Strategic Planning Required for Research Compliance Education and Training
WASHINGTON, March
4 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The infrastructure required to
support and sustain compliance education and training programs is often
decentralized and under-resourced which can hamper program effectiveness
within academic health centers, according to Mindy
Steinberg, MPH, and Elaine R. Rubin,
Ph.D., of the Association of Academic Health Centers (AAHC), in this
month's issue of Academic Medicine.
In their
commentary, Compliance Education and Training: A Need for New
Responses in Clinical Research, the authors note that while clinical
research compliance education and training programs are undergoing
growth and expansion to accommodate a rapidly changing regulatory and
research environment, there are no strategies or models for developing
administrative infrastructure.
Based on a
series of informal interviews with chief compliance officers and other
senior leadership at academic health centers, the authors found that the
diffused nature of research compliance education shows diminished
visibility and weakened effectiveness of the function within the
institution.
The
interviews revealed significant infrastructure issues that hamper
effectiveness, including highly decentralized program development,
dispersed leadership, variability in implementation and enforcement,
limited standardization of the training mechanisms, and a lack of
strategic planning.
To
strengthen and sustain research compliance education and training, the
authors recommend:
- Engaging key stakeholders to develop and implement a
comprehensive, institution-wide strategic plan;
- Ensuring that an
effective communications plan is part of the strategic plan;
- Addressing
human resource policies that create barriers;
- Exploring
creative solutions, including technology, to expand faculty and staff
engagement and interest;
- Developing a comprehensive evaluation
plan to monitor success and effectiveness; and
- Establishing
mechanisms to collaborate and share innovative ideas institution-wide
and with other academic health centers.
The AAHC is
a national non-profit association dedicated to advancing the nation's
health and well-being through the vigorous leadership of academic health
centers.
SOURCE Association of Academic Health Centers
