Research Portals Bolster Medical Center Compliance Efforts

By the very nature of their work, researchers in academic medical centers are good at gathering, analyzing and reporting on large data sets. But on the business side of managing large research projects, the investigators often feel overwhelmed by a blizzard of regulatory forms covering all stages of the grant-sponsored project life cycle, including submissions to institutional review boards (IRBs).

Federal regulations have empowered university and hospital IRBs to approve, require modifications in planned research prior to approval, or disapprove research. IRBs perform oversight functions for research conducted on human subjects, and institutional animal care and use committees (IACUCs) monitor animal research. To ensure that research protocols are ethically and safely executed, there are forms for conflicts of interest, bio-hazardous materials, radioactive isotopes and restricted subjects such as children or pregnant women, just to name a few.

What may surprise people who do not work in this field is that until quite recently those have remained paper-based processes, presenting research office administrators with real knowledge management headaches.