Mostly Resilient
Last Update: 5/19/2026
AI Resilience Score for Clinical Research Coord.:
61.2%
Median Score
Meaningful human contribution
Measures the parts of the occupation that still require a human touch. This score averages data from up to four AI exposure datasets, focusing on the role’s resilience against automation.
Med
Long-term employer demand
Predicts the health of the job market for this role through 2034. Using Bureau of Labor Statistics data, it balances projected annual job openings (60%) with overall employment growth (40%).
Med
Sustained economic opportunity
Measures future earning potential and career flexibility. This score is a blend of total projected labor income (67%) and the role’s inherent ability to adapt to economic and technological shifts (33%).
High
This reflects the reliability of your score based on the number of data sources available for this career and how closely those sources agree on the outlook. A higher confidence means more consistent evidence from labor experts and AI models.
There are a reasonable number of sources for this result, but there is some disagreement between them.
Contributing sources
AI Resilience Report forClinical Research Coordinators
$161,180 median salary•8,500 annual openings•SOC Code: 11-9121.01
Clinical Research Coordinators are somewhat more resilient to AI impacts than most occupations, according to our analysis of 5 sources.
Clinical Research Coordinators are labeled "Mostly Resilient" because the heart of their work — building trust with patients, guiding people through the informed consent process, and keeping participants engaged in trials — requires genuine human connection that AI simply can't replicate. AI is actually making the job better in many ways, taking over time-consuming tasks like scanning thousands of patient charts to find trial candidates, which frees coordinators to focus on the meaningful, people-centered work they're best at.
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View analysisChat with CoachLatest newsMore career infoAnalysisChatNewsMoreThis role is mostly resilient
Clinical Research Coordinators are labeled "Mostly Resilient" because the heart of their work — building trust with patients, guiding people through the informed consent process, and keeping participants engaged in trials — requires genuine human connection that AI simply can't replicate. AI is actually making the job better in many ways, taking over time-consuming tasks like scanning thousands of patient charts to find trial candidates, which frees coordinators to focus on the meaningful, people-centered work they're best at.
Read full analysisAnalysis of Current AI Resilience
Clinical Research Coord.
Updated Quarterly
How is AI changing Clinical Research Coord. jobs?
Right now, AI is mostly augmenting Clinical Research Coordinators (CRCs) rather than replacing them — it's taking over the most repetitive paperwork while leaving the human-facing parts alone. The Association of Clinical Research Professionals notes that AI is rapidly reshaping clinical research, with some of its most impactful applications emerging in patient pre-screening and recruitment, where by analyzing electronic health records at scale, AI can match potential trial participants to complex eligibility criteria in a fraction of the time required for manual review. ACRP is clear that these efficiencies don't shrink the human role [1] — instead, they expand capacity for coordinators to focus on high-value activities such as patient communication, trust-building, and long-term retention strategies.
A new Cleveland Clinic study [2] showed an AI screening tool reviewed 1,476 patient charts in one week with 96.2% accuracy, helping enroll seven patients in six days versus 10 over 90 days using traditional methods. The American Hospital Association reports that AI startups are reshaping trial workflows [3], with patient recruitment cycles "shrinking to days" and 80% of analyzed companies using AI to automate inefficiencies.
Sources
How fast is AI adoption growing for Clinical Research Coord.?
Adoption is moving fast but unevenly. Economically, the case is strong — Deloitte argues [4] that suboptimal patient selection and retention drive up R&D costs, making AI a "critical business imperative." Regulators are leaning in too: in April 2026 the FDA announced proof-of-concept real-time clinical trials [5] with AstraZeneca and Amgen, plus a pilot program for AI-enabled early-phase trials. But brakes still exist.
Research.com's 2026 outlook [6] notes that ethical oversight, informed consent, and nuanced human judgment remain resistant to automation — exactly the lower-automation tasks O*NET lists for CRCs (consent at 18%, recruitment conferral at 15%). If you're starting in this field, the encouraging news is that the boring chart-mining is being offloaded, freeing you to do the human work — supporting patients, building site relationships, and overseeing AI itself — that the field still needs.
