Title: Perceptions of Ethics Committee Secretaries on support provided for Ethics Committees’ administration & functioning: A Questionnaire based survey
Authors: Dr Bhete Sandeep B., Dr Paul Kumardeep B., Dr Mehta Manthan N., Dr Deshmukh Kiran R., Dr Satpute Sachin M., Dr Phalak Akshay, Dr Master Vidisha
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.18535/jmscr/v4i10.63
This questionnaire based study to explore the perceptions of Ethics Committees’ (EC) Member Secretaries (MS) on the support provided for proper administration & functioning was conducted over 2 months in Mumbai. 54 randomly selected ECs and the respective MS were sent a copy of the pre-validated questionnaire. Efforts were made to get the forms within 8 days. Only 38 ECs participated in the survey. Most (28/38) conduct meetings in a separate room, though 22 ECs have a separate area for archival of their documents with restricted access. 32 MS were content with their support staff and the logistics provided. Guidelines pertaining to the required EC-exclusive office, area for the same, necessary support staff and logistics to be provided should be issued without which the EC functioning would falter. A fully-equipped EC will definitely pave the way for a fully-functional EC. Keywords: Member secretaries’ role, EC administrative burden, Frequency of EC meetings, Training of EC personal, Ethics Committee Functioning, EC Guidelines and SOPs. 1. Indian Council of Medical Research. Ethical guidelines for biomedical research on human participants. ICMR: New Delhi; 2006. Available from: http://icmr.nic.in/ethical_guidelines.pdf. 2. World Health Organization. Operational guidelines for ethics committees that review biomedical research. Geneva: WHO; 2000. Available from: http://irb.sinica.edu.tw/doc/regulation/Operational%20Guidelines%20for%20Ethics%20Committees%20That%20Review%20Biomedical%20Research.pdf. 3. Indian Council of Medical Research. Guidelines for preparing Standard Operat-ing Procedures (SOP) for Institutional Ethics Committee for Human Research. ICMR: New Delhi; 2000. Available from: http://icmr.nic.in/ethics_SOP.pdf. 4. Nandini K. Indian Council of Medical Research. Bioethics activities in India under ICMR. Available from: http://icmr.nic.in/bioethics/cc_biothics/presentations/haryana/activity.pdf. 5. Kandhari R. Justice in jeopardy: a qualitative study of institutional ethics committees in New Delhi. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics Jul 2013;10(3):176-183. 6. Tripathi R. Ethics committee member: Reviewing the 'Ethics' in clinical research. PerspectClin Res 2013;4:17-20. 7. Brahme R, Mehendale S. Profile and role of the members of ethics committees in hospitals and research organisations in Pune, India. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics 2009;6(2):78-84.Abstract
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