Clinical Research Coordinators

Maintain required records of study activity including case report forms, drug dispensation records, or regulatory forms.

AI: Fully automatable - Electronic data capture systems and automation can fully maintain study records, case report forms, dispensation logs, and regulatory forms with audit trails and validation.

Schedule subjects for appointments, procedures, or inpatient stays as required by study protocols.

AI: Fully automatable - By 2025, integrated scheduling tools and AI assistants can fully handle routine appointment/procedure/inpatient scheduling, reminders, and rescheduling per protocol with calendar and workflow integrations.

Prepare study-related documentation, such as protocol worksheets, procedural manuals, adverse event reports, institutional review board documents, or progress reports.

AI: Fully automatable - AI can generate high-quality drafts of protocol worksheets, manuals, adverse event reports, IRB documents, and progress reports and assemble submission packages for human review.

Track enrollment status of subjects and document dropout information such as dropout causes and subject contact efforts.

AI: Fully automatable - AI systems can fully track enrollment status, log dropout reasons, and automate contact efforts and documentation through integrated study management platforms.

Code, evaluate, or interpret collected study data.

AI: Fully automatable - AI systems in 2025 can perform data coding, cleaning, statistical evaluation, and draft interpretations at scale, though human validation is typically required for final clinical conclusions.

Review scientific literature, participate in continuing education activities, or attend conferences and seminars to maintain current knowledge of clinical studies affairs and issues.

AI: Fully automatable - AI can continuously monitor and synthesize scientific literature, generate concise updates, and summarize conference materials, effectively automating the bulk of ongoing knowledge maintenance for study staff.

Collaborate with investigators to prepare presentations or reports of clinical study procedures, results, and conclusions.

AI: Fully automatable - AI can draft presentations, produce figures and tables, and write report sections from study data and methods, enabling end-to-end preparation of reports and slides with investigator review.

Develop advertising and other informational materials to be used in subject recruitment.

AI: Fully automatable - AI can generate advertising copy, graphics, targeting suggestions, and multiple compliant drafts rapidly, fully covering the development of recruitment materials.

Oversee subject enrollment to ensure that informed consent is properly obtained and documented.

AI: Partial - AI-driven eConsent platforms can facilitate documentation and comprehension checks but cannot fully replace human oversight required to ensure voluntary, informed consent and legal validity.

Monitor study activities to ensure compliance with protocols and with all relevant local, federal, and state regulatory and institutional polices.

AI: Partial - AI can continuously monitor data streams to detect protocol deviations and compliance risks, but ultimate responsibility for compliance decisions and corrective actions requires human judgment.

Dispense medical devices or drugs, and calculate dosages and provide instructions as necessary.

AI: Partial - AI can accurately calculate dosages and generate instructions, but physical dispensing of drugs/devices and final authorization require licensed personnel and regulatory safeguards, so only partial automation is feasible.

Record adverse event and side effect data and confer with investigators regarding the reporting of events to oversight agencies.

AI: Partial - AI can record, codify, and draft adverse event reports and notify investigators, but determining reportability and liaising with oversight agencies requires investigator/regulatory judgment and sign-off.

Assess eligibility of potential subjects through methods such as screening interviews, reviews of medical records, or discussions with physicians and nurses.

AI: Partial - AI can pre-screen candidates using eligibility criteria applied to records and structured interviews, but nuanced clinical assessment and final eligibility determinations need human clinicians.

Prepare for or participate in quality assurance audits conducted by study sponsors, federal agencies, or specially designated review groups.

AI: Partial - AI can compile documentation, run compliance checks, and generate audit-preparation materials, but participating in audits and responding to inspectors typically requires human representatives.

Identify protocol problems, inform investigators of problems, or assist in problem resolution efforts, such as protocol revisions.

AI: Partial - AI can identify protocol inconsistencies and propose revisions or mitigation strategies, but informing investigators and implementing protocol changes requires human decision-making and governance.

Maintain contact with sponsors to schedule and coordinate site visits or to answer questions about issues such as incomplete data.

AI: Partial - AI can automate routine communications, scheduling, and responses to common data queries, but nuanced sponsor interactions and complex issue resolution still need human judgment and oversight.

