When a PI logs into IREx, they see their Getting Started Checklist on the left-hand side of the screen. A new first step has been added: Add/Edit Study Team. Any study team members added by the Study Manager or Reviewing IRB are listed in the dialog. The PI can confirm these members and/or add additional PIs and Coordinators in this step. Team members entered by the Study Manager or the Reviewing IRB will not have access to the study on IREx until the PI confirms this dialog. This new step facilitates participating study teams’ access to IREx.
Category Archives: FRL
New Feature: Email Notifications for Updated Approvals
A new email notification is now sent when any existing approval – for the overall study or a participating site – is updated. For example, if additional documents are uploaded or exchanged, an email will notify the relying site’s HRPP and study team personnel of the revisions and the exact changes are detailed in a table. The notification will bring clarity to the email notifications and ensure sites are aware of updates or changes to their approval, as specified in section 5.9 of the SMART IRB Agreement, “Notification of IRB Decisions, Changes, Lapses in Approval.”
New Feature: SSRP Included in Local Considerations Export
A PDF of each site’s Study-specific Reliance Plan (SSRP) is attached to the Notification of Reliance email sent when the SSRP is accepted by a site; however, sIRBs were previously unable to download site-specific SSRPs from within IREx. Now, the Local Considerations (LC) export will include a PDF of each site’s SSRP. The LC export will continue to include each site’s Institutional Profile, HRP survey and PI survey, if LC are being captured in IREx, as well as any documents uploaded to those surveys.
Bug Fixes – December 6, 2019
Fixed: Documents attached to Institutional Profile, HRP Survey, and PI Survey are back in Local Considerations export.
New Feature: Lead Site Display
For some studies, the institution serving as the Reviewing or Single IRB (sIRB) is not the lead site for the study. To distinguish roles and provide greater specification, IREx now allows the sIRB to identify a Lead Site. This information will be displayed in the first tab in IREx, now called the “Study-wide Approvals Tab”.
Updated Feature: Getting Started Checklist Revamped
Some steps of the HRPP Getting Started Checklist can be edited after you have completed them. To make this clearer, we added a pencil icon to those steps. HRPPs will see a pencil next to Add/Edit Study Team, Confirm Institutional Profile, Complete HRP Survey, and Validate PI Survey. We also added a “See Status Summary” link on the participating site HRPP and study team Getting Started checklists to provide quick access to the Status Summary tab, which is now available to all participating sites on a study.
Updated Feature: Notifications when Local Considerations are Edited
After local considerations are completed, additional information or clarifications may be necessary from relying sites. IREx has always notified the sIRB and Study Manager when Local Considerations are updated. Now, this notification will include a detailed table outlining the changes that were made to each survey.
Updated Feature: Updates to Status Summary Export
IREx helps manage Letters of Indemnification (LOIs) for institutions that require them when serving as the sIRB. On a given study, the sIRB can track whether or not a site has signed their LOI on the Status Summary tab and the Status Summary Export. Now, the Status Summary export will also include the date participating sites signed the LOI. Additionally, the Status Summary export has been updated so that the date of initial approval is always included. The export still includes the most recent approval date, if there are approvals beyond the initial approval.
Updated Feature: Renamed Tabs
You will notice some rewording of the study page tabs. The first, blue tab is now titled Study-wide IRB Approvals (before called “Reviewing IRB Approvals”) because these documents are relevant to all sites. The second, orange tab is now titled Site-specific IRB Approvals (before called “Relying Site Approvals”) because it captures documents for each site. Both tabs retain the same functions as before but are more appropriately named.
Updated Feature: Protocol Version
When creating a study or adding an amendment, a version name is required for the protocol. The “Protocol Version” field has been relabeled as “Protocol Date and/or Version” to clarify that users should enter the version number as entered on the protocol, which is often a date. In IREx trainings, users have also been encouraged to enter the amendment number in the summary of changes so that it is reflected on IREx and on email notifications sent out when changes are made.