Experiences of Institutional Review Board (IRB) and Protocol Review and Monitoring Committee (PRMC) rotations in hematology/oncology training.
BACKGROUND
Trainees in hematology oncology need to learn development and regulation of clinical research protocols.


METHODS
We hypothesized that rotation on the Institutional Review Board (IRB) and Protocol Review and Monitor Committee (PRMC) at our university could improve fellows' understanding of clinical trial development and regulation.


RESULTS
Since 1999, 20 fellows in our training program have rotated through either IRB or PRMC for 3 months. We evaluated their experiences by anonymous questionnaire with 13 quantitative, 1 yes-or-no, and 4 open-ended questions and correlated responses to their demographic characteristics.


CONCLUSIONS
We report here these fellow's experiences in attending these meetings. We also describe other benefits of IRB/PRMC participation in training fellows, and finally propose to other fellowship programs to consider this educational approach as a way of enhancing hematology/oncology training.
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare Systems, Little Rock, Arkansas 72205, USA.
Andrea
A
Wang-Gillam
Jimmie
J
Valentine
Allen C
AC
Sherman
Paulette
P
Mehta
D026661:Clinical Trials Data Monitoring Committees; D028744:Ethics Committees, Research; D005257:Fellowships and Scholarships; D006405:Hematology / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000193:education*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires