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HOT TOPICS
- Wizard Updates
- ORPP&E Standard Form Library Updates
- Expired Projects Email Notification
- VEPA Award Winners
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 Have you checked your site's IRB Information Sheet wizard completion rate recently? As of now, we have reached a 70% completion rate. Please ensure all human research projects are recorded in IRBNet, including all human research projects under the oversight of an external IRB.
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The revised IRB Information Sheet will be published on October 25, 2023. The updated wizard outline is posted on the VAIRRS SharePoint portal under the ORPP&E Standard Form Library menu option. You may also view the updated wizard in the IRBNet sandbox.
We are still in progress of developing the following new wizards and will send an email blast and host multiple webinars once the wizards are available for review in the sandbox.
Investigator Tracking wizard (for investigators only) which includes information previously tracked in the ePromise Investigator Profile.
Study Team Tracking wizard (for study team tracking only) which includes Financial Conflict of Interest and Outside Compensation (new!) reporting.
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ORPP&E Standard Form Library Updates
ACTION REQUESTED: We need your help with reviewing suggested changes to the SRSS Continuing Approval Letter in IRBNet. We received a suggested change request regarding changing the name of the pre-populated "approval date" field to "effective date" and adding a manual field option to the letter template to document the actual "approval date". Please review the proposed changes to the SRSS Continuing Approval Letter and send your feedback to the VAIRRS Support Team inbox at VAIRRS@va.gov.
UPDATES: During the September Change Control Board meetings, the following forms were updated/added to the ORPP&E Standard Form Library on IRBNet and SharePoint. On the VAIRRS SharePoint you can reference the full summary of changes for each form. Updated forms will be published in all libraries by October 20, 2023. The next VAIRRS Change Control Board meeting is scheduled for October 26, 2023.
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Meeting
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Form/Letter
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September
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SRSS Amendment Form
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September
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3.0A RDC Amendment Application
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September
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2.1A Waiver of HIPAA Authorization
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September
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7.5R Informed Consent Checklist
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Based on your feedback, the VAIRRS Support Team pushed the expired projects email notification launch back to include an audience exclusive to site administrators, ACOS and AOs.
Based on the data within IRBNet and VAIRRS Dashboards, we identified that facilities had an excess of projects that reflect as expired projects due to a lapse of administrative updates to the projects in IRBNet. The expired projects email notification is intended to serve as a reminder to research administrative staff regarding projects that have passed the expiration date or are about to expire within the next 30 days and to make sure that the new expiration dates are reflected in IRBNet.
After we detail the email notification in our November webinar, we will send out an automated email notification regarding the number of expired studies to each facility's AO, ACOS and administrators once a quarter (every three months).
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VAIRRS Enterprise Partnership Award (VEPA) Award Winners
New this year, VAIRRS has established the VAIRRS Enterprise Partnership Award (VEPA) to recognize VA research programs that meet and exceed requirements and have fully transitioned to VAIRRS to meet enterprise standards put in place by the Office of Research and Development (ORD). The VEPA recognizes VA research programs by size (small, medium and large) and annually awards three programs based on their completion metrics and positive contributions that has enabled the expansion of VAIRRS' and ORD's mission and priorities.
This year's award winners were selected due to their exceptional performance in meeting and exceeding expectations for VAIRRS and ORD, which enables leadership to expand efforts for improvement within the VA research community and for our Veterans. ORD leadership is grateful for each program's contributions and continued excellence.
Please join us in congratulating our 2023 winners!
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We are updating the Field Staff Reporting (FSR) Dashboard by early November. Updates to the FSR Dashboard include:
- The user experience interface to allow more filters by adding a collapsible filter panel
- The latest IRBNet hyperlinks for each project to directly go the IRBNet record (individuals require existing permission to specific submission to access)
- New “Drill Throughs” to new Review Process, and Review Tracking pages to identify length of time that reviewers & committees take to review a project
- Animal Research page to include animal projects identified through the PCS “Project Characteristics” section of the form
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New this month, VAIRRS University added the VAIRRS Field Staff Reporting Dashboard Navigational Guide, which is located in the "VAIRRS User Guides" section. This guide will be updated on a rolling basis as the team continues to improve on project data for regular reporting and decision making. If downloading, the best practice should be to always upload the most recent version in the library.
If you would like to learn more about VAIRRS University, the recording of the VAIRRS University walk-through webinar is available. The presentation is led by VAIRRS experts who dive into the details of the new training library.
If you have questions about VAIRRS University, please contact the VAIRRS Support Team at VAIRRS@va.gov.
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Are you a VAIRRS super user? Are you the local go-to for all VAIRRS-related questions? If so, the VAIRRS Mentor Program needs you! We are currently recruiting mentors to assist users who are seeking to improve their knowledge of VAIRRS. Serving as a VAIRRS mentor is a rewarding (and reimbursable!) experience. We currently have 12 mentor vacancies, and our goal is to fill at least half of the remaining slots in the first wave by December 1, 2023.
Mentor applications can be submitted throughout 2023. You can access the mentor/mentee applications via the VAIRRS Mentor Program SharePoint page.
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Both the RCO and COI modules are available to all facilities for use. If you are interested in adding the COI or RCO module at your research program, please contact IRBNet Support at govsupport@irbnet.org.
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ORPP&E is hosting a webinar next week!
Topic: VA Central IRB Forms and Process Updates
Date: Tuesday, October 24, 2023
Time: 2:00 PM ET
Purpose: The VA Central IRB will provide an overview of the final release of new project forms and process changes. Additionally, an update will be provided on the Continuing Review process.
Lead Presenter: Jessica Kroll, MA, CIP, VA Central IRB Administrator and Don Workman, Ph.D., VA IRB Network Director
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!
*We suggest you log on using Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.
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The VA Electronic Determination Aid (VAEDA) is available for all VA facilities. You can access VAEDA here.
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VAIRRS will be hosting a continuation of the new wizards webinar. Please keep an eye out for future updates on the date and time when it becomes available.
Topic: VAIRRS Monthly Webinar: New Wizards Continued
Lead Presenter: Angela Foster, ORPP&E Program Manager, VAIRRS Support Team
*Link to register coming soon!
*We suggest you log on using Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.
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Reminder: All committee administrators should be included in the VAIRRS administrators distribution group. Email VAIRRS@va.gov to let us know if anyone at your site should be added to the distribution group. |
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- November VAIRRS Ambassador
- November VAIRRS Webinar
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Thank you,
VAIRRS Support Team
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