566 Efficiencies in coordinator float pool management at Johns Hopkins University

Objectives/Goals: Create opportunities for early-stage research apprentices to obtain real-world knowledge expand float pool to meet unmet research staffing needs, and decrease investigator burden Increase operational efficiencies, decrease start-up time, establish metrics, and ensure transparency responsible fiscal stewardship to approach cost neutrality Methods/Study Population: The Research Coordinator Support Service (RCSS) is a pool of research staff available for hire on an hourly basis by Johns Hopkins University (JHU) investigators. RCSS consists of Apprentices we train on the job as well as Coordinators and Senior staff who have completed the apprenticeship program. Started in 2012, RCSS was placed under new management in November 2020. An expansion proposal was submitted to senior leadership for additional financial and human resources. After approval new systems were implemented and additional hires were made. Several efficiencies were introduced in start-up, study assignment, transparency, invoicing, and overall operations to address the waitlist of 25 studies. Senior leadership now required extensive metric reporting to evaluate program success. Results/Anticipated Results: To address the waitlist, current staff was redirected from purely educational to study-related activities and several new hires were made. The waitlist reduced steadily over time and more research occurred. Average hours of research support per month more than doubled from under 500 to over 1,000. When our Administrator left, we implemented an automated hours-based reporting and invoicing tool resulting in substantial cost-savings over rehiring the position. Apprentices, now with rapid onboarding and early study assignments are reporting high satisfaction and many have been promoted to Coordinator positions. Detailed spreadsheets with relevant metrics were created which are accessible, and regularly reported, to senior leadership for decisions on promotions and additional hires. Discussion/Significance of Impact: Budget belt-tightening requires organizations to reduce expenses while continuing to provide the essential services investigators need. This focus has caused RCSS to examine our program and add efficiencies. We hope others looking to build or expand their float pools will benefit from our experiences and the specific efficiencies we implemented.