Camovis creates new framework conditions and expertise for the successful implementation of clinical studies.

The boxes containing study materials are stacked up to the ceiling. Amidst them, medical equipment, items that hadn’t previously found a place in the practice, a few cleaning supplies. Only one spot had been left vacant in the small room, which was now – something … “boom” – the mission for the Camovis nurses had begun with a plea for assistance from the long-standing practice in Berlin. However, before anything else, tidying up was the top priority – both structurally and in terms of communication.

“We can’t reach the doctor anymore,” was the concise message from the Clinical Research Organisation, which sought Camovis’ support. A gastroenterological study had been arranged at the location and was on the brink of commencing. However, despite the CRO’s attempts to establish contact and initiate all necessary actions, there was a complete absence of any response.

To the surprise of all parties involved, the doctor promptly reached out to Camovis and arranged an initial meeting with the Flying Study Nurse.
One day a week, always on Tuesdays, for 8 patients – and no available space – were the general conditions set by the doctor for the Camovis employee. Originally, only one of his staff members was to be trained, who would also be responsible for the study alongside her daily tasks: routine checks on patients’ vital signs, medication registration, data recording, and processing.

In the context of daily operations and the backdrop of limited personnel, this solution proved to be far from practical. Particularly when a second study was launched at the same site – 13 patients concurrently, screening and analysis. The monitor’s response to the 7-hour initiation was, “It’s not that time-consuming.”

For the Camovis team, this was not an assignment like any other. In addition to the “normal” requirements of the study, the Flying Study Nurse acted as a communicative problem solver at all levels. A doctor who was not very accessible at the beginning. There was little time and even less understanding for the framework conditions that such a study requires, plus a structure “in which there is really no room for one”, and of course other projects that also demanded all attention – a balancing act between professional commitment and personal psychological stress limits for the nurse.

In the morning, shortly before seven, in an office in Berlin: Patient beds instead of desks, a laboratory or infusion room instead of a patient room – if the cramped conditions in the practice necessitated it, the Camovis nurse also attended to study participants at their workplaces. Remaining composed and considering alternatives, always maintaining a friendly demeanor while still asserting herself: It was crucial that the patients remain oblivious to any structural shortcomings.

“It doesn’t work alone,” the Camovis team knows from experience. As in Berlin, the practice team must always be involved so that a study can be carried out comprehensively and according to protocol. Here, for example, temperature logs had to be kept daily, samples had to be moved regularly. “That meant motivating again and again, breaking down fronts and creating communication.” The Flying Study Nurse then even took out the trash herself once in preparation for the monitor’s visit.

The Camovis nurse had to engage in numerous conversations with the doctor and demonstrate even more diligence to gradually gain the necessary freedom – even though, at times, she doubted whether everything would fall into place. After 9 months, she was working at the site up to 3 times a week. Further projects were initiated at the physician’s request: “I now realize how much I need you…”