3 Tips for Creating Useful Project Charts During Clinical Research Training

Project management is an integral process of clinical research, requiring the congruity of several different phases to be successful. Clinical research professionals often focus on creating a plan, communicating updates, calculating risk, and evaluating progress. Project management refers to the success of each stage of the clinical research, ensuring that the project runs smoothly with the help of a number of team members assigned to the project.

At AAPS, students pursuing the Clinical Research, Drug Safety, and Pharmacovigilance certificate are equipped with the most up-to-date knowledge about the most recent developments in the field. Graduates find themselves prepared to accept positions in the Pharmaceutical, Biotechnological, Medical Devices, Cosmetics, Natural Health Products, and allied industries with vast knowledge obtained from the 15 modules completed. Continue reading to discover more about the Clinical Project Management and Project Chart Development module and the best tips for creating helpful project charts.

1. Start With an Organizational Chart

Beginning any clinical research project with an organizational chart can help set the stage for a successful line of processes that seamlessly integrate the pre-trial phase. When approaching project management after clinical research courses, you’ll want to characterize this phase of the project by focusing on setup activities, including the recruitment of staff and participants, pilot testing, the development of statistical analysis plans, and more. 

An organizational chart will help you best outline the tools you need for success. A great tip for organizational charts in the pre-trial phase, in line with SOCRA project management best practices, is to clearly outline the chain of command, outline the responsibilities of each team member, and help all study staff appreciate where they and others fall in the project timeline and production. Taking advantage of this tool allows clinical researchers to build camaraderie and highlight anyone with specialized positions within the trial.

Use an organizational chart to map out your pre-trial phase.

2. Implement Gantt Charts Following Clinical Research Training

Creating a Gantt chart can be helpful to fully outline your project and organize a research plan against a specified timeline. Following clinical research training, you’ll want to incorporate these steps into your Gantt chart creation:

1. List out activities step by step with as much detail as possible, including required resources
2. Estimate the length of time needed to complete each activity, anticipating any possible lags or delays
3. Organize the activities and tasks based on milestones, eliminating any discovered constraints
4. Combine like activities to lump them into bigger groups, and adjust your timeline to reflect the bigger picture

The Gantt chart you create will give you both the big picture of your project and overall timeline, as well as a detailed description of each required task and how long each is expected to take. This organization upfront will allow you to accurately assess the project as time goes on, giving you the ability to evaluate and make adjustments as necessary.

Gantt charts will help you see everything from the big picture to task details after clinical research training.

3. Design a Flawless Flow Chart

Designing a flawless flow chart is a great tip for anyone wanting to display both the high-level project overview as well as granular details. Flow charts can be a useful way to outline protocols, present information in investigator brochures, and record important information in a manual of procedures.

Flow charts enable each team member to quickly access next steps in the process.

Referring to a flow chart when working with participants is much more efficient and simple than pulling out an entire manual with multiple documents to sift through. The process steps can be viewed at a glance, and the actions can be seen in sequential order, giving instructions to the researcher on how to proceed with the project protocols. When you graduate from AAPS, you will be comfortable with overall project planning, development of study goals, preparation of budget and contracts, implementation of monitoring visits, and effective management of research sites through the use of a number of advanced tools and templates.

Interested in earning your clinical research certification?

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