Bruce W. Kennedy, MS, RLATG, CMAR, CPIA, Column Coordinator

In my experience, the laws, guidance, and best practices associated with conducting animal research are largely unknown, not only to the general public but even to those with whom we work. Many institutions struggle to inform personnel about ongoing activities and efforts conducted internally, such as what happens in the lab animal facility and the different facets of regulatory compliance. Special events that highlight interdisciplinary activities can be great opportunities to engage staff across an institution about issues that they might not normally encounter in their own day-to-day duties. This month's column showcases one group's efforts to plan an event at their university about research compliance. Donna Pulkrabek and Crysta Mendes are colleagues at Prairie View A&M University's Office of Research Compliance. Their posting on the IACUC administrators list (IACUC-ADMIN@LIST.MSU.EDU) in search of compliance-related quiz questions caught my attention and I invited them to share their experience. The following is how they put it all together.

Compliance “Jeopardy” at Prairie View A&M

In research compliance, there is never a dull moment... so why make training dull? For University Compliance Week, the Office of Research Compliance at Prairie View A&M University created a “Jeopardy”-style game to train the faculty and staff about the multiple research compliance areas, such as Export Controls, the Institutional Review Board (IRB), the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and the Institutional Biosafety Committee (IBC). For previous events, we relied on generic methods, such as handouts with information about the different areas of research compliance. But if employees aren't engaged when they receive information, they are unlikely to retain and apply that information. We know that most people have no idea what we do in the Office of Research Compliance, so just giving out handouts that may not register with our colleagues without engagement was doing a disservice. In order to increase awareness and compliance in our area, we had to put the information into perspective so that different employees could truly understand why we do what we do to keep the institution in compliance as well as their role in the process. We decided to use “Jeopardy” this year because of its popularity in education. We hoped that a familiar format would be inviting and help make it easier for participants to answer questions about unfamiliar topics. “Jeopardy” also uses active learning techniques, which are generally more fun.

For our game, we were definitely 'low tech'. Question cards—written in Prairie View's purple and gold—were displayed on a white poster board. There were 200, 400, 600, 800, and 1,000-point questions that increased in difficulty. We also included three “Daily Doubles” hidden on the board, where the contestant won an additional prize if they answered correctly. The headings for our game were “Committee Review,” “Compliance Policies and Regulations,” “Compliance Committees,” “Human Subjects Research,” “Export Controls,” and “Animal Research.”

Perhaps the reader would like to try his or her hand at answering a few of our questions? Here are some examples: 200- This branch of agriculture is concerned with the production and care of domestic animals. Question: What is animal husbandry? 400- Principal Investigators must consider alternatives to these types of procedures. Question: What are pain and distress procedures? 600- This was the first federal law for the use of animal in research. Question: “What is the Animal Welfare Act and Regulations (1966)? 800- Protocols involving procedures that may cause more than momentary or slight pain or distress to the animals must include a review/consultation with this person. Question: Who is a veterinarian? 1,000- These minor changes in a protocol are the only changes that can be approved administratively without IACUC review. Question: What are changes in personnel?

While preparing for University Compliance Week, we felt that our questions would be easy for the faculty and staff to answer. But we surprised ourselves. Not as many researchers attended as we hoped. The majority of attendees were primarily teaching faculty and staff members, many of whom were from the athletic and fiscal departments and just weren't familiar with the compliance committees. Even though they understood the game, answering “Jeopardy” style questions about unknown topics was still somewhat difficult. Fortunately, the interest was there. A few employees were so engaged that they came back multiple times to challenge themselves to get a question correct.

The goal for this event was to pique interest about research compliance. Using a game format, we were able to inform other institutional members, who are not directly involved in the different areas of compliance, about the role and duties of the Office of Research Compliance. By engaging the attendees in learning in an interactive and fun way, we were able to grab their attention and push them to learn more about research compliance. University Compliance Week is an annual event at Prairie View A&M and for next year, we plan on sticking with the game format but perhaps will try out a different one to continue sharing research compliance knowledge with our colleagues.