This week, I officially started my SRP! Well, almost. I go into the clinic to observe patients and physicians next week, which I am extremely excited for, but this week was mainly dedicated to changing my plans for my SRP.
In my last post, I mentioned that I would be writing up a protocol to submit to the IRB for a study comparing Dermapure and EndoForm as agents in wound healing. However, after a closer look at an "Expedited Research Application" template, I soon discovered that I was out of my depth. I had never seen an Expedited Research Application before, and was confused on how to proceed. The template was thirteen pages long, requiring answers to specific questions that I did not know. I, therefore, scheduled a meeting with my mentor at Osborn Hospital and brought the template along to go over some of the questions I had. Dr. Stein talked through the template with me and I was confident I would be able to write up a successful protocol. At closer inspection, however, I saw that the principal investigators must have "Human Subject Training" in order to conduct a study. I asked Dr. Stein about this, and he told me that neither him or Dr. Weiland had completed this. I, therefore, contacted the director of the Wound Clinic asking whether this would be an obstacle in allowing us to submit the application. We eventually came to the conclusion that going through the IRB would not be possible because of the lack of Human Subject Training and the limited time constraints of the SRP-- it would take about a week for the application to go through the IRB and I would, therefore, not be able to finish my SRP.
In case this were to happen, however, I had a back up plan. After my initial meeting with Dr. Stein and Dr. Weiland, I spoke to the director of the Wound Clinic, Mark Loudenslagel, about a potential retrospective study using the data the clinic had collected in the past. Mr. Loudenslagel also has access to national data regarding wound care, and I would be able to compare the Osborn Wound Clinic's stats to national data. This is my current plan at the moment. However, we are still waiting to hear from legal services and Human Resources if I am allowed to have access to this data. I should know by Monday at the latest.
This week I've also been completing volunteer requirements: I have so far gotten one tuberculosis (TB) test (which I passed, thankfully), a flu shot, attended volunteer orientation, and am waiting to get my second TB test on Monday (2/15). I still have to complete some training online, but once that's complete I'll have a hospital badge and will be able to start my SRP.
Next week, I will be going into the clinic for an official tour and will solidify a specific area of wound healing that I will be focused on. During my meeting with my mentors, I briefly saw a hyperbaric oxygen chamber that aids in wound healing, and I am hopeful to focus on that. Make sure to read my blog next week to see what exactly I'll be focusing on!
Sorry to hear that the initial plans didn't work out! Hopefully you'll get cleared to access the data though! I'm really excited to hear about everything next week!
ReplyDeleteOnce you do have access to all of the data, do you have any specific subtopics of wound care that you are planning on analyzing? Like with the hyperbaric oxygen chamber, would you be focused more on the frequency of successful treatments, or recovery times, or other things of that nature?
Way to go with the flow - I'm glad that you had a back-up plan! In case you ever need to go through the IRB again, you'll know the necessary steps.
ReplyDeleteIs the volunteer training specific to wound care or is it a more general orientation?
The retrospective study sounds like a great idea! I'm also conducting retrospective analysis looking at patient records. You'll learn a lot about data collection and efficient ways of filtering through it!
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