The Research Clinic
The Office of Research Integrity posted a film called The Research Clinic to their website (ORI). It depicts the interactions of four carefully chosen individuals, offering the viewer the chance to assume the part of one of them and predict the outcomes of the roles played by each character.
Principal Investigator (PI)
A principal investigator (PI) is a busy oncologist who strives to strike a balance between supervising his researches and providing the best care possible for his patients.
Clinical Research Coordinator
The second is a clinical research coordinator, a worn-out nurse who the PI is pressuring to provide incorrect information and violate study protocol.
Assistant Researcher
The third is an assistant researcher who has challenges in getting authoritative permission and maintaining research hierarchy (Sox & Rennie, 2006).
Institutional Review Board (IRB) Chairperson
The fourth character is the institutional review board (IRB) chairperson who is mandated with the role of safeguarding researchers and research integrity against traditions that resist change.
Misconduct in Research
Misconduct in research can result from failure to observe the laid down guidelines by safeguarding researchers (Sox & Rennie, 2006). This video demonstrates the roles played by four selected characters in a research clinic.
Principal Investigator's Role
The principal investigator (PI) forces the coordinator of clinical research to give false information and break the protocol rules of research activity (Sox & Rennie, 2006).
Challenges Faced by the Research Assistant
The research assistant, in turn, experiences significant challenges in adhering to the protocols and gaining authoritative go ahead.
Role of the IRB Chairperson
Lastly, there is an IRB chairperson who is charged with the mandate of protecting researchers and research integrity against practices that resist change. All the four characters conflict in maintaining a balance of their profession and their research work.
Managing Research Misconduct
Investigators can manage research misconduct as demonstrated by the Research Clinic video through avoiding giving false data, fabrication, plagiarizing content, full participation, observing protocol, and approval of research work by the IRB.
Reference
Sox, H.C., & Rennie, D. (2006). Research misconduct, retraction, and cleansing the medical literature: Lessons from the Poehlman case. Annals of Internal Medicine, 144(8), 609.
