An interview with data monitor Anna de Lang
Anna de Lang started working as a data monitor at SHM in September 2012. We met with her to discuss the work she did prior to SHM and about her new role as a data monitor.
What is your background?
Last year I completed my PhD in Rotterdam within the medical faculty’s virology department. My research focused on the pathogenesis of SARS. So I have a background in virology, but from a different angle, from the lab. The work that I carried out there was completely different from what we do at SHM. For my PhD I compared SARS infections in various animal models and researched the host response to the virus using several techniques. Before that I studied biology.
Why did you choose SHM?
After years of research, I wanted to try something else. Although I didn’t want to continue in research, I was interested in remaining involved in the field of medicine. Also, the subject of virology interests me. I was considering several types of jobs, particularly the kind in which you are more involved in the preconditions for research and more practically focussed work. When I saw this vacancy, it appealed to me greatly. I didn’t know the foundation before I came here, but then I hadn’t previously been involved in HIV research.
What does your work as a data monitor entail?
I mainly occupy myself with source data verification. That means that I go to various hospitals and, based on certain searches I or a colleague have carried out at SHM’s offices in Amsterdam, I check if what the data collectors have entered is correct. Specifically, are the data complete and entered correctly according to our protocols? An additional task is to coach the data collectors and answer their questions. Also, I train new data collectors and give them personal feedback on their work by means of annual personal monitoring. Besides that, I am involved with site management. This involves working for several fixed hospitals/sites, seeing how things are going and if the logistics work well.
Since January I have been working on other projects as well. One of them is the ISO project. I am also working on a project to develop a streamlined way to answer questions from data collectors.
My job is a nice combination of medically relevant work and project management. I am also on the road a lot - on average two out of four days a week – which provides a lot of variety.
At which treatment centres do you work?
I work at the Erasmus Medisch Centrum and Maasstad Ziekenhuis, both in Rotterdam, the Academisch Medisch Centrum in Amsterdam, Medisch Centrum Haaglanden in Den Haag and Admiraal de Ruyter Ziekenhuis in Vlissingen. Those are my fixed hospitals. I occasionally work at other locations.
Earlier you mentioned that you work on the ISO project. Could you tell us something more about that?
Our intention is to get ISO Certification for SHM. We need to make an inventory of all processes within the foundation that carry a safety risk. An inventory has already been conducted and we are now in the process of updating this list and asking everyone if these processes are still accurate within the various departments. When this list is complete, an ISO employee will come and check that it has been drawn up correctly. Once the list is complete, a risk analysis will be done and after that we can apply for certification. So basically, we are now setting up the structure, describing all the processes within SHM and coordinating the project.