IRB: Ethics & Human Research

Human Research Protection Programs at the Department of Veterans Affairs: Quality Indicators and Program Size

We compared Human Research Protection Program quality indicator data among the Department of Veterans Affairs facilities with small (< 50 active human research protocols), medium (50-200), and large (> 200) human research programs. From a total of 23 performance metrics, the size of research programs did not show statistically significant effects on 11 metrics, while there were significant differences on 12 metrics. Among the 12 performance metrics with statistically significant differences, facilities with small research programs performed best in 5 and worst in 4, facilities with medium research programs performed best in 7 and worst in 2, and facilities with large research programs performed best in none and worst in 6. Thus, it appeared that facilities with large research programs did not perform as well as facilities with small or medium research programs. In this study, we identified areas for quality improvement by these facilities.

Nguyen Y, Brooks R, Tsan M-F. Human research protection programs and the Department of Veterans Affairs: Quality indicators and program size. IRB: Ethics & Human Research 2014;36(4): 16-20.