Research Nurse: Career, Training, & Certification

Research Nurse

A research nurse most frequently works within a clinical setting, assisting teams with their research in a controlled environment. Their duties may include helping devise new clinical research, assessing patient care problems, helping to figure out suitable patient care plans for those involved in research trials, and revising these plans as necessary. Their job is extremely important because it is up to them to stay on top of the patient’s condition and make sure that those unstable or critically ill patients are kept as stable as possible throughout the clinical research process. This requires an advanced set of knowledge, including specialization in the research topics at hand, in addition to the normal registered nurse license. They can be experts in fields as diverse as anatomy or pharmacology.

Salary Outlook

Salaries can be diverse in this field, depending on what type of organization a nurse is working for.
 
Average Annual Salary
$66,773
 
Salary Range
$60,687-$74,467
 
Work Environment
 
There is a wide range of environments that research nurses may work in. These can include academic environments, with school laboratories featuring some of the most top-of-the-line equipment and medical talent. Private institutes and laboratories are other possible environments, as are research wards of hospitals and clinics. The hours can be long and intensive, if one is closely monitoring critically ill patients, and can also be stressful at times.

Requirements

The requirements differ depending on what level of clinical study the research nurse is entering into. Minimum requirements for entry level positions tend to include at least a current valid license to practice as a registered nurse, as well as at least one year of applied nursing experience. For more involved positions, a master’s or doctoral degree is preferred, along with the aforementioned one year of applied experience. These requirements will vary depending on the state that one wishes to practice in, as well as the type of research that is being conducted and for which organization.
 
Career Outlook
 
With constant innovations and advancements in medical technology, there is still a long way to go. Researchers work long and hard every day to try and discover new treatments to diseases such as heart disease or cancer, and this will continue. As the population ages, and a higher percentage becomes geriatric in the next few years, there will be a huge demand for qualified research nurses, meaning that this is a field with excellent job growth potential.

Professional Organizations
 
National Institute of Nursing Research
National Institutes of Health
31 Center Drive, Room 5B10
Bethesda, MD 20892-2178
Phone: (866) 910-3804
www.ninr.nih.gov
 
Eastern Nursing Research Society
100 N. 20th St.
4th Floor
Philadelphia, PA 19103
Phone: (215)599-6700
Fax: (215) 564-2175
www.enrs-go.org