You are here:
Maintaining Compliance through Technology during a Pandemic: Virtual Facility Inspections and Program Reviews
Citation:
Harvey, J., W. Cascio, J. Graff, M. Hoopes, L. Jarrell, S. Ayvazian, L. Coiro, R. Hockett, M. Kahl, C. Lilavois, AND D. Brumbaugh. Maintaining Compliance through Technology during a Pandemic: Virtual Facility Inspections and Program Reviews. 2021 American Association for Laboratory Animal Science (AALAS) National Meeting, Virtual, October 17 - 21, 2021.
Impact/Purpose:
We are sharing our successful approach to virtual facility inspection and program review as a poster at the National American Association for laboratory Science meeting in Kansas City Oct. 17-21, 2021.
Description:
Maintaining Compliance through Technology during a Pandemic: Virtual Facility Inspections and Program Reviews Harvey, J.E; Hoopes, M; Jarrell, L; Ayvazian, S; Coiro, L; Hockett, R; Kahl, M; Lilavois, C.; Brumbaugh, D. Cascio, W.E., Graff, J.E. Animal care and use facility inspections and program reviews are mandated by statute to occur every six months at a minimum. Local and state public health action imposed during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic caused many organizations to suspend or severely limit both the number of people allowed on campuses and travel for inspections of animal housing facilities. This is especially problematic for federal and other facilities where covered animals and research facilities are geographically dispersed. The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD) has several animal care and use facilities: RTP, NC; Cincinnati, OH; Duluth, MN; Narragansett, RI; and Gulf Breeze, FL. The latter three facilities are overseen by the unified EPA ORD Eco-IACUC because of program size and the similarities of the fish and amphibian ecological research conducted at these facilities. EPA’s ORD both suspended travel and limited access to EPA campuses during much of the pandemic. In-person meetings were not feasible. To meet the requirements to conduct our inspections and reviews as specified in the statute, the Eco-IACUC investigated technologies, approaches, and methods to conduct our inspections and reviews remotely using a variety of available technologies. The poster will describe our successful virtual approach so that other IACUCs may benefit from our experience.
