Tips Based on Experience
Below are a few tips that have improved the IRB and the approval process at my university. Just a few simple changes made a real difference and brought us from routine grumbles from investigators about the approval process to salutatory e-mails and even an occasional thank-you letter. If your IRB could use improvement, try passing on these ideas to your IRB chair.
- Select your IRB members carefully - they tend to be around for along time. Figure out what kinds of competencies are needed in light of the types and numbers of proposals that need review, and fill the board with people who have the skills, abilities, and characteristics your institution needs. If most of your proposals come from psychology, education, nursing, and physical therapy, make certain to represent these disciplines on the IRB. Look for people who can think out of the box as well as those who are respected in their own disciplines. People who send in the most well-conceived proposals can often make excellent IRB members. But make sure they are patient and constructive individuals - look for good teachers - or they might not last long. Search hard for excellent community members. They are invaluable. Often they will bring useful expertise of their own. Whether your institution has a medical school or not, attract at least one capable physician. These days, a lawyer doesn't hurt either.
- Do whatever it takes to keep them happy. Have a regular meeting schedules (like the last Thursday of the month or every other Friday) that does not change from month to month. Reserve the nicest room you can get (with windows). Get parking permits for the outside members. Send out materials at least a week ahead of the scheduled meeting. If they don't use it already, encourage members to use e-mail; it makes communication and reviewing much easier and faster. Make sure your institution acknowledges the contributions of IRB members in a visible (and entertaining) way. Feed them at meetings. If their workload is very high, consider the possibility of paying them a stipend.
- Encourage participation at meetings - use positive reinforcement. IRB meetings do not have to be torture for anyone. Be welcoming, encourage cordiality, always introduce everyone if you can, and use IRB discussion as an educational tool - not an inquisition. All comments to researchers should be constructive and presented in a friendly manner. Show interest in their proposal and mean it! Make it your goal to attempt to improve the quality of projects, especially those from students and new researchers. Be helpful. Provide suggestions, but make it clear that they are just that-not requirements for approval. When changes are required for approval, make that clear also, and make sure the researcher understands why the changes are necessary. Insist on a proficient note-taker and/or audiotape the discussions.
- Educate the IRB, institutional officials, and researchers about the current Zeitgeist and possible future changes (IRBs are going to need more resources). Keep current on recent changes and proposed policies. Check the status of your institution's assurance. Have they filed an FWA? Is your IRB registered and is the membership up to date with OHRP? Keep IRB members informed; direct them to the OHRP and ORI websites. You will find that IRB members are very interested in what the government is doing that affects them. Encourage IRB members to go through the OHRP tutorial. Maintain a dialogue with institutional officials-policy changes could result in costly fees and other serious financial penalties to institutions that are out of compliance or whose researchers engage in scientific misconduct. Institutions are required to provide the resources necessary for the IRB to operate.
If you are understaffed or under-resourced, press for what you need. Assess the need for increased educational resources for researchers. (Like assessment, increased educational requirements are probably not going to go away.) Have a research website that includes everything researchers need to write and submit proposals: federal and university guidelines, instructions for proposal submission, people to contact for assistance or answers to questions, links to educational materials and tutorials, etc. Finally, allow researchers to submit proposals online, if possible. It's quicker, saves a lot of postage, and allows for the proposals to be shared electronically for review by IRB members.
Christine Hansen
