Sponsor training burden: where coordinator hours really go

How much time goes to training?

• An average of 17.5 hours per study per month on training activities (SCRS).
• 2 to 10 hours per person, per study on mandatory training alone, from an assessment of over 500 clinical research professionals (SCRS).
• 65% of that mandatory content is considered redundant (SCRS).

For a site running five studies, 17.5 hours each is more than two full working weeks a month.

Why is so much of it redundant?

Historically, investigators and sites completed duplicative questionnaires, forms, and training for each sponsor, and often for each trial (TransCelerate). Portal training, GCP refreshers, and system modules repeat across studies with little new content.

What is the industry doing about it?

• SCRS Cut 25: an industry commitment to cut redundant or inefficient training requirements by at least 25% without compromising protocol critical content. One participant cut mandatory modules from 116 minutes to 55, a 48% reduction (SCRS).
• TransCelerate GCP mutual recognition: participating sponsors accept GCP training that meets shared minimum criteria, so staff need not repeat it for each company (TransCelerate).

What can a site do now?

1. Use mutually recognized GCP courses and keep certificates in one place.
2. Track training hours per study, and raise them in budget negotiation.
3. Bill for training where the contract allows; it is an invoiceable item at many sites. See invoiceables sites forget to bill.
4. Push back on duplicate modules, citing Cut 25.

Where should the saved hours go?

Into enrollment, not cold outreach. The hours a coordinator wins back are best spent screening and caring for patients. Finding candidates, including keeping local physicians informed, can run as a system so it does not consume that time again. Training burden also feeds turnover (SCRS). See why coordinators leave.