We love hearing from our researchers; we really do. But here’s a tip that may save you a bit of extra work when submitting modifications, and contingency responses. We often notice investigators send in separate letters to the IRB explaining something in their CLARA submission. Unless that letter includes information that’s not addressed elsewhere in […]

Some research projects anticipate the use of tissue that has been removed surgically. If you plan to use fresh tissue in a research project, please remember that UAMS Policy requires most tissue to be cleared through the Hospital Pathology Department before it can be used for research. There are a few exceptions – they’re listed […]

Just a friendly note from your local IRB reminding research team to try to make informed consent materials read at somewhere in the grades 4 through 8 range. We know that sounds like a low reading level, but in most cases, it’s doable. It’s also appropriate for most studies. Health literacy can be low in […]

Well, while we freely admit to muttering under our breath about some FDA research requirements, we want to take this opportunity to shout from the rooftops about a new FDA guidance indicating the agency will not object to the IRB waiving or altering informed consent requirements in some minimal risk research. This guidance – which […]

We recently received word from NIH about policy changes that people who conducted NIH-funded human subject research, or who seek to apply for NIH support for such research, need to know about it. The correspondence is below. Please contact the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs for more information about these changes. If you are […]

Since we all – research teams and IRB alike – like to see research proposals get approved quickly, we thought we’d point out a couple of issues we’ve been seeing a lot of lately that will get you a contingency. — Incorrectly stacked documents. If your clean and tracked-changes copies of documents are not stacked correctly, […]

The Food and Drug Administration, continuing its long tradition of issuing timely guidance, has issued a draft guidance about 21 CFR Part 11 – the regulation pertaining to the use of electronic records and electronic signatures in clinical investigations. A summary of the draft guidance is available here. The comment about “timely guidance” should be […]

We at the IRB really hate to have to send submissions back due to minor little slip-ups, but we’ve been seeing a few little problems crop up lately. Since we’re a little short-staffed, we don’t really have time to sort through submissions that need some minor fixes to get them ready to review, so we’ve […]

As we gear up for the implementation of the revised Common Rule, slated for January 2018, we’re still thinking about ways to make the informed consent process more meaningful for and understandable to potential subjects. The revised rule includes a requirement that the informed consent “begin with a concise and focused presentation of the key […]

We’ve noticed a few trends on reporting enrollment on study closure forms that we’re hoping to nip in the bud: – When listing the total number of people who enrolled in your study, please be sure to include everybody who signed a consent form, even if they failed screening or didn’t actually participate in the […]