Research Assistant, Distress Assessment & Response Tool (DART) Study at Aga Khan University Hospital

The Clinical Research Unit (CRU):

The AKU Clinical Research Unit (CRU) is a core facility of the Aga Khan University Cancer Centre - Experimental Therapeutics program, established in line with AKU’s clinical and translational research agenda. The CRU supports high quality human subjects research and research processes to facilitate timely, ICH-GCP compliant clinical research studies from conception through to completion, and is dedicated to providing hope to cancer patients, ensuring that they receive the best of oncologic care in the context of being part of a clinical trial.  Our clinical trials program is dedicated to the study of novel therapies in the management of cancer.

Job Summary:

This position will contribute to establishment of the Cancer – Mental Health Program at the Aga Khan University Hematology-Oncology department. Distress Assessment & Response Tool (DART) is a novel program to determine distress levels in cancer patients and provide tools to help alleviate and mitigate sources of distress. The Research Assistant could be an Research Nurse with clinical training or a non Research Nurse with clinical exposure and experience.  The Research Assistant will interact with patients and complete DART assessments and work together with the Project Lead (a Clinical Psychologist) to determine distress levels and recommend appropriate intervention in collaboration with the treating Medical Doctor. In addition to always maintaining a professional demeanor, the Research Assistant will be expected to interact with cancer patients with care, compassion and empathy.

Responsibilities:

• Identify, recruit and consent patients to complete the DART assessment;
• Administer DART questionnaires in person and remotely;
• Document and maintain accurate records of patients completing DART; 
• Extract data from the patient health records and upload it to the tracking database; 
• Ensure compliance with ethics, ICH-GCP and study protocol, including policies and regulations related to safety, privacy, and confidentiality;
• Work closely with the Project Lead to establish a Psychosocial Oncology Program; and 
• Ensure storage of data in a private and confidential manner, and in compliance with Kenya Data Protection laws.

Requirements:

• Must have a Bachelor’s degrees in any field (health care field would be an asset)
• Have not less than 1 year experience in survey conduct, consenting process, study coordination/management
• Must have Knowledge in qualitative and quantitative research
• A Certification in suicide intervention and mental health first aid will be an asset
• Previous nursing or clinical background (with patient involvement) will be an asset

 Knowledge and Competencies (skills, abilities & traits required):

• Proficiency in English and Swahili languages, both written and spoken, including typing are key for this role
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Have at least intermediate computer literacy