Building bridges between research groups and the health system will facilitate the production of non-clinical studies
Obtaining institutional consent to conduct health services research in Australia has become onerous and time-consuming,1-8 and thus we present potential solutions to the challenges encountered when seeking approval for large multicentre non-clinical studies. These ideas have been synthesised from what is already known and from our experience obtaining ethics and governance approvals for 60 large public hospitals participating in the Deepening our Understanding of Quality in Australia (DUQuA) study. DUQuA9 is a 3-year Australia-wide, cross-sectional study funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). This study aims to assess how hospital quality management systems, leadership and culture are related to care delivery and patient outcomes for acute myocardial infarction, stroke and hip fracture.
The full article is accessible to AMA members and paid subscribers. Login to read more or purchase a subscription now.
Please note: institutional and Research4Life access to the MJA is now provided through Wiley Online Library.
- 1. Boult M, Fitzpatrick K, Maddern G, Fitridge R. A guide to multi-centre ethics for surgical research in Australia and New Zealand. ANZ J Surg 2011; 81: 132-136.
- 2. De Smit E, Kearns LS, Clarke L, et al. Heterogeneity of human research ethics committees and research governance offices across Australia: an observational study. Australas Med J 2016; 9: 33-39.
- 3. Jamrozik K. Research ethics paperwork: what is the plot we seem to have lost? BMJ 2004; 329: 286-287.
- 4. Smith-Merry JL, Walton MM. Research governance as a facilitator for ethical and timely research? Learning from the experience of a large government-funded multisite research project. Aust Health Rev 2014; 38: 295-300.
- 5. Studdert DM, Vu TM, Fox SS, et al. Ethics review of multisite studies: the difficult case of community-based indigenous health research. Med J Aust 2010; 192: 275-280. <MJA full text>
- 6. Thompson SC, Sanfilippo FM, Briffa TG, Hobbs MST. Towards better health research in Australia — a plea to improve the efficiency of human research ethics committee processes. Med J Aust 2009; 190: 652. <MJA full text>
- 7. Vajdic CM, Meagher NS, Hicks SC, et al. Governance approval for multisite, non-interventional research: what can Harmonisation of Multi-Centre Ethical Review learn from the New South Wales experience? Intern Med J 2012; 42: 127-131.
- 8. White V, Bibby H, Green M, et al. Inconsistencies and time delays in site-specific research approvals hinder collaborative clinical research in Australia. Intern Med J 2016; 46: 1023-1029.
- 9. Taylor N, Clay-Williams R, Hogden E, et al. Deepening our Understanding of Quality in Australia (DUQuA): a study protocol for a nationwide, multilevel analysis of relationships between hospital quality management systems and patient factors. BMJ Open 2015; 5: e010349.
- 10. National Health and Medical Research Council. List of Human Research Ethics Committees registered with NHMRC. Canberra: NHMRC; 2016. https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/file/health_ethics/human/list_of_hrecs_registered_with_nhmrc_october_2016.pdf (viewed Nov 2017).
- 11. National Health and Medical Research Council. National Approach to Single Ethical Review of Multi-centre Research. Canberra: NHMRC. https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/health-ethics/national-approach-single-ethical-review (viewed Nov 2017).
- 12. National Health and Medical Research Council. National Ethics Application Form (NEAF). Canberra: NHMRC. https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/health-ethics/national-ethics-application-form-neaf (viewed Nov 2017).
- 13. National Health and Medical Research Council. Research governance handbook: guidance for the national approach to single ethical review, December 2011. Canberra: NHMRC; 2011. https://www.nhmrc.gov.au/_files_nhmrc/file/guidelines/ethics/human_research/12._research_governance_handbook_120203_0.pdf (viewed Nov 2017).
- 14. Department of Health Western Australia. Multi-centre research [website]. https://rgs.health.wa.gov.au/Pages/Multi-centre-Research.aspx (viewed Dec 2017).
DUQuA was funded by the NHMRC Program Grant APP1054146 (CI Braithwaite).
No relevant disclosures.