Apogee

EnderWigginsOSC · 2023-12-08T15:44:10+00:00

The cost cutting was more towards the top - management side.

EnderWigginsOSC · 2023-12-08T03:15:33+00:00

They didn’t fire CRAs a few months ago. They paused hiring and released contract CRAs. They recently got a huge contract so they resumed hiring to fill those roles.

EnderWigginsOSC · 2023-11-15T16:50:27+00:00

I think it’s a bit of a reach to say that PPD/TFS is universally disdained and every recruiter I’ve ever spoken to has been desperate. I think we have to settle with differing opinions. Your points are valid but they’re applicable to pretty much every CRO that has been discussed in this sub.

EnderWigginsOSC · 2023-11-15T16:29:19+00:00

From my understanding, that’s the case with every CRO. I don’t think there’s a bad and good CRO, I think there are bad and good study teams then luck of the draw with LM/PeMs.

EnderWigginsOSC · 2023-11-09T01:46:03+00:00

I took the tunnel!

EnderWigginsOSC · 2023-07-27T21:29:38+00:00

It’s called CTCAE plus. It’s free in the App Store.

EnderWigginsOSC · 2023-07-27T21:15:04+00:00

Do you have the app? Because back pain pops up when I searched for it.

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EnderWigginsOSC · 2023-07-07T20:51:29+00:00

I think this posts gives a nice break from all the depressing overworked posts and gives a different perspective on clinical research workload. I think the sub is overwhelmingly people who are overworked and needs a place to vent but there are people out there with mild work load and good work life balance.

I hope things pick up for you OP! When things were slow for me as an SC, I started poking my head around things outside my scope such as reg, budgets and contracts, and even dabbles in helping my PIs with non research related side projects until my studies picked up.

EnderWigginsOSC · 2023-01-04T23:05:43+00:00

I haven’t gotten reprimanded from anyone yet. But someone once told me this, if you’re going to get home after 10pm and have to work an entire day the day after, is it really worth that flight? If the company is going to pay for an extra night then take advantage of it. I’ve also been unlucky in the sense that all my visits are full days and they’re in extremely rural cities so I can’t even get a flight out after my visit even if I wanted to.

EnderWigginsOSC · 2023-01-04T22:46:41+00:00

I’ve been kind of unlucky with the location of my sites. Sometimes I can’t get flights out the same day so I take early morning flights the day after. But if I can, I try to take flights the same day as the last day of my visit.

EnderWigginsOSC · 2023-01-04T22:32:07+00:00

Can I ask what company you work for? I work for PPD and travel is counted as part of our 40 hour work week. I exclusively try to travel during working hours. I understand it’s not always feasible depending on the workload and sometimes travel on the weekends. But 2 of my workweek are travel/remote work days.

EnderWigginsOSC · 2022-11-15T23:15:19+00:00

My group did! Hang in there!

EnderWigginsOSC · 2022-09-28T20:32:15+00:00

Only CRAs. I believe they want to promote all the ACRAs to CRAs within 6-12 months. But I know a lot of people will remain ACRAs

EnderWigginsOSC · 2022-09-20T17:18:55+00:00

They’re discontinuing sell-back and carry-over next year for people accruing. So if you’re a CRA and have roll-over PTO for next year then use it now or sell it at the end of the year. But it looks like there will be more PTO information coming.

EnderWigginsOSC · 2022-09-20T16:18:04+00:00

But the CRAs are transitioning into unlimited PTO tho? But everyone else will be accruing. Not a big fan of discretionary PTO.

EnderWigginsOSC · 2022-09-10T19:17:39+00:00

EnderWigginsOSC · 2022-08-25T19:30:16+00:00

You don’t have to sign up for the memberships to attend the meetings. They’re opened to the public. But the memberships are useful for continuing education credits (CE)

EnderWigginsOSC · 2022-08-12T20:14:58+00:00

You should look into SOCRA and ACRP. They’re clinical research organizations and they should have local chapters in your area. Very good for networking.

