IACUC Institute: Improving Oversight of Animal Care and Use Programs Through Active Learning

联邦法规的变化对机构动物护理和使用委员会(IACUCs)有效履行监督全国生物医学研究机构动物护理和使用项目的责任的能力提出了挑战。IACUC通常不知道新的法规或对其权力范围的了解有限-这两个因素都会影响它们对联邦指导方针的机构遵从性。需要有针对性地努力改进IACUC培训，以使所有IACUC成员都参与进来，高度了解并相信他们在确保遵守动物福利法规方面的作用。医学与研究中的公共责任(PRIM&AMP；R)是一家非营利性教育组织，它将开发培训IACUC研究所(TTII)的培训者，其中将培训一大批国家IACUC培训者，以便将积极的和同行指导的学习纳入他们的教育活动。TTII的具体活动是：1)举办有针对性的培训课程，教导现有的IACUC培训者使用主动学习技术进行有效的教学，这种技术已被证明可以增加知识转移，并鼓励IACUC培训者将这些积极的和同行指导的学习方法纳入他们自己的课程和针对IACUC成员和工作人员的教育课程；以及2)开发和利用有意义的指标，以评估和改进IACUC培训计划。TTII的最终目标是改善全国范围内对动物护理和使用项目的监督，确保IACUC的监督活动准确反映当前的监管标准，并使IACUC成员和工作人员具备减少监管负担的知识和信心，同时保持遵守联邦法律和标准。

Changes in federal regulations present challenges to Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees' (IACUCs) abilities to effectively meet their responsibility for the oversight of animal care and use programs at the nation's biomedical research institutions. Often IACUCs are unaware of new regulations or have a limited understanding of the extent of their authority---both of these factors can affect their institutional compliance with federal guidelines. Directed efforts to improve IACUC training are required so that all IACUC members are engaged, highly knowledgeable, and confident in their role in assuring compliance with animal welfare regulations. Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R), an educational nonprofit organization, will develop the Train the Trainer IACUC Institute (TTII) in which a large cohort of national IACUC trainers will be trained to incorporate active and peer-directed learning in their educational activities.The specific activities of the TTII are to: 1) hold focused training sessions to teach existing IACUC trainers to practice effective instruction using active learning techniques that have been shown to increase knowledge transfer and to encourage IACUC trainers to incorporate these active and peer-directed learning methods into their own courses and educational sessions for IACUC members and staff; and 2) to develop and utilize meaningful metrics that enable assessment and improvement of IACUC training programs. The ultimate goal of the TTII is to improve oversight of animal care and use programs nationwide by ensuring that oversight activities by IACUCs accurately reflect current regulatory standards and equipping IACUC members and staff with the knowledge and confidence to reduce regulatory burden while maintaining compliance with federal laws and standards.