Get DOCR Services and Support
Support for Duke Clinical Research Units
Clinical research at Duke is a collaboration among study teams and various central offices. To find out more information about the institutional approval process, please click the link below.
Clinical Research Units (CRUs) and Oversight Organizations (OOs) are the operating business units responsible for the integrity, financial accountability, regulatory compliance, quality, and academic productivity of clinical research studies taking place at Duke Health.
Study selection decisions are made within the CRUs and OOs, as well as the coordination and allocation of resources, and the flow of funds associated with individual studies.
Each CRU/OO consists of leadership comprised of one or more of the following:
- Faculty Advisory Board
- Director
- Financial Practice Manager
- Research Practice Manager
To find out more about CRUs and OOs across Duke, please click the link below.
DOCR policies are posted behind the Duke firewall and are only accessible after providing a username and password and/or logging in through VPN. If you are Duke personnel and are unable to access one of these documents, please send an email to docr.help@dm.duke.edu for assistance. To access the DOCR Policies and Procedures page, click the button below.
DOCR Contracted Effort and Free Support
The Duke Office of Clinical Research (DOCR) provides navigation, tools, and training to support the conduct of clinical research in which Duke serves as an investigative site. These services and tools are available for faculty, staff, students, and trainees at Duke. This includes a wide range of fee-for-effort and free services for the research community that cover the entire range of the study life cycle. DOCR has a team of research professionals available to facilitate the process of research with the ultimate goal of improving patient care. This page outlines the services and systems support provided by DOCR that do not fall under the DOCR Service Center.
The centralized charge reviewers (QA and Regulatory Compliance Associates) review both professional and technical encounters to ensure that charges route correctly. Charge reviewers work closely with the study initiation team keeping the grids current and correct and with the clinical trials billing office at the PRMO to get bills sent out accurately and timely.
Currently, over 50% of all Duke clinical research protocols that require charge adjudication are being reviewed by the centralized charge review team with the goal of 100% review of all research protocols in the future. Units currently being reviewed by centralized charge review include Adult Bone Marrow, Thoracic, Sarcoma, GI, Phase 1, Breast, GYN-Onc, Endocrine Melanoma, Brain Tumor, Urology, Rad Oncology, and Cardio-Thoracic devices.
Contact centralized charge review at docr-chargereview@dm.duke.edu for assistance or questions.
The DOCR Service Core supports two clinical research sites available for study teams to utilize for participant visits: the Duke Early Phase Research Unit and Research at Pickett Road. For more information, please contact us at ResearchatPickett_Requests@dm.duke.edu.
ClinicalTrials.gov is a web registry of publicly and privately supported research studies conducted in the US and around the world. DOCR is the ClinicalTrials.gov system administrator for Duke. DOCR helps maintain compliance with federal regulations and policies and assists study teams with understanding requirements and entering information into the database.
If you have questions, contact the DOCR ClinicalTrials.gov team DOCR-CTgov@dm.duke.edu
Tip sheets are available here.
DOCR’s Data team is comprised of staff members who are trained in REDCap, data management, honest broker, and data entry, etc.
Look here for information about:
- REDCap: DOCR REDCap Website | REDCap database build and/or maintenance, survey build and distribution, support for REDCap database and/or survey built by the study team
- Data Management: Data cleaning, coding, merging, prepare data for analysis
- Honest Broker: Data management, De-identification of data, cleaning, de-identification, and validation services to investigators and teams working in, or outside of, PACE
- Visualization: Represent data graphically to make information easier to understand through charts, graphs, or maps.
The DOCR Service Center is comprised of staff members who are CITI-trained and skilled in study conduct at Duke. Services include study coordination, chart abstractions, data entry, regulatory support, etc.
If you are interested in getting an estimate or requesting services, please email us at ResearchatPickett_Requests@dm.duke.edu.
DOCR's Grant Planning team offers a free one-hour operational review of grant proposal elements to help ensure efficient implementation at Duke and ease downstream processes such as protocol development.
DOCR Advisors will bring in a team of subject matter experts to review your plans for participant recruitment and enrollment, study staffing and budget requirements, data collection, storage, and analysis with an eye toward building your budget and human subjects sections.
A general review of significance, innovation, and research strategy sections is also provided to optimize the clarity and flow of the application. Recommendations for additional resources are also provided.
This review can occur at any grant planning stage and will be tailored to the resources and recommendations that are most useful to you. Any mechanisms of *research or career development grants are appropriate for this service.
To request grant planning services, email docr-grants@dm.duke.edu.
* For support in writing School of Medicine Center or Program grants, please contact the Duke Office of Research Development.
