There have been many surveys of IRBs and their operations gauging how long protocols take in their journey through review, how much it costs to operate a human subjects protection program, and IRB members' attitudes about various aspects of their work.
The first babies brought into the National Children's Study while they were still in utero are now about three years old. And they're not all that's grown.
Pay-for-performance initiatives, which provide bonuses for physicians, hospitals and other providers who meet certain performance standards, are increasingly used by insurers such as Medicare to try to improve quality and efficiency.
When research involves an international or multicultural population, there can be informed consent issues that no one anticipates not even the best-informed IRB.
As the hurricane season picks up and the potential for other types of emergencies continues, a research institution might find it necessary to transfer its IRB-approved research to another institution. Or an IRB simply might need to transfer a single study for a variety of reasons. Federal guidance on how to handle these contingencies now is available.
IRBs could improve and expedite their review process by hiring someone to pre-review submissions, an expert suggests.
A survey of nearly 5,500 cancer patients found that those with lower incomes were less likely to be enrolled in clinical trials, and more likely to be concerned about paying for participation in a trial.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention answers to common questions on reporting health care worker influenza vaccination rates include the following.
Your influenza vaccination campaign is coming into the public spotlight, and that means more pressure than ever on the logistics of administering and tracking those vaccinations.
Health department rules are broadening the scope of mandatory influenza vaccination policies, even as critics assail the policies as punitive and not science-based.