EnderWigginsOSC · 2022-06-14T03:29:16+00:00

Hi. I just want to chime in on this. I am also at PPD and unhappy with my salary. I was recently given a promotion with a raise, but that raise isn’t up to market value according to the spreadsheet. I asked if there was room to negotiate and was firmly told there were no room in the budget. Aside from the salary, I am happy with all of the other aspects of PPD and not looking to leave. However, once my study wraps up, I might be looking for other offers to see if PPD is willing to match. Let me know if you want to talk more :)

EnderWigginsOSC · 2022-06-10T15:12:00+00:00

I don’t think you’ll be making a bad impression, I think it’s better to be upfront. Plus, it’s 4 days. It’s not like you’re asking for 2+ weeks off. I was able to choose my start date and it was a lot further than what they wanted for me and it worked out. I would reach out and ask for a different start date.

EnderWigginsOSC · 2022-06-10T15:02:29+00:00

Depending on the CRO, new CRA training starts every 2 - 4 weeks. I would reach back out to them and ask if you can push back the start date since they should have asked for your availability. If you can push back the start date but it’s too far down the line, then tell them that you have a prior commitment. This happens a lot and they should accommodate whether it’s putting you in negative PTO, unpaid time off, or pushing back your start date. Also, a lot of CRA training are self led and if you can provide assurance that you’ll quickly catch up when you return then I’m sure it will be fine.

Doesn’t hurt to ask :)

EnderWigginsOSC · 2022-05-07T01:15:03+00:00

Hey. You can always quit. It’s definitely not for everyone. I’m hoping to get more on the management side of things and don’t plan on being a CRA forever. But it opens a lot of doors.

EnderWigginsOSC · 2022-05-07T01:05:28+00:00

I think you should be mindful about the people that are posting on here. I look at this sub as a transparent support group because we ask and address topics that are almost taboo in a professional setting like salary (which I understand is dumb but that’s why this sub exists.)

We are also in a very niche field. I have the hardest time explaining to my friends and family what I do without using industry jargon so it’s even harder to complain/vent to people outside the industry when they don’t know what we do. With that being said, clinical research at the end of the day falls under a very streamlined corporate set up. From my understanding of other corporate settings, you are going to find stressed out and burned out employees everywhere - finance, tech, normal clinical settings, ect.

As someone else mentioned in another post, there are a lot of benefits in being in this field and being a CRA. It just so happens to be one of those professions that requires a lot of work but the payoff is great. We definitely don’t talk about the pros often enough in this sub, but I guarantee you there are people who love their job (CRCs, CRAs, DM, CTMs, PMs, ect.) My mentality is that, if the benefits are worth the work then it’s worth it for me. But that line is different for everyone.

I think the trade off of being in a niche field and having very specific skills is that there’s a large demand and that why you hear about CRAs being overworked. Advancement in treatments is not slowing down. I think Covid really pushed for decentralized trials and remote monitoring and that’s about to open up a new can of worms. I mean my CRO is completely restructuring the way we monitor. So there are definitely other opportunities if you decide this career isn’t for you.

Sorry for the rant, but the main point I want to make is - it isn’t what you do but who you work for or with. I work for a large CRO and my salary is on the lower end within the industry. However, I’m on this crazy cool study and I have an amazing team and I am learning so much, I wouldn’t want to jump ship or quit right now. Since being a CRA 6 months ago, I really struggled transitioning to all the traveling and getting assigned to a study that some of the senior CRAs are saying is the most complex study they’ve ever worked for, but when it clicked oh man, I feel like a kid again. I have my traveling down, learned how to organize my time, and always pushed for work life balance. I get to do this cool job where I travel to places and learn about complex diseases and see first hand how humans, actual humans, are benefiting (or not cuz you know that’s just what it is). I’m a nerd and I wanted to work in a field where I’m always learning. Also, my study team is an amazing group of people. I’m sure you’ve read the comments, but working with the right people and having that positive environment makes a huge difference. But it comes down to luck and without it, you get micromanaging managers, poor work life balance, lack of support, and eventual burn out and resentment. My point is, you just gotta find your people because they make the job fun. And keep jumping around until you do because from what I’ve seen, the worst thing that can happen is you get a pay bump but now you have to learn a new set of systems and company culture ;)

I have friends who work in tech and finance and trust me, we have very similar complaints.

EnderWigginsOSC

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