What is a Research Poster?Posters are widely used in the academic community, and most conferences include poster presentations in their program. Research posters summarize information or research conc

Literature Review

Literature Review – Mentoring A New Clinical Research Associate

HCR/566

June 14, 2020

Barbara Marusiak

Janean Smith

“A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.” — Oprah Winfrey

BMC Proc (2017) Mentorship has been linked to enhanced mentee productivity, self-efficacy, and career satisfaction; it is also an important predictor of the success of researchers in training. In many studies it shows that having a mentor not only shows in their day to day task but overall performance. A good mentor set goals not only for themselves but also for the people they are mentoring. So, does having a mentor really help? The answer is yes! Having a mentor not only help guide you but also make you feel a little at ease knowing you’re not alone. Mentoring, is not just someone pointing things out to you but actually sharing some of their experience on how to handle different situations. Some companies you would find yourself having multiple mentors when starting a new position within your current company or starting at a new one. You may have one mentor who help you navigate through which training to start with and assist with overall question. Another mentor after all training is done and your placed on a project. Sometimes you may have a mentor on the same project or someone who is a senior level on another project.

According to Center Watch Staff (2016), having a mentor is someone who is not your supervisor but someone who will help give you guidance, and not in a way of telling you what to do. A mentor should not become overpowering to where the person they’re mentoring become alienated and don’t want to work with them. Mentoring someone should help take the anxiety of someone who may feel overwhelmed with everything. When starting a career as a CRA a mentor would need to take in accountability of how much experience the person may have because this may be their first job in clinical research. Which mean they would need to lean on you a lot more than a person who has industry experience. Global Public health (2011) summarize important characteristic on the effectiveness of a mentor and the interest in the development in the trainee success in clinical research. Not only are mentor offering guidance on the position but also give advice, counselling, and career guidance. A mentor comments and critiques should always be insightful and not in an angry tone. You never want your trainee to develop any insecurity, become depressed or stress out due to a mentor not being able to give feedback in respectable manner. It’s important for a trainee to gain and develop their independence to grow within their position and not feel broke down to where they don’t want to do the job anymore.

Becoming an CRA is not an easy job to take on so it’s good to have someone who can answer questions that they may feel is a silly or dumb question but a good mentor would tell them no question is a dumb question. You never know another person maybe thinking of the same question but afraid to ask. It’s up to the mentor to make sure the people they’re mentoring is comfortable to ask any questions. Center Watch Staff (2016) error and accomplishment has a big contribution in development process, and show great determination by overcoming personal fears when achieving their lifetime goals when working with a mentor. Having a mentor can help mold someone career in clinical research for the better.

Reference

Center Watch Staff (2016). The power of mentoring in the CRA career. Retrieved from:

https://www.centerwatch.com/articles/15133

https://bmcproc.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12919-017-0083-8

Sural K. Shah , Bobbi Nodell , Silvia M. Montano , Chris Behrens & Joseph R. Zunt (2011) Clinical research and global health: Mentoring the next generation of health care students, Global Public Health, 6:3, 234-246, DOI: 10.1080/17441692.2010.494248

https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2010.494248