The DOCR Maestro Care Research Analyst team is responsible for the creation and maintenance of Maestro Care tools utilized for research. An all-inclusive approach is taken to provide comprehensive Maestro Care support to the research community. Initial study builds such as research medications, Smart Sets, and Research Beacon Treatment Plans are among the services provided. Our team works closely with research end-users to troubleshoot system issues and optimize research workflows within Maestro Care.
A variety of recruitment-enhancing tools are also available through DOCR’s Maestro Care Research Analyst team. These recruitment tools include silent alerts, custom schedule or patient list columns, Reporting Workbench Reports, and MyChart Recruitment. Maestro Care recruitment consults can be scheduled to review recruitment goals and develop a customized plan to optimize recruitment via the electronic health record.
If you are interested in receiving an estimate for a customized Maestro Care recruitment plan, please fill out this REDCap form. You can also view our Maestro Care for Research flyer to explain more about our available services.
The DOCR Research Program Leader Resource provides assistance with program- or project-level management and support. Individual RPLs can be enlisted to support program leadership and individual teams by working to develop plans and processes, facilitate communications, and coordinate stakeholders both internal and external. They will ensure that your project stays on schedule, within budget, and that goals are met.
Services available also include regulatory planning and support; large collaborative event planning for research projects, colloquiums, symposiums, and consortiums; digital communications support for research programs; strategic planning; and SOP development. Please contact docr.help@dm.duke.edu for more information.
The DOCR Recruitment Team can help studies looking for potential participants or who need effort to screen, contact, and schedule for studies. They maintain and utilize the Duke Health Research Volunteer Registry. Services include proactive recruitment planning, participant identification and scheduling, and ResearchMatch.
DOCR provides Spanish translation services for research-related documents for a fee. We can also provide in-person Spanish interpretation for research visits. For more information, please contact us at: ResearchatPickett_Requests@dm.duke.edu.
This free consultation service is open to all researchers and study teams who are beginning a new study or planning to conduct clinical research at Duke.
During this one-hour meeting, your DOCR Advisor will review with you the operational aspects of your research plan and provide recommendations and resource connections to increase the efficiency of study approval, start-up, and implementation.
A review of study documentation in advance of the meeting helps our expert staff identify potential pitfalls and opportunities.
Conversations are tailored to the needs of your study and your team, but typically cover:
- Study design
- Staffing needs
- Management of regulatory requirements
- Study implementation
- Data accrual, management, and analysis plans
To request a Study Planning meeting email docr-studyplanning@dm.duke.edu.
A study initiation meeting may be held for those studies that require a Maestro Care billing calendar and order set, or Beacon build. In this meeting, we discuss appropriate billing designations and Maestro Care build needs. If a meeting is required, representatives from DOCR’s Start-up and MaestroCare Build teams will meet with study team members to discuss the protocol and identify needs for Maestro Care, including order set/Beacon build and a billing calendar to direct charges and aid with charge review. The study initiation meeting also provides a forum to discuss alignment with Duke and national clinical research policy, as well as educational and clinical research services within Duke. For more information about our study initiation meetings, please contact us at docr-startup@dm.duke.edu.
DOCR training and communication services are intended to keep clinical research staff informed and provide opportunities to grow clinical research skills. The DOCR team has experienced instructional designers, website administrators, trainers, and communications professionals who provide these services. We provide instructor-led and eLearning courses, support and management of required training for researchers, website administration, and communications about relevant changes and issues in clinical research.
Services include:
- Development and management of instructor-led and eLearning courses
- Bi-Weekly Research Wednesday training sessions
- The Research Professionals Network (RPN)
- Bi-Weekly Clinical Research Update Newsletter
- DOCR and RPN listserv management
- Efforted design services (training, website, materials, etc.) as bandwidth allows
Contact docr-training@dm.duke.edu with questions.
The Workforce Engagement and Resilience team created and manages the competency-based framework for clinical research jobs at Duke. This framework is used as a foundation to help managers select titles for new positions, onboard new employees, set goals for professional development, and provide career advancement opportunities.
Services/Initiatives Include:
- Job/Title Picker for hiring clinical research personnel
- Onboarding Learning Plan templates for clinical research roles
- RPN+ New Hire Cohort Mentoring Program and Foundational Topic Series
- Training by competency for clinical research personnel
- Engagement, Recruitment, and Retention Certificate Program
- Tier Advancement processes administration
- Guidance, tools, and training for Tier Advancement
Workforce Engagement and Resilience (WE-R) Page
Contact wer-jobs@dm.duke.edu with questions.
Free services are provided through the Participant and Clinical Interactions Core, which is run by DOCR, with support from the Duke CTSA grant [UL1TR002553], an initiative led by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health. Please be sure to cite this valuable resource in your publications.
Clinical Research Support Pages
