Research nurse manager perceptions about research activities performed by non-nurse clinical research coordinators

Objectives: There has been limited research to document differences in roles between nurses and non-nurses who assume clinical research coordination and management roles. Several authors have suggested that there is no acknowledged guidance for the licensure requirements for research study coordinators and that some non-nurse research coordinators may be assuming roles that are outside of their (legal scopes of practice. There is a need for further research on issues related to the delegation of clinical research activities to non-nurses. Methods: This study used nominal group process focus groups to identify perceptions of experienced research nurse managers at an academic health science center in the Southern United States about the clinical research activities that are being performed by non-nurse clinical research coordinators without supervision that they believed should only be performed by a nurse or under the supervision of a nurse. Results: A total of 13 research nurse managers volunteered to be contacted about the study. Of those, 8 participated in two separate nominal group process focus group sessions. The group members initially identified 22 activities that they felt should only be performed by a nurse or under the direct supervision of a nurse. Conclusions: After discussion and clarification of results, activities were combined into 12 categories of clinical research activities that participants believed should only be performed by a nurse or under the direct supervision of a nurse.