HEC Research Policy

Well-designed and implemented research is a priority of the UTMB Health Education Center (HEC). Regular evaluation of simulation and Interprofessional education and practice research activities is critical to maintaining a productive and efficient HEC Research Program. Any grants and proposed research activities conducted within the HEC, using HEC resources, and/or time of HEC staff must be reviewed and approved by the Vice President of Interprofessional Education and the Health Education Center, the HEC Education Assessment Specialist, and align with UTMB research standards, the HEC ethical research practices, and requires that all proposed research activities must either have IRB approval or be deemed exempt from IRB review. This process ensures that students, faculty, and staff conduct ethical research that complies with federal, state, and local regulations.

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Procedure:

Researchers will submit a “Research Approval Form” .

VP of IPE and HEC and the HEC Education Assessment Specialist will review the merits of the proposed simulation-based research projects and make suggestions regarding protocol amendments.

The UTMB HEC will support research as needed by assisting with the IRB submission, implementation of the study, data collection, and presentation of research conducted at the HEC at local, regional, national and/or international conferences/forms and with the preparation and submission of manuscripts for peer-reviewed publication. If a faculty sponsor is required to submit the IRB, the faculty sponsor must receive, review, and approve the IRB proposal prior to submitted the proposal for IRB review. 

Throughout the duration of the study, the PI is required to complete and submit a HEC Research Status Update form on an annual basis. The Research Status Update form will be emailed by the HEC Education Assessment Specialist to the PI of each study currently being conducted by July 10th. All Research Status Update forms must be completed and returned by August 10^th. The annual status of each ongoing HEC research study will be shared with the HEC Liaisons at the end of each fiscal year.

At the end of each fiscal year, the HEC Liaisons, the VP of IPE and the HEC, and the HEC Education Assessment Specialist will complete a Criteria for Evaluating Healthcare Research Projects form for each HEC research project completed in the past fiscal year. Collective scores for each study will be averaged and assigned to each completed study and included in the HEC’s research tracking spreadsheet.