Table 1.

Hypothetical Members of a Palliative Care Research Team

Title	Select Roles & Responsibilities	Examples of Stressors and Burnout Risks
CRC	•Approach and enrollment of patients with serious illness •Tracking study activities, requesting surveys, and collecting data from medical records •Contact with families after a patient has died	•Balancing sense of imposing on patients/families with study requests with job responsibilities •Witnessing serious illness and death of study participants •Experiencing bereavement
Interventionist	•Deliver behavioral or communication interventions to enrolled patients/families	•Creating boundaries after developing close relationships with enrolled patients/families •Navigating medical questions without medical training •Experiencing bereavement
Biostatistician	•Assist with study design •Conduct analyses of quantitative data	•Variously witnessing serious illness and death of study participants, especially in mixed methods research
Qualitative analyst	•Assist with study design •Interview seriously ill patients, their families, or bereaved family members •Conduct analyses of qualitative data	•Conducting emotionally taxing interviews about end-of-life experiences •Creating boundaries after developing close relationships with enrolled patients/families
Early career investigators	•Conduct research projects with evolving levels of independence •Participate in ongoing career development activities, including formal coursework or applied learning activities •Develop leadership skills supporting research staff	•Navigating uncertainty of academic future, rejection of grants and papers, and identity development •Navigating competing needs of demonstrating personal productivity with work-life balance and team needs
Program manager	•Manage and coordinate team projects •Provide direct supervision to staff, including emotional support	•Supporting staff who are experiencing emotional distress or burnout
Program director	•Supervise full team and all research activities •Manage budgets and staffing, including projections of new hires and potential for lost jobs with funding gaps •Provide mentorship to early career faculty and staff	•Balancing program budgets when studies and staff may turnover •Managing team moral and productivity •Ensuring sustainability of program

CRC = clinical research coordinator.