A day in the life of a research nurse, with Monika O'Connor
Monika O’Connor has been a nurse at the Launceston General Hospital for 40 years and is currently the Clifford Craig Foundation’s Research Coordinator.
The medical research program facilitated by the Clifford Craig Foundation is quite unique – particularly for a regional hospital like the Launceston General.
Along with providing important healthcare advantages to patients, it also provides people of North and North-West Tasmania access to medical research trials locally.
However, conducting a medical research program in a regional hospital requires a lot more than just funding for grants.
This is where the Clifford Craig research teams fits in, with a dedicated team of nurses allocated to projects, as they are needed.
They assist researchers with protocol development, ethics, governance, patient recruitment, data collection and more. Our nurses are a vital piece of the research puzzle.
At the forefront of this is Monika O’Connor – the Clifford Craig Foundation’s Research Coordinator. As the title suggests, it is Monika’s job to make sure our research projects operate efficiently.
Born and raised in Germany, Monika is a trained intensive care nurse and has worked at the LGH for 40 years. This includes three decades of research experience.
Currently, she is overseeing five projects covering Motor Neurone Disease, Multiple Sclerosis, COVID-19, Influenza and Bariatrics, with a further four trials also in the works.
We caught up with Monika to find out a bit more about her role and why she loves what she does.
What does a typical day for a Research Coordinator look like?
“I am usually in the Clifford Craig office before 7am. The first thing I do is get set up for the studies of the day. We have a big diary, so all the patient visits for all the trials are documented there.
“The last two months we have been extremely busy with our COVID-19 and flu vaccine studies, with probably up to 12 patients back-to-back in a day. After lunchtime we usually have visits for the MND study.
“While I do a lot of the admin work, I am also hands on. I usually help out with patients, including conducting study visits. This is my favourite part of the job – interacting with patients.
“We usually have study visits up until lunchtime, then complete the data entry from all of the patients we have seen that day.
“Everything has to be documented, down to the time we took bloods and sent it down to pathology.”
Is there a common theme you see with patients who choose to be a part of medical research?
“The majority of patients we see have the attitude that without research, we wouldn’t have the latest technology and the latest medications. So, they want to help.
“They recognise that it might not benefit them at the time, but by participating in a trial it will benefit future generations.
“That is the common attitude of our research participants, and I think it is spot on. It is the right attitude to have, because we still would be dying from heart attacks at the age of 40.”
What is the hardest part of your job?
“At the moment, the workload is significant – which can be stressful. So, we are kept very busy.
“But aside from that, it is the emotional toll. I find our MND study emotionally very challenging, because our patients are dying.
“Seeing their distress – because we see them over such a long period of time.
“We see them every three months, and you can see the deterioration in their condition, and you just know that sadly their life is going to be cut short.
“That is incredibly hard, but we have to remember why we are doing it.”
“When we have these highly successful studies, with developments of new drugs which provide such a better outcome for our patients, then I am always so proud.”
Monika O’Connor
Is there a trial you’ve been a part of over the years that you are most proud of?
“Yes. I want to keep my brain active, so having to learn new things all the time is great.
“I have loved medicine all my life and have been working in research now for 30 years.
“Cardiovascular research has always been a big passion of mine and one of the most significant projects I have been a part of is the LIPID trial.
“We knew there was a link between high cholesterol levels and heart disease. It was a seven-year study, and it was highly successful in reducing the rate of re-admission with heart attack.”
Fast facts:
Commencing in the late 1990s, LIPID was a large, multi-centre trial involving more than 87 hospitals (including the LGH) and more than 9000 participants.
It was inspired by a study in Norway which showed that high cholesterol levels could be lowered with the drug statin, reducing the risk of a patient experiencing a cardiac event.
This study found that Pravastatin treatment for six years was found to reduce death from cardiovascular disease by 24%, and overall mortality by 23%.
“The second study I am most proud of, the GUSTO Study, tested new treatments for the blood clots that occur when you have a heart attack.
“Prior to that we only had one medication and people had to come into hospital. It was given as an infusion over 90 minutes – so it was a really slow progress – and there were lots of negative side effects.”
Enrolment for the GUSTO Study commenced in 1990, and involved 15 countries, 1081 hospitals and 41,021 patients, and compared four different thrombolytic strategies.
“This study led to the development of new drugs, which can now be administered intravenously by paramedics.
“So if you are far away, say in a place like St Helens, you have a much better chance of surviving a heart attack now, because of this treatment.
“When we have these highly successful studies, with developments of new drugs which provide such a better outcome for our patients, then I am always so proud.
“I can say ‘I was running this study and look at the impact it has had’. That gives me really great job satisfaction.”