Assessment of readiness of teaching hospitals in lebanon to irb and impact on practice and documentation

Objective: The purpose of study was to identify the current research conduct in several teaching hospitals with an Institutional Review Board (IRB) in Lebanon regarding the application of the international codes and regulations Methodology: Quantitative and Qualitative methods allowed an in-depth understanding of hospitals' clinical research, level of respect of safety measures, compliance with the international regulations, understanding challenges and future recommendation to improve the IRB system. A non-random sampling was used. Result: Based on mixed method analyses, it was generally derived that there was a lack of implementation of IRB system in Lebanon with accordance to the international codes and regulations. (17% of IRB committees doesn't have a written waiving criteria nor deception policy, only 33% have an annual training program). Conclusion: The study noticed the lack of application of international research regulations and protocols, while confirmed by the absence of IRB accreditation system. In addition to that, a weak monitoring system was mentioned in the associated hospitals. The teaching hospitals in general apply the IRB requirements partially, while confirmed by the incompleteness of document system, lack of training regarding IRB, the safety and confidentiality not as required according to ethical principles. There are inefficient steps that were established by the MoPH. Efforts should be made to address these concerns and how effective IRBs are at protecting human research participants and to achieve a full monitoring process via clinical research conducted in healthcare organizations.