Author
his article, published by the journal Revista Andaluza de Patología Digestiva, summarizes the experience of the initiation seminars on how Clinical Research Ethics Committees (CREC) operate, organized by the Esteve Foundation since 2001. These courses have been held throughout Spain on six occasions, with a total of 146 attendants.
The main problems suffered by CRECs in our country were identified in opinion questionnaires completed by some of the attendants. These problems, together with different proposals for improvement, are part of the contents summarized in this article. CREC-related problems include lack of training of its members, need for increased communication between them, excessive workload and bureaucracy, and follow-up issues.
The results obtained in the opinion questionnaires suggest a good acceptance of these training seminars, most probably due to their intensive two-day duration, the combination of highly participative theoretical and practical formats, as well as the scarce availability of CREC member-oriented courses.