Lately I have been in discussion with several professional organizations about the variety of clinical research professionals that work with study participants:
Clinical Research Nurses- Nurses who in the practice of professional nursing, have patients who are in clinical research studies (usually nurses who work in research units like what we used to call GCRCs or NIH Clinical Center inpatient and outpatient units)
Clinical Research Nurse Coordinator- Nurses whose job role are to manage a study protocol and the patient activities in the study within the scope of practice as an RN and as designated in delegation by the PI- with PI oversite. (emphasizing the issue of "scope of practice" that links with RN license)
Non-RN Study Coordinators- whose jobs are to manage studies and study participants but performing the non-clinical aspects of a study - within scope of practice and education.
Sometimes we cross the line in licensure and training. I'd like to hear more about that and refer everyone to NIH CRN 2010 documents for a discussion.