Clinical Data Management Course: A Promising Choice To Build Career in 2022

The success of clinical researches, clinical trials, and advanced treatments highly depends upon the accuracy in data collection, data management, and data analysis. Clinical data management is the core of success in research-based medical R&D, advanced studies, and services. The increasing numbers of medical device manufacturers, medicine manufacturers, research institutes, healthcare services providers, govt. departments etc are embracing the importance of professional data management in clinical research; the trend drives the multifold increase in the requirement of certified CDM (clinical data management) experts. 

What Is Clinical Data Management (CDM)? 

Clinical trial management is a well-planned process of gathering and managing the data of ongoing and conducted researches in line with regulatory standards to get error-free objective-oriented databased information. CDM is a critical phase in clinical trials and researches that leads to get data-driven reliable information for a particular purpose. Use of customized software applications simplifies CDM besides making it highly dependable for error-free information.  

Job Roles and Responsibilities of Clinical Data Management Specialists: 

Clinical data specialist has certified skills and experience to manage data for the particular objective; may it be research, R&D, future reference, drug discovery, drug trials, or any other management purpose. The clinical data helps to make decisions for advanced treatment. Therefore, the quality of data management in clinical trial management is of acute importance; and, it generates the demand for efficient and knowledgeable certified data management experts all across the globe. 

• What does a clinical data management specialist do?  

• What is the job role of clinical data management manager? 

Certified CDM specialists come across multiple opportunities in different job roles: 

• Clinical Data Manager: Collects data from different clinical studies, monitors CDM processes, maintains data of clinical researches and trials, and analyzes the data-driven outcomes.

• Database Designer or Programmer: Executes CRF (case report form) annotation, facilitates data validation, develops database for the research study, develops data-entry gateways, performs edit checks, etc.

• Medical Data Coder: Integrates different codes variants for different events to simplify tracking of previous developments

• Clinical Data Coordinator: Designs report forms, develops the case filling instructions, and develops protocols.

• Quality Control Associate: Audits data to maintain data entry accuracy 

• Data Entry Associate: Tracks CRF pages receiving and updates the database 

After securing a clinical data management certification, you will come across many other jobs also with task-specific roles like- clinical data reviewer; bio-statistician; clinical data entry operator and software developers/programmers etc. 

What Is The Future Scope Of Clinical Data Management Career?  

Is CDM specialist a good career choice for 2022 and after? What are the future job opportunities after getting CDM certification?

The future job opportunities for certified clinical data experts are expected to be on a continuous rise. CDM became more important forever after the worldwide spread of COVID-19; the urgency to invent the COVID-19 vaccine brought the importance of data management in clinical research into limelight; without the help of CDM experts, it was almost impossible to initiate researches and to go for successful clinical trials. Pharma sector, research centers, contract research organizations, Pvt. medical institutes, and government sector need high numbers of CDM experts with valid certification.    

Yes, CDM specialist is a good career choice for 2022 and after. According to The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), the projected growth of clinical data managers and statisticians is expected to be 35% during 2019-2029. The least annual pay-scale hike can be expected about 15%. 

What is the salary of a clinical data analyst or specialist? The average salary of a clinical data manager is about 8,71,750 (INR)/your while the average salary of a clinical data coordinator is 3,84,285 (INR)/yr. Certified medical coder can expect a salary around 4,50,00 (INR)/your.   

How to Become Clinical Data Specialist: The Best Clinical Data Certification:

Is clinical data management a good career domain for me?  The minimum eligibility for joining ‘clinical data management certification exam’ course is a bachelor’s degree in life science, computer science, health sciences, information technology, management etc. You are expected to have strong problem-solving, analytical, and communication skills. You should be capable to manage the pressure of meeting deadlines through a team network.  As a clinical data manager, you are expected to collect data as per requirement and to address surprising requirements through data- management.  

To become a competent clinical data specialist for different job roles, you need to have the best clinical data certification. The best ‘Clinical data management Certification’ course prepares you to support, plan, data collection, data storage, and data dissemination for clinical researches and trials. The numbers of institutions offer clinical data management online courses; but, as per my experience, I recommend to choose widely acknowledged data management course offered in the instructor-led virtual modules so that you could pass the CDM certification exam without disturbing your ongoing schedules and engagements. 

Clinical data management course curriculum covers all the aspects of CDM job roles including- 

• CRF framing

• Discrepancy management

• Data design and collection

• Data entry, data cleanup, and data validation

• Data analysis, data reporting and data presentation 

The clinical data management course provides insights into data management principles to be tested on lab projects. You need approx. 10-15 hours to prepare for an online exam that validates your skill as a certified clinical data management specialist. You also get Android-friendly online study material free; so, you can dive into the content anytime from anywhere. 

Pro-Tip: 

Learntoupgrade, a leading online education platform, offers value-added certification courses also to add unbeatable competencies to your credentials for clinical data management job roles; top in-demand low-cost growth booster CDM courses are – ‘Diploma Certificate Program In Clinical Research and Clinical Trials’; ‘Clinical Research Certification Course’.