IRB Liaison Service Supports a Research-Friendly Environment
National concerns about IRB-related research delays have led to the re-assessment of IRB review processes at institutional levels. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether a dedicated Institutional Review Board (IRB) Liaison Service offered by the Irving Institute could provide additional useful staff support to the investigator community for interactions with the IRB at various levels of protocol submission and review. From January 2015 to June 2017, a total of 501 in-person consultations were performed during office hours. We analyzed the results of a user evaluation survey for in-person consults and performed a focused in-depth analysis of the impact of the IRB Liaison Service. Results of 215 completed satisfaction surveys (43%) were 100% positive. Of a randomly selected sample of consultations analyzed in-depth for 67 unique protocols, 73% were subsequently approved within 14 days. Overall, we have found the Liaison Service to be a popular, useful addition to research support for a meaningful number of researchers, enhancing our already research-friendly environment. In the next phase of growing and evaluating this service, we plan to focus on targeted consultations and increasing support for single-IRB use.
Irving Institute’s IRB Liaison Consultation Service, launched in 2015, serves as a popular and busy support for investigators and coordinators submitting protocols to the IRB. An in-depth evaluation over the span of 30 months found that most users had their protocols approved within 14 days of utilizing the service.
