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June 2023 Edition
Our previously published newsletters are available on our website. You can find them here.

We very much welcome your comments and suggestions – please drop us a line with your thoughts at clinicaltrials@rbhs.rutgers.edu.
Research Spotlight
Iodine for nasal decolonization
What if there was a simple, safe, effective, and inexpensive strategy to prevent surgical site infections? This is exactly what Dr. Dennis Grech and the NJMS-Anesthesia clinical research team have set out to show by conducting a study to test whether pre-surgical nasal application of 10% Povidone-iodine reduces the bacterial load of Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA,) which are commonly colonized in the nose and are easily transferred to the surgical site.  

This investigator-initiated trial, which is funded by PDI Healthcare, has enrolled 141 Same-Day Surgery participants at UH-Newark to date out of a planned total of 170. In this study, nasal cultures are obtained and then participants receive an application of povidone-iodine or placebo within two hours prior to their procedure. Patients are then followed 30 days post-operatively by chart review for the development of infection.

Preliminary study data were presented at New Jersey State Society of Anesthesiologists meeting on March 25, 2023. The presentation, which demonstrated a reduction in post-surgical MRSA and S. aureus based on preliminary data, was awarded Best Research Poster prize.

Congratulations to the NJMS Study team on nearing completion of this important study: Dr. Grech (Principal Investigator), Drs. Tewfik, Chaudhry, Shah, Korban (co-investigators), Svetlana Usova and Tamara Berezina (research coordinators.) And a special thanks from the study team to the Medical students who joined study team as part of their Anesthesiology Research Elective course: Vishal Druva, Carter Campbell, Nidhi Patel, Judith Ezike helped with study procedures, poster preparation, RedCap database for the study and to Medical students Daniel Cho, Shivani Mehta, Nivetha Srinivasan, Muhammad Siddiqui who are helping with the study and data entry
Study team members pictured above, from left to right: Svetlana Usova, Daniel Cho, Dr. Grech, Muhammad Siddiqui, Shivani Mehta, Tamara Berezina
Please shoot us an e-mail to clinicaltrials@rbhs.rutgers.edu if you have a new study, grant award or publication from your area that you’d like to share with your fellow RBHS study teams!
Regulatory Tip of the Month
TIN Toolbox
The Trial Innovation Network (TIN), a collaborative initiative within the CTSA program, has developed a comprehensive guide to improving informed consent documents as well as the consent process. This toolkit provides practical solutions for making consent forms more accessible, for example, by improving the readability, as well as tips for how to use REDCap for eConsent and how to develop a consent video.  
Website Update
Just an FYI that our website URL has moved. Our old website will automatically redirect you to our new location.
Upcoming Events
RWJMS Clinical
Research Workgroup
July 17th, 2023
12:00 pm
Agenda TBA
RWJMS Corner
Congratulations to Susette Coyle from the RWJMS Department of Surgery on her recent retirement! Susette has worked tirelessly for the Department since she joined them in 1997. Through her time there, countless students, residents & budding investigators have benefitted from her mentorship and her clinical trial participants have had the steady hand of a highly competent research nurse to guide them through a trying time. Susette was also an active member of the IRB & served as a co-chair at one point.  

Please join us in thanking Susette for all that she has done for RWJMS and wish her the best as she enjoys her home at the Jersey Shore, perfects her pickle ball game and hones her gardening skills. She will be dearly missed!
NJMS Corner
Don't forget to remove FYI Flags!
Arleen Wallen from UH-Newark’s Office for Clinical Research Services has asked us to remind NJMS study teams to please complete the Research Informed Consent Coversheet to direct UH Medical Records to Remove the FYI Flag when a participant goes off study. This is a critical step in assuring that FYI flags for research are viewed as accurate and reliable.

Click here to download the Informed Consent Coversheet
OnCore Quick Tip:
How to edit study staff in OnCore
First, you want to click on PC Console and select your protocol. The Main tab should be highlighted on the left sidebar and then you can select the Staff tab in the middle of the page. Next, you will click Update. Clicking the Edit link opens an update window for modifying or deleting the corresponding staff member.
The staff member's name appears in window, along with the phone number and email address stored in the contact record. The header additionally displays an unordered list of all of the user-level organizations that are participating on the protocol that the user already has access to. Study sites are listed in a parenthetical count. If the user has all user-level organization access, "All Access" appears in the Default Organization Access field. If the contact on the staff role isn't a user, N/A appears here.

All existing entries related to the staff member are displayed. You can add more entries and supplement the user's access as well. To delete a staff member, select the Delete checkbox and click Submit.

Role
The role the staff member has on the study.

Organization
This field tracks the specific institution or study site where the protocol staff member is acting in the role. It can be set to any active organization in the system.
Clinical Research Pet of the Month
Our June pet of the month is Matilda! Her fur mom is Taylor Scott, research assistant for RWJMS Psychiatry.

Matilda is a 2-year-old long-haired tortie who was rescued from middle of a busy street in Texas when she was 5 weeks old. Like most torties, she has a lot to say and loves to be involved in everyone else’s business. She is an expert fly catcher, bird watcher, and wrestler. She also enjoys spending time with her best friend, Chunky. She is a little nervous around new people but cannot resist attention and being pet.

Congratulations Taylor and Matilda!
If you want your favorite pet featured in the next newsletter, reach out to us via clinicaltrials@rbhs.rutgers.edu