Inform patients or caregivers about study aspects and outcomes to be expected.

AI: Partial - AI can deliver standardized study information and answer many FAQs, but individualized informed consent discussions and sensitive conversations about outcomes require human clinicians and oversight.

Review proposed study protocols to evaluate factors such as sample collection processes, data management plans, or potential subject risks.

AI: Partial - AI can analyze protocols to flag issues in sample collection, data plans, and potential risks and suggest mitigations, but human investigators and ethics/regulatory officers must make final judgments and accept responsibility.

Direct the requisition, collection, labeling, storage, or shipment of specimens.

AI: Partial - AI can manage requisitioning, generate labels, and coordinate logistics/shipping, but physical collection, chain-of-custody handling, and some storage tasks require human personnel and oversight.

Register protocol patients with appropriate statistical centers as required.

AI: Partial - Automated interfaces and scripts can submit registrations to statistical centers, yet verification, PHI handling, and institutional approval processes mean human checks remain necessary.

Participate in preparation and management of research budgets and monetary disbursements.

AI: Partial - AI can create budgets, run cost projections, and track disbursements, but cannot execute approvals, signatory financial controls, or fully manage institutional accounting workflows without human authorization.

Interpret protocols and advise treating physicians on appropriate dosage modifications or treatment calculations based on patient characteristics.

AI: Partial - AI can provide protocol interpretation and dosing decision support based on patient data, but final treatment or dosage modifications require licensed clinician judgment and accountability.

Participate in the development of study protocols including guidelines for administration or data collection procedures.

AI: Partial - AI can draft study protocols and propose administration and data-collection procedures based on best practices, but protocol development requires human expertise for ethical, clinical, and regulatory design decisions.

Arrange for research study sites and determine staff or equipment availability.

AI: Partial - AI can analyze site feasibility, staff/equipment availability data, and propose arrangements, but final site selection and resource confirmation need human assessment and on-site validation.

Instruct research staff in scientific and procedural aspects of studies including standards of care, informed consent procedures, or documentation procedures.

AI: Partial - AI can generate training materials, simulate scenarios, and assess knowledge, but instructing staff on nuanced scientific, legal, and interpersonal aspects like informed consent still needs human trainers and oversight.

Communicate with laboratories or investigators regarding laboratory findings.

AI: Partial - AI can interpret lab results, summarize findings, and draft communications to labs or investigators, but direct clinical-laboratory coordination and authoritative communications require human confirmation and responsibility.

Contact outside health care providers and communicate with subjects to obtain follow-up information.

AI: Partial - AI can automate outreach to providers and subjects and collect structured follow-up data, but complex clinical follow-up, PHI exchange, and sensitive communications require human involvement and oversight.

Contact industry representatives to ensure equipment and software specifications necessary for successful study completion.

AI: Partial - AI can draft outreach, identify contacts, and automate messaging/scheduling, but cannot fully replace human relationship-building and negotiation with industry reps.

Order drugs or devices necessary for study completion.

AI: Partial - AI can prepare order lists, check inventory and regulatory requirements, and generate requisitions, but cannot legally authorize or complete procurement of drugs/devices and controlled substances without human institutional approval.

Confer with health care professionals to determine the best recruitment practices for studies.

AI: Partial - AI can analyze recruitment data, recommend evidence-based strategies and messaging, and simulate outreach, but conferring with clinicians to adapt practices to local, ethical, and operational nuances requires human collaboration.

Solicit industry-sponsored trials through contacts and professional organizations.

AI: Partial - AI can research potential sponsors, generate solicitation materials, and automate outreach, but cannot fully replicate the trust-building and networking done by humans.

Organize space for study equipment and supplies.

AI: Partial - AI can design layouts, create inventory lists and coordinate logistics, but cannot perform the physical setup or on-site coordination required to organize space.

Perform specific protocol procedures such as interviewing subjects, taking vital signs, and performing electrocardiograms.

AI: Not automatable - AI cannot perform physical procedures like taking vital signs or ECGs and cannot fully substitute for in-person clinical examination or trained staff conducting protocol procedures.