Safeguard the Well-Being and Welfare of Human Subjects - Essay Example

 As indicated in the regulations and guidelines issued by the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, the IRB teams should comprise at least five individuals including a representative of the community. This enables the IRB to review proposed research based on community, legal and professional acceptability (Codina, 2014).

Discussion two

I agree with Katherine Johnson about ‘Protecting Human Research Participants. The fundamental role of IRB is to safeguard the well-being and welfare of human subjects.

At my workplace

After going through the ‘Protecting Human Research Participant’ course, I had an opportunity of discussing with a nurse engaging in research about the prevention of ventilator pneumonia in babies in the ICU. From the information gathered, the nurse had completed the initial training in research ethics before the submission of a protocol. She was able to undertake the online training offered by the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI), for engaging institutions (Mateo & Foreman, 2013). In my workplace, the IRB comprises of two hospital administrators, clinicians, nurses, a professional in medical ethics, two lay individuals from the community, and a statistical professional. The IRB maintains an equal gender ratio. The IRB acts as a screening center for issues of conflict of interest in research or institution and is also responsible for monitoring difficulties in the study. The IRB is governed by FDA, and its practices and policies are reviewed periodically for certification (Zenios et al., 2015).