Research Enterprise Newsletter - November 2008: IRB News
IRB makes DISCOVR-E Enhancements
The Institutional Review Board has rolled out exciting new enhancements to its DISCOVR-E portal this month, giving Principal Investigators, Study Contacts and Key Study Personnel access to real-time reporting metrics via dashboards based on Adobe Flash technology. The dashboard views include Studies to expire within 60 days, Days to study expiration for active studies, IRB Approved VU accrual goals for each study, Number of days until KSP IRB training expires and Number of days until PI IRB training expires.
The IRB Lotus Notes database also received a major enhancement this month with the addition of real-time, dynamic reporting metrics using Intelliprint software from Synaptris, Inc. The new software allows IRB Administrative staff and Team leaders the ability to create and analyze dashboards and reports based on real-time data to improve time to approvals across teams, measure team workloads, and perform trends analysis on IRB study submissions. The reporting software has been a big success so far and has already helped to improve business efficiencies that will ultimately translate into a better experience for the Vanderbilt research community.
Vanderbilt's IRB on the National Stage
A number of the IRB staff will be participating in PRIM&R's 2008 Advancing Ethical Research Conference. Julie Ozier (IRB Associate Director) will be presenting at two sessions. One focusing on the monitoring of tools used by other established IRB programs and the other details the AAHRPP re-accreditation process. Jan Zolkower (Research Subject Advocate) will talk about expanding and enhancing the Research Participant Outreach program here at Vanderbilt.
In addition, five posters will be presented by members of the IRB staff. Topics include: the pre-review process (LuEllen Davie/Barbara Gibson), the implementation of a "float" team to help with fluctuating workflow (Dena Johnson/Julie Ozier/Denise Roe), expanding the context and knowledge of protocol analysts (Robert Green), the transition from a paper-based system to an electronic system (David Hiller/Angela Howard), and participant outreach (Jan Zolkower).
