When it’s your week to serve on an IRB committee, please try to have all of your assigned reviews done and any comments or draft contingencies entered into CLARA no later than Monday, the day before the meeting. The chair aims to have assignments completed and the agenda made available to members by Wednesday the week before. Completing your reviews by the day before the meeting allows the chair and office staff sufficient time to track down any additional information or clarifications that may be needed before the committee discusses a study. Looking at the agenda early will also give us time to reassign a study if you find you have a conflict with a particular assignment. It also gives us more time to help you with CLARA or provide any other assistance you may need in reviewing.
And if you have trouble using CLARA, please give the office a call and ask for help. If you are working at UAMS or on a UAMS-maintained computer at Arkansas Children’s Hospital, consider making sure you have the Lync communication software up and running on your computer. That program, used most often to instant message people, allows us to see your computer screen so we can get a better idea of where you’re getting hung up in CLARA. For more information about getting Lync, please see our related Research Blog item published Jan. 20.