Ethical principles, ethics committees and research

This has been a busy week from an ethics perspective. All research should be ethical and adhere to the ethical guidelines. The gatekeepers for the ethical principles are usually ethical committees, institutional review boards or panels. Researchers submit their proposals for approval to the committees and they decide whether the proposed research is in line with the universally accepted principles of ethical research. For example: Research carried out on humans should be in compliance with the Helsinki Declaration (http://www.wma.net/en/30publications/10policies/b3/index.html).

In Ireland, we have 25 committees/ boards who can provide ethical approval and we submitted two applications for ethical approval to two different committees this week:
1. Are psychosocial interventions for problem alcohol use effective among problem drug users in primary care (PINTA): A Controlled before-and-after feasibility study
2. Prospective audit of characteristics of opioid overdoses in an emergency ambulance service
…so many trees going to the ethics.

As usual, we submitted the ethics application on the last day of the deadline.
I wasn’t even sure if the cyclist courier would take it on a bike to the addressee, because the package had surely over 2 kilos. Fingers crossed.