The University of the Philippines Open University Institutional Research Ethics Committee (UPOU IREC) in collaboration with the Philippine Health Research Ethics Board (PHREB) and Philippine Council for Health Research and Development (PCHRD) held the Standard Operating Procedure Workshop (SOP) on September 6, 2021 to September 7, 2021 via Zoom.
The UP Open University Institutional Research Ethics Committee (UPOU IREC) serves as the body that implements the university policy of overseeing the ethical soundness of the institutional research produced, including any research conducted by faculty members, students, REPS, and staff. At present, UPOU IREC is a Level 1 accredited Research Ethics Committee (REC) of the Philippine Health Research Ethics Board (PHREB) and is working on its application for Level 2 accreditation. Part of the requirements for accreditation is the set of Standard Operating Procedures for ethics review that is implemented by the University.
The training was organized to help the UPOU IREC submit a set of improved Standard Operating Procedures in accordance with the PHREB guidelines to support its application for Level II accreditation and create a pool of individuals who can be part of the SOP Team and facilitate upcoming SOP updates and revisions. Specifically, it will enable participants to identify and understand the parts of PHREB accredited Standard Operating Procedures, construct contents for the different chapters of UPOU IREC Standard Operating Procedures, evaluate the existing UPOU IREC Standard Operating Procedures, and improve identified points for development in the existing UPOU IREC Standard Operating Procedures. In general, the workshop aims to improve and refine the Standard Operating Procedures of UPOU IREC and identify problems in the development of SOPs and on how to act on those specific problems.
These objectives are aligned to Memorandum No. OVPAA 2020-145, last 30 November 2020 stipulating all institutional research proposals specifically, those research that involves human participants must undergo ethics review. Moreover, this is in adherence to the RA 10532: Philippine National Health Research System Act (2013), DOST Administrative Order 001 Series of 2008: Review of all research involving human participant, CHED Memorandum Order (CMO) 34 Series of 2007: Endorsing above, DOST Administrative Order 001 Series of 2008: Registration of all ethics committees to PHREB and Joint DOST, DOH, CHED, and UPM Memorandum Order 001 Series of 2012.
The training workshop began with the opening remarks of Asst. Prof. Ria Valerie D. Cabanes, the chair of UPOU IREC. She briefly discussed the background of the UPOU IREC, the relevance of the training/workshop and gave updates on the status of the UPOU IREC Standard Operating Procedures.
The eminent resource speakers of the workshop were Dr. Rhodora C. Estacio and Dr. Sofia E. Bongala. Dr. Estacio is the Vice Chair of the Philippine Health Research Ethics Board (PHREB) Committee on Standards and Accreditation (CSA) of DOST- PCHRD, Professor (retired) and former Chair of the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Medicine at University of the Philippines Manila. Dr. Sofia E. Bongala, on the other hand, is the Chair of the Philippine Health Research Ethics Board – Committee on Standards and Accreditation (PHREB – CSA) and a member of the Philippine Health Research Ethics Board. Furthermore, she is also an active consultant of the OB Gynecologist and a former Director of the Medical Education and Research Division of the Makati Medical Center.
The 2-day training workshop was attended by almost thirty (30) professionals from the UP Open University composed of UPOU IREC members, UPOU IREC independent consultants led by Dr. Myra D. Oruga, faculty members and REPS from the Faculty of Education, Faculty of Information and Communication Studies, Faculty of Management and Development Studies, and selected research personnel.
The presentation included the rationale, goal, PHREB policies, categories of Research Ethics Committee (REC), procedures and criteria for accreditation, level of accreditation and responsibilities. The workshop also involved SOP evaluation, developing and writing SOPs and quality assurance. The experts and the participants collaboratively reviewed and evaluated the existing SOPs in breakout and plenary sessions during the 2nd day of the workshop.
The event concluded by the awarding of certificates of appreciation to the speakers led by Dr. Maria Rowena D.R. Raymundo, OIC of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. She also gave closing remarks expressing sincere gratitude to the resource speakers for helping UPOU IREC on its SOPs. She also emphasized that the UPOU IREC and participants valued the inputs from the resource speakers and hoped that those points will help the university in improving the quality of the Standard Operating Procedures of the UPOU IREC.
Sustainable Development Goals
Written by Marian Tatlonghari
Edited by Dr. Myra D. Oruga and Asst. Prof. Ria Valerie D. Cabanes
Graphics and screen captures by Marian Tatlonghari
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