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Take What You Have And Do More
Citation:
Graff, J., C. Walden, D. Kronstadt, L. Martin, AND K. Brock. Take What You Have And Do More. Presented at PRIM&R IACUC Conference, Baltimore, MD, March 18 - 19, 2013.
Impact/Purpose:
This will be presented at the Public Responsibility in Medicine & Research, March 18-19, 2013, Baltimore, MD
Description:
The needs of a good animal care and use program evolve over time, but fitting program-wide innovations into an existing institutional framework can be challenging. Management at the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL) of the US EPA was convinced of the importance of formalizing oversight of animal use post protocol approval and agreed to institute a Post Approval Monitoring (PAM) program - within existing infrastructure. This challenge was handled by expanding the role of the IACUC Coordinator to include PAM. As the PAM program became accepted in the labs, it demonstrated its utility by revealing a whole new need. Cumulative PAM visits indicated inconsistency in skill sets across the NHEERL Labs, with dated techniques and procedures appearing regularly. While PAM visits frequently resulted in on the spot training, management considered this suboptimal and approved construction of a revamped training program using expertise and resources already in house. A rodent training colony (animals most used in NHEERL) was formed by collecting unused sentinel and retired animals. The training staff was built by soliciting observed expertise: the Attending Veterinarian, animal care staff, and research staff all contribute to the training program on a volunteer basis. Targeted classes cover basic skills as well as specifically identified techniques. Additionally, to address inexperience and fears discovered during PAM visits, a subset of colony rats are habituated to handling using positive reinforcement and individuals are introduced to these animals to build skill and confidence before graduating to nonsocialized rats. The training program has been successful. Feedback has been positive, and investigators are actively requesting training. Rat-phobic individuals have learned to work with rats after previously being unable to touch them. The basic training has kept animal handling consistent across labs, making observation and health checks easier for the animal care staff. PAM visits have observed procedures across the labs showing increased consistency and more current practices, allowing PAM to move in new directions to be incorporated into future training. These successful, interrelated programs were accomplished by creatively using available resources, without increase in staff or budget.This abstract does not reflect EPA Policy.