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HOT TOPICS
- New Wizards
- Dashboards
- FY23 Wrap Up!
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 As we approach the end of 2023, we would like to thank the study teams and research office personnel for the IRB Information Sheet wizard completion progress made this year. At the start of the year, we had a 63% completion rate that has increased to 72% currently. Please continue to ensure all human research projects are recorded in IRBNet, including all human research projects under the oversight of an external IRB.
We’d also like to thank you for the Project Cover Sheet (PCS) wizard completion consistency throughout 2023. At the beginning of the year, the PCS wizard completion rate was 80% and we are ending the year at 86%.
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Project Cover Sheet:
The revised Project Cover Sheet (PCS) wizard is available in the IRBNet sandbox the week of December 11. The updated wizard outline is posted on the VAIRRS SharePoint portal under the ORPP&E Standard Form Library menu option. The VA Project Lead/Principal Investigator and Additional Project Personnel sections moved to the Study Team Tracking wizard. The IRB of Record Type will appear for all studies that select "Data and/or biospecimens from living human individuals." On the PCS PDF both the "Funding Source Code" and the "Funding Source Code - Other" response will now appear.
Study teams will not be required to update previous PCS submissions unless there has been a change to the study.
Study Team Tracking Wizard:
The new Study Team Tracking (STT) wizard is available in the IRBNet sandbox the week of December 11. The wizard outline is posted on the VAIRRS SharePoint portal under the ORPP&E Standard Form Library menu option. The personnel tracking data previously collected in the PCS wizard will be collected in the STT wizard. The Outside Compensation and Financial Conflict of Interest responses will be collected in the STT wizard.
Study teams will be required to complete the new STT wizard for new submissions and to report changes in study team members.
Wizard Summary:
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Wizard
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Summary
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When to complete
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IRB Information Sheet (IIS)
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Changes to wizard logic. Refer to VAIRRS SharePoint or IRBNet sandbox to view revised wizard.
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New submissions and changes to previously completed IIS submissions.
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Project Cover Sheet
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Removed personnel sections. Refer to VAIRRS SharePoint or IRBNet sandbox (after 12/11) to view revised wizard.
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New submissions and changes to study characteristics for previously completed PCS submissions. Changes to study team are captured in new Study Team Tracking wizard.
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Study Team Tracking
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Captures investigator and study team details. Refer to VAIRRS SharePoint or IRBNet sandbox (after 12/11) to view new wizard.
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New submissions and changes to study team for previously completed PCS submissions.
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ORPP&E Standard Form Library Updates
Reminder: Before the new year, we will be implementing a standard numbering catalogue system to the naming conventions of all forms within IRBNet and SharePoint. Most of our forms already use the catalogue system but we will be implementing it across the board to standardize and improve user navigation within the library.
During the VAIRRS November/December Change Control Board (CCB) meeting, a request to update content within the IRB Information Sheet Wizard was approved. VAIRRS will notify the field when this change has been executed and the updated wizard is made available within IRBNet. On the VAIRRS SharePoint, you can reference the full summary of changes for the wizard. Updates to wizards will be implemented on a quarterly basis.
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The Field Staff Reporting dashboard has new pages! Head to the “Review Tracking” page as an important feature has been added to track the actions and lengths of time between reviews. Administrators can now see real data that shows why some reviews may be experiencing an issue. Please right-click on individual projects in “Active Project Detail” or “Review Overview” or “Review Tracking” pages to view a five-month history of reviews. In the “Review Tracking” page, please ensure to look through for “flags” in any reviews as these may be readily available culprits to follow-up on a week-to-week basis.
The second page that has been added is the “All Investigators” page. This will showcase all investigators that have been identified through the Project Cover Sheet in each VAMC.
Lastly, we’ve added a “Navigational Guide” page to highlight our new Navigational Guide that will help new users of the dashboard to become familiar with it. Please use this form to request access the Field Staff Reporting Dashboard as a new user: Field Staff Dashboard Request Form.
If you would like to learn more about the Field Staff Reporting dashboard updates, the recording of the VAIRRS End of Year Updates webinar is available.
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 The VAIRRS Mentor Program currently has four team members from various roles across the VA providing mentorship, with a backlog of mentees awaiting the availability of a mentor.
We currently have 12 mentor vacancies. Please let us know if you would like to nominate a potential VAIRRS Mentor. Applications are accepted on an ongoing basis until all mentor slots are filled.
If you are interested in helping fellow VAIRRS users, you can access the mentor application via the VAIRRS Mentor Program SharePoint page.
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Congratulations to the 2023 VAIRRS Ambassadors and VAIRRS Enterprise Partnership Award (VEPA) winners! Each site was committed to improving the system and contributed to the benefits the VAIRRS enterprise has to offer.
The selected VAIRRS ambassadors served as great role models to other sites across the country, who wanted to learn more about VAIRRS and how the program can make their job more efficient and effective.
- VAIRRS January Ambassadors: Cohort 1 Site Support Graduates
- Jennifer Moreno Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center
- VA San Diego Healthcare System
- Palo Alto VA Medical Center
- San Francisco VA Medical Center
- Portland VA Medical Center
- VAIRRS March Ambassador: Washington DC VAMC
- VAIRRS May Ambassador: VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System
- VAIRRS July Ambassador: VA Salt Lake City Healthcare System
New this year, VAIRRS has established the 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.
VAIRRS 2023 VEPA winners:
- Minneapolis VA Health Care System (Large)
- VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System (Medium)
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Lexington VA Healthcare System (Small)
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Reminder: New Project Submission Forms were the latest forms to be revised and were released on October 25, 2023. All New Project Submission Forms must be used by January 2, 2024. Prior to using these new forms, please read the Summary of Changes – CIRB New Project Forms for a detailed list of forms and process changes. For additional information regarding these changes, you may also refer to the VAIRRS Webinar from October 24, 2023, titled “CIRB Forms and Process Updates.”
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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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Thank you for your dedication and efforts to a successful year! We’d like to share a few program highlights from fiscal year 2023 (FY23):
- The VAIRRS platform, IRBNet, had more than 40,000 registered users, 434,000 submitted packages, and 881,000 submitted documents.
- VAIRRS University was launched, and 32 new artifacts were added to the library.
- The VAIRRS Support Team held nine webinars with an average of 280 attendees.
- The Field Staff Reporting Dashboard had 309 active viewers and more than 7,300 views.
- VAIRRS provided IRBNet support to six research programs via the Site Support Program.
- The VAIRRS Support Team responded to 892 inquiries via the VAIRRS inbox.
- The VAIRRS Change Control Board reviewed 36 requests since June 2023.
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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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Thank you,
VAIRRS Support Team
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