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The Clinical Trial Management Center in Kyushu University Hospital was originally established in April 1999 and was later reorganized to form the Clinical Research Center in October 2003 due to the expansion of support activities for clinical trials. In pace with this, the number of clinical research coordinators (CRCs) increased from 2 in 1999 to 13 in 2005. To improve the performance of clinical research for physicians, CRCs and secretariats, we conducted a questionnaire survey of sponsors of clinical trials (pharmaceutical company staff) to see how they evaluated the work done by our Clinical Research Center. The questionnaire consisted of 10 items regarding our overall conduct of trial practice for which scores were obtained anonymously. We sent the questionnaire to 116 sponsor staff and received replies from 101 of them, a recovery of rate of 87%. The sponsors were generally satisfied with the conduct of clinical research at our Center, but were not fully satisfied regarding a few items which included the payment system for trial expenses, physicians' awareness, and recruitment of subjects by CRCs.Based on the results, we have recently introduced a new education system designed to increase physicians' motivation. Under this system, the conduct of clinical trials is limited to physicians who receive regular lectures on clinical research and are certified by our Clinical Research Center.

The Clinical Trial Management Center of Kyushu University Hospital was originally established in April 1999 and reorganized as the Clinical Research Center in October 2003 due to the expansion of support for clinical trials and general clinical research. In pace with this, the number of full-time clinical research coordinators (CRCs) increased from 2 in 1999 to 11 in 2004. To evaluate our function as CRCs and further improve it, we surveyed the opinions of physicians who have been in charge of clinical trials by questionnaire. Although most of the physicians generally appreciated the service we provide as CRCs, several of them said that there were not enough CRCs and that we had to provide better support. In conclusion, we felt there was a need to revise the content of the support provided to physicians by CRCs in the future. Also, in order to ensure the smooth conduct of clinical trials, in addition to enhancing physicians' appreciation of clinical research, we must further improve the situation of clinical trials, for instance by introducing a new system for evaluating their performance.