Veeva San Francisco Hosts ClinOps Toolkit Meetup

Have you heard of Nadia Bracken’s ClinOps Toolkit blog? It is a comprehensive, growing resource for clinical operations content and perspective. Nadia is an energetic champion for improving patient lives through sharing ideas and practices among clinical development professionals. Her meetup group is a great way to connect with other clinical research professionals in the Bay Area.

Veeva Systems hosted the most recent meetup for the group in San Francisco to discuss End of Year Evaluations and 2014 Goal Setting. As the facilitator, I used a technique that we use in our product development process — a retrospective and had participants suggest topics under each of the following categories:

• What did/didn’t go well in 2013?
• Any major successes/accomplishments?
• What are your goals for 2014?

After voting on the most critical ideas for forming the basis of a dialogue; the group spent about 10 minutes discussing each of the top five topics in a “mastermind style.” This technique is a favorite of mine, as it encourages active participation and brainstorming so that everyone can take away something meaningful. On this night, the group’s topics were:

1.  Site solutions summit

2.  Changing jobs

3.  Understanding what is important to clinical operations directors

4.  Getting experience with risk-based monitoring

5.  Improving the lives of Investigators and site personnel

The enthusiasm in the room was palpable as participants exchanged ideas and perspectives right up until the buzzer that forced us to stop and move on to next topic. It was the type of exchange that really benefits from the in-person dynamic.

Nadia plans to continue the conversation with more meetups 2014. Veeva and I look forward to supporting the growth of this group and others in their pursuit of clinical operations excellence.

Sound like a good experience? Find meetups in your area here.

Todd  Tullis is senior product manager, Veeva Vault eTMF.