The impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the research portfolio and approval turnaround time at the Kenya Medical Research Institute.
Indian J Med Ethics
; IX(2): 109-114, 2024.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38755766
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The Covid-19 pandemic led to an unprecedented impact on many sectors globally including research. We assessed the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the research portfolio, and on the approval turnaround time for research protocols submitted to the Scientific and Ethics Review Unit (SERU), at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI).METHODS:
We compared research protocols submitted between October 01, 2019 and March 31, 2020 (Period 1), to those submitted between April 1 and September 30, 2020 (Period 2). A document review tool was used to extract data from the 198 research protocols reviewed and approved over the two periods.RESULTS:
In the two periods under review, the single largest percentage of protocols (89/198, 45.4%) involved infectious and parasitic diseases, and the single largest percentage of study designs was cross-sectional (75/198, 38%). Before the pandemic, the median time taken to review KEMRI-linked protocols was 87 days and for non-KEMRI linked protocols it was 121 days. During the pandemic, approval turnaround time dropped for both KEMRI and non-KEMRI protocols to 66 days and 92 days, respectively, due to the streamlined processes at the KEMRI SERU.CONCLUSION:
The research portfolio was minimally affected by the pandemic. The adoption of email submission, and faster-than-usual processing and review protocols during the pandemic reduced the approval turnaround time.
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Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Pesquisa
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Academias e Institutos
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COVID-19
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2024
Tipo de documento:
Article