Designing and implementing the screening system for ethics committee in Mashhad University of Medical Sciences

Background and aims: Nowadays, the correct management of societies requires special attentionto documentation and scientific evidence, and evidence-based decision-making is one ofthe fundamental principles for good governance. Therefore, research as one of the processes ofproducing evidence has become increasingly important. On the other hand, observing the principlesand respecting moral values in all matters, including conducting various research, has beengiven special attention. Paying attention to the ethical aspects of biomedical science researchis of particular importance since it is related to human health. Other studies, including researchrelated to animals, laboratory studies, and even review studies should also be conducted withinthe framework of ethical principles and values. In Iran, the subject of ethics in research was establishedin the Ministry of Health, Treatment and Medical Education in ۱۳۷۷ with the formationof the “National Committee on Ethics in Research”, and gradually ethics committees in researchwere formed in universities of medical sciences and some research centers. Considering that thescreening process of research proposals at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences was donemanually and based on paper, and a lot of time was spent collecting the documents, this study wasdesigned with the aim of designing a system for screening the proposals submitted to the ethicscommittee.Method: This system was implemented in the university’s SharePoint platform, and three differentdigital cartables were designed: ۱. deputy of research ۲. reviewers ۳. expert. The projectsthat reach the ethical committee after reviewing in the group and approval are recorded by theexpert in this system by mentioning the project code, project title, and proposal. Proposals are sentweekly to five reviewers with different expertise. After the projects are entered into the reviewers’digital cartable, they are asked three questions about each project: ۱. Does it need to be examinedin specialized working groups (animals or corona)? ۲. Does it require an informed consent form?۳. Does it need to be presented in the ethics committee session? There is also a box for receivingcomments (in form text). After all reviewers have answered these three questions for the submittedprojects, the results are automatically aggregated, and the result can be seen in the expert’sdigital cartable, showing which proposals need to be reviewed by the ethics committee.Results: This process was conducted for more than one year at the Mashhad University of MedicalSciences on ۱۱۴۴ proposals. This system reduced human error, accelerated review time in thescreening phase, and reduced costs, and the results were archived digitally with the ability to bevisible in a complete set.Conclusion: Using existing software platforms and focusing on implementation gaps can lead toimproving the performance of organizations.

کلیدواژه ها:

Artificial intelligence ، Ethics ، Research