Final answer:
The Drug Testing Coordinator (DTC) is responsible for managing the procedural elements of drug testing in clinical trials, which includes coordinating patient appointments, maintaining records, working with medical staff, and facilitating the trial's overall process to ensure accurate result publication.
Step-by-step explanation:
The purpose of the Drug Testing Coordinator (DTC), which is closely related to the role of a Clinical Trial Coordinator, is to manage the various aspects of drug testing during clinical trials. The responsibilities include coordinating patient schedules, maintaining detailed documentation, and building a database to track patient data for long-term studies. A DTC ensures that proper documentation has been collected and approved, and works collaboratively with nurses and doctors to facilitate the smooth progression of the trial, ultimately leading to the successful publication of results. The role is critical in ensuring the integrity and accuracy of the trial, which contributes to evaluating drug efficacy, monitoring drug toxicity, and reducing therapeutic costs.
A clinical trial coordinator often comes from a science background, potentially with a nursing degree or other related certification. Experience in science laboratories or clinical offices is also valuable. The position typically exists in hospitals, but can also be found in clinics and doctor's offices that conduct trials.
The application of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM) is part of the role when it is relevant to the trial, helping to optimize drug dosage based on individual patient responses and specific drug characteristics such as having a narrow therapeutic range, significant inter-individual variability, a clear relationship between blood concentration and clinical effect, and a reliable method for measuring drug concentration in plasma or serum.