Many doctors (physicians) look for online courses that can enhance their profile, add to their knowledge and skill set and in the long run have the potential of monetary gains for themselves. If you are looking for such an online program, have you ever thought of specializing in ‘Clinical Trials’/’Clinical Research’? Well, if you have not then it is important for you to know that as a doctor / physician you can participate in multi-national clinical trials as an investigator. Clinical research is big business funded by pharmaceutical & biotechnology companies and if you have well established private practice or if you work at a hospital you can become a part of these projects.
Owing to the large and diverse patient population, English speaking doctors, good infrastructure and low costs, India is already a hub for clinical trials. Although India is participating in a lot of clinical research studies at the same time it is facing a shortage in the number of doctors who are trained in clinical research and can participate in these global clinical trials. Many companies are selecting the same investigators for their studies over and over again, simply because not many experienced doctors are trained in clinical research. Not only does participating in or conducting a clinical trial bring huge monetary benefit to physicians but it also helps in getting publications based on the study that you conducted and gives a sense of satisfaction that you are contributing towards the advancement of medicine which has potential to make the lives of patients better in the future, should the new treatment make it to the market.
To help doctors/physicians achieve this, James Lind Institute has a specialized program in clinical research only for physicians called the ‘Advanced Certificate in Clinical Research for Physician Investigators’ (ACCRP) which is not only an online training program that equips doctors with knowledge and skills expected of an investigator but also comes with clinical research site set-up support to make it easier for the physician to get started. To know more about this unique online course for doctors/physicians please feel free to visit the James Lind Institute website.