Student Research at Duke

I had no idea there was such a profession as a research nurse. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to shadow 2 research nurses who both are recruiting subjects for participation in two different studies. So, what exactly do they do? They are the backbone of clinical research- they work in an office setting but also frequent the Duke North Hospital and Duke South clinics to see about potential subjects for currrent hematological studies. Donned in a white lab coat that I borrowed from Sheree, we headed off to 9th floor, oncology. Their department is primarily concerned with cancers of the blood like lymphomas and leukemia. She and I checked up on the platelet counts of three different patients to see if they were still elligible for PLADO, a nation-wide study that is looking for a more cost-effective way to tranfuse platelets. Meanwhile, Robin was working on an observational study on Heparin-Induced Thrombocytopenia that follows cardiac bypass patients. The anticoagulant heparin has the disadvantage of increased clotting in certain patients. Part of her job includes giving these patients the spiel of the study and asking them to sign a consent form to donate their blood. She did this task with reservation, saying that it was difficult approaching people in the ICU who were often in a lot of pain; “I feel like a salesperson”, she told me.Recruiting these patients is the first barrier to clinical research, apart from awaiting approval of the protocol from the IRB, whcih can take a few weeks-which is what I’m kind of doing right now.   

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