Sarah Dalton, a clinical research coordinator at a major research hospital, sees cancer on a daily basis. She’s responsible for the organization and management of clinical care for lung cancer patients on trials for new drugs or new drug regimens.
I asked her some questions about her profession, and here’s what she said:
BC: What’s your typical day like?
Dalton: It depends. If it’s a clinic day, meaning I have patients coming in that are on one of the trials I’m overseeing, I’m usually running around getting things ready. The doctors will need their most recent lab reports, CT or X-ray results, and any update on what has happened to them since the last time they’ve been in the office. Depending on their disease state and regime, some patients come in as often as once a week, and some every three or four months. We have industry-sponsored trials, government run trials, and trials developed by our own doctors and researchers, and they all have different requirements and regimens.
When I’m in the clinic, I might be talking with the patient and giving them a new calendar, getting orders ready for the infusion clinic if they’re getting chemo, drawing blood, shipping specimens for outside analysis, meeting new patients that might be interested in one of the trials I’m managing, interfacing with nurses, nurse practitioners, and doctors. When I don’t have patients on my trials coming into the clinic, it’s a lot of deskwork. Filing adverse event reports, abstracting medical information to fill out regulatory paperwork, following up with patients, faxing information, going over investigational review board procedures, scheduling scans or lab tests, making calendars, and talking with insurance people.
BC: How’d you get where you are?
Dalton: I have a bachelor’s degree in physiology, and eventually want to go into medicine, so this is a good stepping off point.
BC: What the best thing about your job?
Dalton: The best thing is the people. Cancer totally sucks, but I’m always amazed and inspired by the resiliency of our patients and their ability to stay positive. Our clinicians and providers are also great people who work hard but have great bedside manner. It’s kind of like we’re all in this hectic ship together, and you have to have a sense of humor not to sink.
BC: What don’t you like?
Dalton: I don’t like it when patients I’m fond of progress (meaning their cancer gets worse or shows up in a new spot). It sucks. I’ve cried more than once at work. I also hate having to do regulatory paperwork (boring!) and seeing someone’s treatment be denied because of stubborn insurance companies. The bureaucracy makes me want to scream.
BC: How much money do you make?
Dalton: More like how much don’t I make. If I were working for industry (pharmaceutical companies that make the drugs), it’d be a lot more, but I’d lose the patient interaction and would simply be a paper-pusher. I’m not in this job for the money; I’m in it for the experience.
My Gig is a series of stories about different careers. Trying to figure out what to do when you grow up? My Gig, which provides a quick glimpse into a person’s work life, may inspire you!
