In order to help sIRBs and Study Managers know they need to request a site join IREx before the site can provide reliance and local review documentation in IREx, the Participating Sites dialog will now include the following text for sites that have not signed the IREx Terms of Use:
Let this site know their HRPP/IRB needs to initiate IREx access for their site here.
Study managers will now be cc’d on the email reminder sent out when a study is nearing the expiration date listed in IREx. This email notification serves as a reminder to upload the continuing review approval to IREx to ensure the approval statuses for sites stay up-to-date. The email also now includes a hyperlink to the quick guide for uploading continuing reviews.
Study Managers can now use the Status Summary Tab, which provides an overview of sites’ progress completing the steps towards sIRB approval, to access Study-Specific Reliance Plan (SSRP) documents. Under the Reliance Decision column of the Status Summary, a site will have a green Completed status, which when clicked, will open the SSRP page. This page shows the SSRP survey responses agreed upon by the sIRB and site, a copy of the letter of reliance, and a PDF of the SSRP responses.
Our newest IREx Feature, the “Agreement Checker”, is a dynamic report page allowing you to list potential participating sites to see if they have signed the SMART IRB reliance agreement, joined IREx, and signed the sIRB’s Letter of Indemnification, if applicable. The list can also be exported into a comma-separated values (CSV) file. The Agreement Checker can be of particular help to sIRB’s who want to contact sites to complete agreements before a study is created in IREx, or for study managers gauging site readiness and preparing reliance instruction for sites (sample here). The “Agreement Checker” is located under the Resources section on the IREx homepage after logging into IREx.
As of March 2020, Study Managers can upload Continuing Reviews and Study-Wide Amendments on behalf of the sIRB. This month we improved their Getting Started Checklist to avoid some confusion. The steps “Upload Overall Study Approval” and “Publish Approval” disappear from the checklist once Study Managers have done these steps, so they know they are complete for that review and the next step is to upload approval for relying sites
The approvals upload page has been enhanced to better highlight the study’s approval status (approved vs. pending) for sIRBs and Study Managers. The new page layout is more intuitive, showing the status as the first question.
Document types are used in IREx to help manage files associated with a study’s approval. For clarification, IREx has renamed Consents to Consents & Assents, and added document types for Grant Application, Measures, Recruitment & Advertisements, and Other IRB Approved Documents. The new categories will make it easier for users on IREx to find their study documents.
We updated the Resources pages for logged in members so that helpful documents, like user manuals, are easier to find. The IREx Resource Pages are divided by user type and can be accessed from the top menu using the “Resources” link from on any page, or on the right side of the homepage. As a bonus, the pages are more visually pleasing.
Combo Sites, defined as one study team engaging multiple FWAs for the same study, are now supported on IREx. In the past, SIRBs and Study Managers had no way to group sites together to ensure all documentation was in place before review. Moreover, relying sites had to duplicate information (e.g., PI Survey). Now, Combo Sites are marked with a blue link icon throughout IREx and have several features to ensure reliance documentation is completed by each FWA in the most streamlined way possible. For more information, please visit our resources page, organized by role on our menu toolbar and watch our Combo Site trailer on YouTube.
The Participating Sites Dialog, used by the SIRB or Study Manager to add participating sites to a study, has a new intuitive design. Here, a site can be added with the PI and/or Coordinator information. If the PI or coordinator is an existing IREx user, their information will be auto-filled. You can also add additional FWAs if one study team engages multiple FWAs (“Combo Site”). Please watch our 3-minute YouTube video to learn more about adding sites to a study.