Introduction: Clinical trial findings are changing the established treatments and are the basis for advances in medical science. Nurses have always been an important part of research teams since the beginning of modern clinical trials, and they gained a more prominent role in the 1980s, when the first descriptions of the work and tasks performed by the nurse in clinical trials emerged, including a new job title - research nurse. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to examine and describe the role of the nurse involved in conducting clinical trials in the world by reviewing the published original research, and to answer the question of where the nurses’ roles are regulated and recognized. Methods: A descriptive method of work with literature review and analysis was used. Professional and scientific literature was searched in Slovene and English from 12 January to 1 February 2020 in the bibliographic databases CINAHL, PubMED, DiKUL and COBIB.SI. The search terms were: "research nurse role", "clinical trials nurse role", "clinical research nurse role", "clinical research coordinator role", "research nurse", "klinične raziskave", "koordinator kliničnih raziskav", "vloga medicinske sestre pri izvajanju kliničnih raziskav". Results: Of the 41 selected publications, 9 research papers were included in the final analysis. Three researches were conducted in the UK, two in the United States and one in Australia, Canada, South Korea and Italy respectively. Five research nurse roles were identified: direct care provider, informant, clinical research coordinator, patient advocate, data manager. The United States of America is the only country where research nurses have a recognized specialization in conducting clinical research. Discussion and Conclusion: In most countries, research nurses learn the specifics while working or under the guidance of an experienced research nurse. In the field of role delineation, most literature is available in English, and most research on the role of the research nurse has been conducted in English-speaking countries. Despite the recognized role of the research nurse and the advanced knowledge required to conduct clinical trials, the field of education and training is not regulated. Through further scientific research into the role of the research nurse and the promotion of the research nurse's work and tasks, clinical trials would be brought closer to the nurses who may be interested in this field of activity.
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