Health Science Specialist

Summary

This position is located in the Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center (GRECC) at VA Central Arkansas Healthcare System (CAVHA) in North Little Rock - AR. The Health Science Specialist is responsible for working closely with and providing a high level of support for GRECC clinicians and investigators in the conduct of human subjects' research and/or the development - implementation - and evaluation of innovative clinical models of care for older veterans.

Duties

• ***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION - YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION*** Major duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to: Coordinating all work-related activities required to complete single-site or multi-site projects
• Managing regulatory documents and submitting to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and the Research and Development (R&D) Committee all documents required for project approval
• Providing or monitoring of projects and adheres to all applicable deadlines for submission of regulatory reports including adverse event reports - annual reports and other reports
• Assisting with data collection - document retrieval - and writing reports needed to obtain initial and ongoing approval of the protocol by the IRB and R&D Committees
• Assisting with developing and maintaining a Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) manual and adhering to this manual when administering and implementing the project protocol
• Completing all aspects of the screening and recruitment process as stipulated in the project protocol and ensures that all patients/subjects included in the project meet all inclusion and no exclusion criteria
• Keeping patients/subjects or their legal representative informed about all aspects of the project in which they are participating
• Utilizing and maintaining an electronic record management system for each project and using it to record all applicable recruitment - procedure - and interview data
• Managing participant compensation and maintaining compensation records
• preparing invoices for reimbursement of participants
• Completing assigned components of the initial (baseline) and follow-up/interim subject/patient assessment
• Preparing and reviewing status reports and statistical data to verify compliance with reports and administrative criteria
• Abstracting medical records to obtain data for each project as stipulated in the protocols
• Providing data summaries and other project information that is required to complete all mandated project reports
• Promoting building of team cohesiveness and effective communication with all individuals involved in any aspect of the project to enable effective team functioning and successful completion of the project
• Training other Health Science Specialists and verifies that they understand and adhere to all aspects of the protocol and all relevant policies - can reliably and correctly perform all procedures
• Performing the duties of a Level 1 quality assurance reviewer which entails auditing research study records for the presence of documentation required to maintain compliance with R&D and IRB standards/requirements
• Monitoring and evaluating quality of all data and using proper approach for correcting all errors identified
• Creating daily data monitoring reports to present on-going status of data to the project lead
• Participating in establishing operational guidelines for the use of each project assessment instrument
• Utilizing appropriate software - entering all data into designated electronic databases and accurately transcribes recorded patient/subject interviews
• Conducting ongoing intra- and inter-rater reliability testing of all project instruments
• Utilizing various library and on-line search engines to perform extensive literature searches on specific topics as required for a given research or clinical project
• Preparing bibliographies for use in various educational materials and tools - journal article submissions - and grant applications
• Compiling and producing education and training materials
• Assisting in the preparation of manuscripts authored by a project lead for publication in peer-reviewed health/medical journals
• Conducting research for the papers and abstracting relevant literature
• Other related duties as assigned
• Work Schedule: Monday - Friday - 7:30 am to 4:00 pm - subject to change based on needs of the facility
• Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not approved Telework: VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service - increase worker productivity - and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies
• This position may be authorized for telework
• Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process
• Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required