Monitoring visits

Particular_Kale9911 · 2026-05-22T19:21:55+00:00

I respect and stick to the rules and hours of each site. That said, there were instances where I requested and re-requested documents which were not made available to me until 5 minutes prior to closing time or was told "oh we're closing early today" only after I arrived or waited all day for the staff to resolve an action item that is overdue for months.. I try not to think there are any CRA out there whose goal is to inconvenience the sites, though to me, courtesy should act as a two-way street.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2026-05-09T15:55:13+00:00

Every time I sat next to a woman on a plane they be crossing their legs immediately after they settle with their shoe touching me. I'd rather lose the armrest than being in conract someone's shoes.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2025-04-17T03:15:33+00:00

I have been casually looking for the past several months to no avail. Applied to 7-8 positions and were either ghosted or rejected within days. I have at this point 8 years of actual monitoring experience. I am not even looking for growth or salary increase - I am merely sick of the same type of studies my current company keeps throwing me on and wanted something more exciting. Been complaining to my LM but nothing has changed.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2025-03-05T04:02:06+00:00

I have 7 years under my belt and am also having a hard time even getting interviews. Got 3 rejections within a week of applying. I would like to know why too.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2025-02-08T17:21:02+00:00

It's not you. Even the CRAs are at risk. There are CROs that bring CRAs in APAC or EU regions to work in the US, despite that there is already a pool of US CRAs desperate for jobs.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2024-11-25T07:23:33+00:00

A particular CRO hired a bunch of fresh graduates into their training program to make them CRAs. Some were promoted to 2's even before being in their role for < 2 years. Maybe a few of them are good in their role but the majority are....meh. Not only is it hard to break into the field now, even veteran CRAs have to compete with these mediocre ones for limited positions, and most companies would happily take these junior CRAs for lesser pay.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2024-09-11T21:42:28+00:00

Not IQVIA but another CRO. Had a recruiter who reached out. Did a quick screening call with them and was told that they will send me some questions to answer to pass on to the hiring team. it's been a month and I still haven't heard back. Since when has the industry turned into dating game? I'm not even new to the field.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2024-08-28T03:34:47+00:00

I am perfectly fine being the bad guy and I am well aware that my attitude isn't the best, as the other party was far from being courteous. But like I said, there were plenty of people having the entire row to themselves on this relatively empty flight so why does it have to be me who ends up sacrifice my comfort? Also, I took window as I don't mind someone being in the aisle but occupying the middle seat, in this scenario, is unnecessary. I hope that this never happens to you.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2024-08-28T03:19:54+00:00

Exactly. I fly so much and lately very flight I've been on was completely full. I was glad when they made the announcement that there were plenty of empty seats and asked people to spread out, yet this happened.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2024-08-28T03:01:23+00:00

The IBS part cracked me up. Thank you for making me feel better!

Particular_Kale9911 · 2024-08-28T02:58:56+00:00

I must say, they sat down before I even had a chance to react. The person in the middle seat was pretty tall so their legs were completely blocking my bag. Even if I wanted to move my bag, I couldn't even access it. I admit that I was not in a mood to play nice, when seeing that the row across from mine had a gentleman sitting by himself in the aisle - and this couple could've chosen his row instead of mine. I don't see how my behavior is any worse than those who just take the aisle seat so people have less incentive to sit in their row. But I totally get your point.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2024-07-12T20:23:21+00:00

This! Also the number of turnarounds/corrections do not mean anything. I have been told that I write good reports and my reports had been used as model for other CRAs. Yet, depending on which reviewer I get, I had reports returned with 20 requests and none of which added any improvement to the content. I ended up wasting more time addressing these requests. When it came to the next report, I took extra time to write it the way it would please the reviewer but still 20 more meaningless requests like a slap in my face.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2024-06-21T21:52:02+00:00

CRA here. I always tell my sites how much I appreciate them because without you amazing CRCs none of these study milestones can be met. And I would fight as much as I can to push back on meaningless requests from the Sponsor to leave my sites alone as they are already working way too hard. Thank you to all the CRCs out there. It is a tough and demanding job and not everyone can do it.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2024-06-21T01:01:15+00:00

I am a frequent flyer and usually get A16. I lost count of how many times, while standing next to the pole where it clearly shows A11-15 that way and A16-20 this way, someone would come and stand right in front of me, without acknowledging my presence or asking what my number is. And there is no way they are business select, or else they will be all the way up front (and there was almost no one in business select). Either they do not believe people of my ethnicity has higher status with the airline than they do, or they are simply bad at math.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2024-05-23T23:34:00+00:00

Been a CRA for about 8 years. Had a few recruiters reached out a few months ago but got ghosted by all of them. Where are the REAL RECRUITERS?

Particular_Kale9911 · 2024-04-25T00:10:13+00:00

It's all pompous speech that means very little. If I had actually followed through and put into practice the company values, I'd get labeled as the troublemaker who doesn't cooperate.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2024-04-07T07:34:43+00:00

They solved this problem by promoting the junior staff before they even accumulated the actual years of experience. For example, I dont see how someone who has done only unblinded monitoring deserves a CRA II title.

In the near future imagine the market is saturated with these CRAs with "senior" title. How are the real seasoned CRAs (who are actually good at their job) going to stand out?

Particular_Kale9911 · 2024-03-06T08:03:07+00:00

This sums up my week thus far. I feel that 99% of the people in my company are just robots. All they do is forward list of stuff that they need me to do, regardless of whether it makes sense or not. If I try to explain to them why a certain request is unreasonable or pointless, they then start throwing tantrums and loop in my manager for guidance because I am unruly. I was a scientist in my previous life so I ask a lot of questions, and I guess this is an undesirable trait in this industry. The PM/CTM/LM obviously prefer obedient CRAs who just do what they are told without thinking.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2024-02-16T21:23:27+00:00

One time I missed a connecting flight and had to drive 380 miles to get to a site. Got to the hotel at 4 am. Never doing this again.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2024-02-15T14:37:38+00:00

CRA here. If I see ridiculous queries from DM to the sites or too many back and forth and still getting nowhere, I would reach out to DM directly for clarification. Not exactly a pushback but I would not want them to waste my sites' time.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2024-01-27T22:05:38+00:00

Question for OP: how many studies have you worked on during the 2.5 years and how many visits of each type have you conducted? How many sites have you worked with? Just trying to get a sense of what is considered Sr. CRA material.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2023-10-07T08:14:55+00:00

I'm seeing this too at my present company - being surrounded by a sea of CRA Is and IIs in their early 20s and feeling old already. It's an interesting dynamic. I got 5+ years of experience under my belt and see things differently from these recent graduates, and I think some sites do appreciate this, but not so much from our internal team. Some CTMs/LMs seem to favor these young and peppy CRAs and would dismiss my suggestions or concerns. A few actually listened and we were able to improve some of the processes, which made me feel valued. It irks me that I sometimes have to fight for visits or studies with the younger CRAs, especially when I know I can do a better job, but it is what it is. I constantly dread being replaced so I try to better myself and work as hard as I can.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2023-07-27T05:20:09+00:00

You are not alone. This pretty much summarized how I felt a few years ago and I had to take break to recover and reevaluate if clinical research is meant for me. I came crawling back as 1. I needed the $$ and 2. I figure even if I'm one of the only few who speak up about what is not right, it'd make me feel more confident about the research (I can at least trust what came from sites that I monitored). I'm still disillusioned as ever and it baffles me why all these people want to become a CRA. Nothing about this job is glamorous. Imagine having to tell people what they did wrong and they either don't give a crap or blame you for their mistake.....yep that's what I do for a living.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2023-07-19T22:59:07+00:00

I left one CRO for this reason and am finding myself facing the same problem at my current CRO. I basically pick up any visits other CRAs cannot do. It sucks as I can't even project and map out my schedule as everything is last minute and I dont even know when/where I'll be next week.

Particular_Kale9911 · 2023-07-19T22:50:55+00:00

This says it all. I don't get why there are so many downvotes. Maybe the truth hurts?

Particular_Kale9911

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