Sources
Will AI replace Clinical Research Coord.?
No. We don't think AI will replace Clinical Research Coordinators, though we do expect the job to change.
Our scorecard gives this role a 61.2% AI Resilience Score, landing it in "Mostly Resilient" territory. That makes sense when you look at what AI is actually doing in clinical trials right now. It is handling the repetitive, data-heavy work: scanning thousands of patient records to match people to eligibility criteria, flagging candidates faster than any human team could. A Cleveland Clinic study found an AI tool reviewed 1,476 charts in one week with 96.2% accuracy, cutting enrollment time dramatically [2]. The American Hospital Association reports that recruitment cycles are shrinking to days at sites using these tools [3].
But speed at chart-mining is not the same as doing the whole job. The tasks that resist automation are the ones CRCs are most essential for: walking a nervous patient through informed consent, building trust over a long trial, and keeping people enrolled when life gets complicated. Regulators and ethicists are clear that human judgment stays central here [6]. The FDA is actively piloting AI-enabled trial designs [5], which signals growth in the field, not a shrinking workforce.
If you are considering this career, the honest picture is that the tedious parts are being offloaded to software. The human parts are becoming more visible and more valued.
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Latest AI news for Clinical Research Coord.
These articles highlight how AI is transforming the role of Clinical Research Coordinators by improving trial efficiency and participant matching. For instance, the study on AI-enhanced prescreening for oncology trials shows how technology can streamline eligibility criteria, making it easier for coordinators to enroll patients. Additionally, Memorial Sloan Kettering's AI implementation not only matched candidates but also identified new ones, emphasizing the potential for coordinators to expand participant pools. Embracing these advancements can enhance job effectiveness and foster resilience in a rapidly evolving career landscape.
Human-AI teaming to improve accuracy and efficiency of eligibility criteria prescreening for oncology trials: a randomized evaluation trial using retrospective electronic health records
www.nature.com • 2/3/2026
Few adult patients with cancer enroll in oncology clinical trials. A rate-limiting step to trial enrollment is prescreening,...
Memorial Sloan Kettering innovates clinical trials with AI
www.healthcareitnews.com • 11/25/2025
The cancer center's first test of the technology matched all of its manually identified clinical trials candidates and found additional...
Is Artificial Intelligence Coming for Clinical Research?
www.appliedclinicaltrialsonline.com • 11/25/2025
As AI adoption accelerates across clinical research, clear distinctions between AI agents, AI teammates, and integrated intelligence are...
Agentic AI in Clinical Trials: Enabling Scalable Solutions
www.epam.com • 11/11/2025
Learn more about agentic AI's promise to cut cycle times while boosting quality and compliance for clinical trials – with steps to make it...
From Drought to Breakthrough: AI Teammates Modernize Clinical Trials
www.appliedclinicaltrialsonline.com • 7/11/2025
Why a fundamental reimagining of how clinical studies operate is still necessary to achieve a true paradigm shift—and shed the cycle of...
More Career Info
Career: Clinical Research Coordinators
They organize and manage medical studies by keeping track of participants, collecting data, and ensuring everything follows the rules to find better ways to treat diseases.
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Employment & Wage Data
Median Wage
$161,180
Jobs (2024)
104,300
Growth (2024-34)
+3.7%
Annual Openings
8,500
Education
Bachelor's degree
Experience
5 years or more
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2024-2034
Task-Level AI Resilience Scores
AI-generated estimates of task resilience over the next 3 years
1
Interpret protocols and advise treating physicians on appropriate dosage modifications or treatment calculations based on patient characteristics.
2
Direct the requisition, collection, labeling, storage, or shipment of specimens.
3
Order drugs or devices necessary for study completion.
4
Register protocol patients with appropriate statistical centers as required.
5
Confer with health care professionals to determine the best recruitment practices for studies.
6
Oversee subject enrollment to ensure that informed consent is properly obtained and documented.
7
Dispense medical devices or drugs, and calculate dosages and provide instructions as necessary.
Tasks are ranked by their AI resilience, with the most resilient tasks shown first. Core tasks are essential functions of this occupation, while supplemental tasks provide additional context.
