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Monday, November 2, 2009: 2:40 PM
Learning Objective 1: apply ethical principles in the IRB-investigator collaborative review process
Learning Objective 2: engage in dialogue with nurses from diverse value and geographical settings about ethical approaches to IRB review
The National Research Act of 1974 and Belmont Report of 1978 mandate the use of Institutional review boards (IRBs) to review research proposals to insure protection of the rights of research study participants (Amdur, 2007). These rights, consistent with deontological ethical theory, include those of respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. In their application to an IRB, researchers must address how their research protocol will protect these rights as well as honor researcher ethical duties for veracity, confidentiality, and fidelity in the researcher-participant partnership. Little attention has focused on a similar honoring of researcher rights for an efficient and competent review by an IRB. The purpose of this presentation will be to outline two academic and clinical researchers' qualitative experience with several IRBs, reflecting diverse representation and setting, which influenced efficient reviews of a total of five research proposals over the past four years. Researcher reflection will include factors unique to each IRB that contributed to inconsistencies in review and questions about equitable and quality reviews (ethical principles of justice and beneficence). Various issues such as IRB membership to allow a competent review of a proposal, IRB member protocol payment, and advantages and disadvantages of researcher meeting attendance during IRB protocol review will be presented and foster audience dialogue during the presentation. Participants' perceptions relevant to global residence will also inform a balanced discussion on ethical partnerships between IRBs and researchers to support needed culturally-sensitive nursing research and evidence-based practice. Ideas to improve communication among IRB leaders and individual researchers, which will enable efficient and fair reviews and timely implementation, will be presented.
Reference: Ambur, R. J. (2007). Your mission on the IRB. In R. J. Ambur & E. A. Bankert. Institutional Review Board Member Handbook (2nd ed.) (pp. 5-19). Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.