Using a Peer-Driven Facilitative Review Process to Establish Feasibility and Support Ethical Review of Clinical Research

Clinical care is provided in a team approach because each member of the inter-professional team has valuable input to contribute to the care of patients. Clinical research is no different in that the construction of a research study is stronger if the right contributors are involved in the development stages. Having a peer-driven facilitative review process in place allows for proposed clinical research studies to be reviewed by all of these inter-professional colleagues that are focused on the professional significance, clinical significance, logistics, and protection of human subjects. Implementing this review process prior to submitting a research protocol to the Institutional Review Board (IRB) reduces the need to clarify study methods and revise supplemental study documents once they have been submitted to the IRB for approval.