Paperless pointers: How to make a smooth switch
Move to low-cost, high tech process
No matter what size your IRB is, you can move to an electronic process for IRB submissions, reviews, and management.
Two managers of small IRBs describe how they move to an electronic system, what worked, and what didn't:
• Incorporate flexibility: When transitioning to an electronic process, it's wise to remain flexible.
For instance, if an IRB requests that research coordinators and principal investigators (PI) submit everything electronically then they might keep a scanning option, at least at first.
"If the research coordinators can't submit electronically, then I scan it in," says Lisa A. Bonneau, MSED, institutional review board administrator and human protections administrator at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center in Nashua, NH.
"So if I need to look something up, I can go to my paper files or go to the electronic files for everything," Bonneau says.
• Keep it simple: A transition to a fully electronic process does not need to be complicated.
Most people already know how to use Microsoft Word processing software, for instance. So when the Children's Hospital and Research Center Oakland developed IRB submission forms, it was simpler to use MS Word, says Denyse Pettersson, CIM, CIP, IRB manager at Children's Hospital and Research Center Oakland in Oakland, CA.
Also, the IRB sends board members in MS Word all of the documents they'll need for review, including a presentation checklist that they can complete electronically, Pettersson says.
It's simpler to make changes to submission material prior to IRB meetings, as well, she says.
"If somebody comes in at the last minute and says, 'My PI saw this mistake, and something needs to be changed on the consent form,' then I can swap it out on the server — so long as it's done before we send out an email with a link that members can download," Pettersson explains. "So we're able to change things, and when we used only paper, we couldn't."
• Communicate by email: IRB staff can send quick updates, reminders, notes, and links to IRB members and research sites via email.
This is a big time-saver, Bonneau says.
For example, when research coordinators ask for additional information or have a question, Bonneau previously had to dig through paper files or call the sponsor, make a copy, and then get the hardcopy to the coordinator. It was a lengthy and time-consuming process.
Now when a coordinator calls her or emails her with a question, she can find the information electronically, and send it off as an attachment or link via email, Bonneau says.
Also, Bonneau sends out a link to IRB review packets via email and also sends out an email reminder and a meeting agenda.
"Usually they get the email reminder the week before the meeting, and in the reminder I include directions on how to get the review packet and an agenda so they can look at that," she adds.
• Incorporate password protection: The IRB at Southern New Hampshire Medical Center uses a Sharepoint site that is password protected.
"The only people who have access are board members and me," Bonneau says. "No one else has access to it."
If board members choose to print out information from the Sharepoint site, then they're asked to bring in their paper when they're done and give it to Bonneau for shredding.
At Southern New Hampshire Medical Center, the IRB uses a server and emails that only specified people, using passwords, have access to use, Pettersson says.
"We told the information technologies department who needed access to that server and which files. They made it so IRB members can go into that server and click on IRB meeting materials and download everything," she adds. "Only those members can access that file."
No matter what size your IRB is, you can move to an electronic process for IRB submissions, reviews, and management.You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
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