Healthcare Sample Essay

Question

This is a HEALTHCARE PERSONNEL PAPER about (Clinical Data Analyst) in “CALIFORNIA”, it should include the following content: 
1. General description and role 
2. Services provided/population served 
3. Training/education
4. Licensure/certification
6. Career ladder (where can one go after the entry level job)? 
6. Work setting(s)
7. Salaries 
Papers will be a maximum of three pages (plus endnotes). Your sources should include an interview with someone in this profession.
• Use 81/2″ x 11″ paper, with one-inch margins on all sides. • Papers should be typed, with all text, double-spaced. • Do not use covers or cover pages. • Use Courier or Courier New 12 font

Answer

Clinical Data Analyst (CDA)

A Clinical Data Analyst (CDA) is tasked with developing, designing, managing, and statistically analyzing data systems so as to determine the efficiency of clinical trials in terms of data collection. CDAs are responsible for capturing research data accurately and ensuring that protocols or experiments are completed consistently. The role of a CDA is very critical as the fate of a new trial drug lies in his/her analysis. The professional must present verifiable scientific data to back the research findings on which the success of clinical trials is anchored. Upon securing a job as a CDA, one can choose from different possible paths towards career advancement that become open. For instance, after a 3-5 year experience as a CDA, one can be promoted to the position of either clinical data manager or project manager[i].

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As the name suggests, the work of a CDA is specific to the medical field, specifically the realm of clinical trials. Professionals who occupy this position are often employed by healthcare facilities and associations. Through their analysis on the trial drugs, governmental agencies, biotechnology firms and pharmaceutical firms are able to find out just how effective their trial drugs are (Sun and Reddy 5). These trial drugs are often created for different reasons to serve different people. Therefore, the population served by CDAs varies widely. For instance, they have played a vital role in overseeing the progress of research on trial drugs that slow down the rate at which cancer spreads to the vital organs of the body. By analyzing the data collected from the clinical trials, the CDAs are essentially rendering service not just to the agencies that came up with the trial drug but also everyone who has been affected by the disease. In other cases the trial drugs could be specific to women from the ages of 22-30. Therefore, the population that CDAs serve varies from one clinical trial to the next. CDAs perform a wide range of services, including creating databases and software programs, offering a one-on-one explanations on the outcome of the clinical trial to interested parties and stakeholders and preparing presentations on the same.

To be a CDA in California as well as in other states in the USA, one has to have a bachelor’s degree in computer science, engineering, statistics, mathematics or a health-related field[ii]. Having a master’s degree on any of the aforementioned also augurs well with most employers. While it is not a major requirement while applying for the position of a CDA, it often serves as an added advantage. Moreover, employees often look for a candidate with a minimum experience in the clinical data management area and a significant research experience of at least 2-5 years.

In order to be employed as a CDA in California, proper certification and documentation has to be presented (Rabiee 658). The two main areas of focus during certification the level of education attained and experience. It is particularly for every CDA working in California to pursue professional certification as a Certified Health Data Analyst (CHDA), a credential that can be attained from organizations like the American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA).[iii] Competencies also constitute a core component of the certification requirements. For instance, all CDA candidates must be proficient in the Microsoft Office Suite, have prior knowledge of Mat Lab, and competency on MS-SQL packages (Judd et al. 68). 

Essentially, a CDA mostly works within simple office-style work environment and within the confines of a laboratory. Laboratories are convenient places for these professionals because of the ideal environment they provide during efforts to develop and design software to be used in analyzing the results of the clinical trials. Moreover, laboratories typically have restricted access whereby only authorized personnel can gain entry. This in turn decreases the number of data management accidents reported while promoting the maintenance of the integrity of the data, data systems and projects.  From the description and the responsibilities of the CDAs provided, it is clear that the work they do is very challenging and demanding. The average salary for a CDA in California is $63,174 (Findings from an Interview with Hilda Cate). This is a decent wage considering the amount of work that CDAs do right from the start to the end of the clinical trials[iv]. Overall, being a CDA is a very satisfying job especially for a healthcare professional who is interested in seeing the world change one drug trial at a time.

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[i] More information on healthcare career paths is available on: http://www.healthcarepathway.com/career-ladder/health-info-career-ladder.html

[ii] More detailed information on the general requirements of a CDA available can be obtained from: https://www.communitycarenc.org/about-us/careers-ccnc/careers-clinical-data-analyst6/

[iii] The AHIMA website offers an in-depth analysis of the CHDA certification. Here is its link: http://www.ahima.org/certification/chda

[iv] More information on the pay scale of CDA particularly at the national level is available on: http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Clinical_Data_Analyst/Salary

Works Cited

Findings from an Interview with Hilda Cate. Online Interview on the Clinical Data Analyst Job. 8 September 2016. Web.

Judd, Charles M., McClelland, Gary H. and Ryan, Carey S. Data Analysis: A Model Comparison Approach. London: Routledge, 2011. Print.

Rabiee, F. “Focus-Group Interview and Data Analysis.” Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 63.4 (2004): 655-660. Print.

Sun, Jimeng, and Reddy, Chandan. Big Data Analytics for Healthcare. Proceedings of the 19th ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, 2013. Web.

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