The Ottawa Health Science Network Research Ethics Board (OHSN-REB) is spearheading an important initiative to enhance patient access to clinical trials and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of clinical research across the region. By uniting Research Ethics Boards (REBs) from various hospitals, this effort aims to simplify the paperwork required to open studies at multiple institutions. This collaborative approach not only reduces administrative burdens but also enriches the review process through a broader range of expertise, ensuring that ethical standards are rigorously upheld.
OHSN-REB, which oversees ethical review for The Ottawa Hospital and the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, is leading this regional effort to improve access to clinical trials and studies for patients.
Clinical trials and studies are important for patients because they provide access to innovative, potentially life-saving therapies while fueling the development of best practices to improve care for everyone. REBs are responsible for ensuring that studies involving humans and their data meet ethical and scientific standards.
In the past, researchers who wanted to enroll patients at several hospitals had to submit their study to each hospital’s REB. This lengthy process could delay the study’s start, and often dissuaded researchers from opening their study at more than one hospital.
Now, thanks to REB harmonization agreements between several Ottawa-area hospitals, as well as the province-wide Clinical Trials Ontario and their streamlined electronic REB application in CTO Stream, researchers can submit a single ethics application to open their study at multiple hospitals.
New process to provide more opportunities for patients to participate in research
One of the most recent REB harmonization agreements involves OHSN-REB and The Royal Ottawa Health Care Group Research Ethics Board.
Dr. Jess Fiedorowicz, Head and Chief of the Department of Mental Health at The Ottawa Hospital, is excited about the doors this opens for mental health research in the region.
“Making it easier to open a mental health study at both The Ottawa Hospital and The Royal gives patients at either site access to cutting-edge research at these leading academic medical centres. This will facilitate collaboration across sites, reduce research costs, and improve access to interested patients.”
Recently, OHSN-REB and the Bruyère REB also finalized a harmonization agreement, giving patients at The Ottawa Hospital, the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and Bruyère more opportunities to participate in research on aging, palliative care and rehabilitation.
Benefits to Ottawa’s youngest patients
The REB harmonization agreement between OHSN-REB and CHEO, finalized in 2019, has been a major success. Prior to this agreement, there were only a dozen studies offered at both hospitals every year. Today there are ten times that number.
Dr. Brigitte Lemyre is a cross-appointed researcher at The Ottawa Hospital and CHEO who has seen the benefit of research ethics harmonization between the two hospitals.
“I run clinical studies to improve lung health in premature babies, and we recruit babies from both the TOH and CHEO NICUs,” says Dr. Lemyre. “Only submitting one REB application means we can open our studies faster and give more families the chance to participate.”
Ottawa-area REB harmonization complements province-wide initiative
The recent efforts to harmonize Ottawa-area REBs complements the province-wide Clinical Trials Ontario streamlined research ethics review program, known as the CTO Steam. This initiative, launched in 2016, has transformed research ethics review in Ontario. The web-based platform allows a single ethics review for studies opening at two or more participating hospitals across the province.
Sites in the region participating in the CTO Stream include The Ottawa Hospital, the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, CHEO, the Royal Ottawa Health Care Group, Bruyère, Montfort Hospital, Winchester District Memorial Hospital, the University of Ottawa and Hawkesbury and District General Hospital.
“I wanted to recruit patients at Hawkesbury and District General Hospital to a study, but I couldn’t because it’s a smaller hospital that doesn’t have its own REB,” says Dr. Paul E. Beaulé, an orthopedic surgeon, professor of surgery and scientist who splits his time between The Ottawa Hospital and the Hawkesbury and District General Hospital, where he is Chief of Staff. “Now with Hawkesbury hospital becoming a participating site in CTO Stream, I can offer my patients in Prescott-Russell County the same studies as my patients in Ottawa.”
