Research Assistant I, Trauma Outcomes Core Health

The Trauma Outcomes Core (TOC) is a collaboration between the Center for Surgery and Public Health and The Division of Trauma, Burn, and Surgical Critical Care. The TOC conducts research to better understand outcomes after traumatic injury and uses this information to guide the development and implementation of interventions that address disparities in these outcomes. The TOC's largest project is The Functional Outcomes and Recovery after Trauma Emergencies (FORTE) project. FORTE collects long-term clinical, physical, and mental health outcomes for individuals who survive traumatic injuries with the overarching aim of establishing a national registry of long-term outcomes. About 50% of the Research Assistant's time will be spent on FORTE-related work.

The other 50% of the RA's time will be spent on the Non-English-Speaking Trauma Survivors (NESTS) Pathway. NESTS, funded by the MGB United Against Racism initiative, will create a new post-discharge clinical and behavioral health pathway with the goal of increasing rates of outpatient mental health evaluation for non-English speaking survivors of traumatic injury dealing with symptoms of depression, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder. The RA will work closely with the NESTS Community Health Worker to support the identification of patients, enrollment in an on-demand interpreter service, and documentation/quality improvement data collection. The RA may also accompany the Community Health Worker on bedside visits for hospital inpatients.

The Research Assistant will work under the supervision of a Senior Project Manager, Research Fellow, and Investigators. The RA will follow established policies and procedures to recruit and work with patients to complete surveys, collect and organize patient data, and maintain databases generated by several TOC research and clinical projects. Please note that this position will include patient data collection and interaction in the hospital inpatient setting and over the phone.

While the Research Assistant will primarily assist investigators with FORTE and NESTS, it is possible that the RA may help with additional research projects. If additional projects are identified, percent effort on existing projects will be re-evaluated.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Recruits and enrolls potential study participants.
• Coordinates monthly mailing to all potential study participants across study sites.
• Responsible for screening study applicants, ensuring they meet appropriate criteria.
• Use Epic Electronic Health Record to collect patient demographic data.
• Conducts telephone and in-person interviews with patients.
• Collects study data (via telephone and in-person interview) and maintains confidential patient records in REDCap databases.
• Develops, organizes, and/or maintains multiple databases.
• Responsible for data validation and quality control.
• Prepares call lists and works with student callers to divide the list equally.
• Performs literature searches when needed for projects.
• Assists PIs/investigators with preparing presentations/abstracts/manuscripts for conferences or journal publications.
• Assists with regulatory documentation as directed by project manager.
• Responsible for training and orienting new staff. All other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

B.S. or B.A.

• At least one year of work experience in a human subject research setting. Sound independent judgment and competence in research methodologies.