Research Positive: A Day in the Life of a Research Coordinator at Arkansas Children’s Hospital

Published date: September 09, 2024

“What does it mean to champion children?” In our Champion Series, we answer this question by providing a closer look at the daily practices and routines of Arkansas Children's team members as they help make kids better today and healthier tomorrow.

“I love seeing medicine progress and being part of a very intricate system,” Mason Spriggs, RN, BSN, said. Spriggs is a clinical research nurse coordinator in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU), a 26-bed unit at Arkansas Children’s Hospital. She is one of three research coordinators dedicated to PICU patients. A three-person team is the core of her intricate system. The larger system includes physicians, nurses, bedside staff, pharmacists and researchers from other hospitals and, most importantly, the patients and their caregivers.

Research benefits children in the future but is dependent on patients in the present. Research requires caregivers with children in the PICU to be willing participants during difficult days and nights. Spriggs was a bedside nurse in the PICU before becoming a research coordinator. Her genuine heart and skill with patient care help her maintain the delicate balance between patient families’ needs and research goals.

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