A Day in the Life of a Home Healthcare Research Coordinator

摘要

The research center where I work is part of the largest nonprofit home care agency in the country, which serves the homebound in one of the most diverse American cities—New York City. One of my major responsibilities is to oversee field interviewers who visit patients in their homes to complete surveys and other assessments for our primary data collection research projects. I am still wearing my coat when I sit down at my desk and check my email in the morning. I need to see if there are any questions that should be answered before field staff leave their homes for the day. My goal is to make sure each field interviewer feels supported and prepared for their visits. Sometimes we collect primary data using structured surveys with close-ended questions and limited response options. Other projects depend on qualitative methods like one-on-one interviews and focus groups. Once such project is a pilot study exploring how nurses decide whether or not their patient is ready to be discharged and what kinds of tools might be helpful in making the decision to discharge a patient. At 9 o'clock, I call the investigator to discuss our progress in developing the interview guide. The results of this pilot study will inform an application for a grant that will hopefully fund a larger research project, so it's important that the questions are appropriately phrased to collect the most relevant and valid data. When we've completed the interview guide, I will submit it to the Institutional Review Board, which oversees and regulates all research activity at the home care agency where I work.