placement rate of CRAs at the end of training. For example, the percentage of CRAs who were able to find a job just within 6 months of training or within 3 months. Probably this type of training should have this type of figure. Perhaps you can try to ask them that question and also try to ask people who have this training what they have done as a training. You can also try to go to LinkedIn, then see a little bit, by typing the names of these trainings, the students who have followed this training and where are they today? Are they in the hospital or rather in a private company? That is it.

Fiona,

Hello, currently in M1 biology health, I wish to enroll in master 2 study coordinator in the field of health. As the latter being on an apprenticeship contract, I was looking for a company. Do you have any advice to give me? Thank you in advance for each answer.

I am in favor of the apprenticeship contract only if the training takes place at the beginning and the apprenticeship takes place after the training. Let me explain, in fact when you are in a company and you are taken as an apprentice, you are a full member of the company. You are a full CRA in the company. What the company expects of you is that you can carry out a project from A to Z. Except that when you are in apprenticeship and you have to regularly leave for the course, to return in the company each two-three weeks, the company will have difficulty in offering you a position or a mission over the long term. They will always have someone who will have to manage your projects with you. This will already prevent you from having total autonomy and this is not very interesting for the company. So in my opinion, before choosing a master, check that it cannot make it difficult for you to find an apprenticeship. However, in these formations there are necessarily companies that have already taken trainees in the past. So you can in any case apply to these companies where they are used to take apprentices and that are not disturbed by the mode of operation of these masters.

Jeremiah,

Hello and best wishes to all. I would like information about the profession of clinical trial assistant. Indeed health pro offers training on this profession but the net is not very talkative about it. So I would have liked to know what the task of a CTA is. And if this profession requires traveling? Also what are the wage claims at the beginning of career?

It is a bit normal that the web is not very talkative about this profession because it is a profession that is not extremely known. Basically, a clinical trial assistant is a project assistant, a clinical research assistant, a classical assistant BAC + 2 level who has specialized in clinical research. He has a good knowledge of clinical research. Not as knowledgeable as a clinical research associate but has knowledge that allows him to do his daily work and better understand the demands of his project managers and clinical research associates. So his tasks are going to be: writing reports, dealing with document submissions with the centers, storage of the investigator workbooks.

In any case, he assists CRAs in different types of tasks that are not too scientific. So it’s a job that we find more in CRO. I heard that there would be a little less CTAs in some CROs but that’s to be checked. This profession does not require traveling. After that there may be trips but it is extremely rare, it would possibly be to help a CRA who would have too much work and for example to help him to take care of the investigative workbook, to store the investigator workbook. Otherwise at the level of wage claims, it depends of companies, the salaries will really be variable. Because some companies are going to need urgent CTA, that they will raise salaries to make a call with other companies. However, I would say that wages range between 28 and 32 KE early in the career in large CROs.

See you soon!