A joker to bridge times of staff shortage.

A medical center in Berlin, specializing in vascular medicine. The team is well-coordinated: studies are a daily routine here. Both interventional and observational studies are conducted at the national and international levels. The chief physician has been working with a permanently employed Study Nurse for several years. Conditions that seem perfect, as the Camovis team reflects on the deployment…

The medical center had played its trump card. The card with the broad yellow border and the radiant Joker in Camovis colors was designed by the company to capture the attention of sites that otherwise work with their own nurses. Almost like a personal backup before the success of a study starts to waver: when personnel resources become scarce, a Flying Study Nurse from Camovis steps in – precisely where the situation is tight at that moment.

Just like the situation in Berlin. The Camovis team was to support the study 18 hours a week to fill the emerging gap. The employed nurse was on parental leave, but her replacement had decided to pursue different professional paths after four months. A new replacement had not been found yet – and when the phone rang at Camovis in Charlottenburg, it was less than a week until the position would be vacant.

30 patients, a chaotic data situation, and a doctor with limited time awaited the Flying Study Nurse on Day One of the project. The interventional study focused on a medication designed to alleviate circulatory disorders in the extremities when used in addition to aspirin treatment. One patient group received the medication while the other received a placebo. Collaborative work was required, with precise documentation of how the subjects’ health status behaved after administration.

After three days of orientation, the complete study back office was the responsibility of the Camovis employee. Additionally, there was the monumental task of data cleaning: the frequent turnover in the Study Nurse position had resulted in a far from consistent data situation. From 18 weekly hours, it escalated to 45 hours – over a period of nearly 6 months until the handover could ultimately be made to the medical center’s new Study Nurse.

Satisfied faces rewarded the efforts of the Flying Study Nurse. On the patients’ and the site’s side. Not only had the Joker done exactly what it had promised: the study continued successfully. Financially, Camovis had also extended its generosity. The increased extent of the Flying Study Nurse’s engagement led to a new offer, allowing him to benefit from a more favorable hourly rate.