Conducting Research at St. Luke's

Requirements, Processes and Tips

Step 1: Identify a research mentor

Residents and students must identify a faculty research mentor at Saint Luke's Hospital (SLH) and discuss the research background, design, methods of data collection and analysis with the mentor. The primary research mentor must complete the Mentor Agreement form (PDF).

Step 2: Complete online required human subjects training

Complete the required Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) training before beginning the research.

The required CITI trainings are:

  • UMKC Group 1-Biomedical Investigator
  • Conflict of Interest courses

Visit the CITI training page to sign up for these courses.

You may contact the Research Administration office  to obtain a copy of your CITI training certificates.

Step 3: Write a brief project summary

Write a brief, two to three page summary of the proposed research project or protocol. See sample project protocol (PDF). To avoid duplicate work, you can use your SLH Institutional Review Board (IRB) protocol as your brief project summary.

The proposal should include:

  • Brief background
  • Hypothesis
  • Research question
  • Abbreviated study design, including methods of analysis and statistical approach

Step 4: Statistical evaluation and data capture

Submit the project to the UMKC School of Medicine Research and Statistical Consult Service for statistical evaluation, if statistical expertise is not provided by the mentor.

How much “lead time” should be provided?

Faculty, staff, residents and students must make a request at the beginning of the project (when designing) in order to obtain input from a statistician regarding study design, the research objective and measures, data collection/format and the analysis plan. Lead time will depend on the complexity of the project, but at least two weeks will have best results.

Expectations, such as name on publications, presentations, etc.

Discuss this at the beginning. The biostatistician is able to provide and/or collaborate in creating written content, figures and tables for papers and posters. We anticipate that the biostatistician who works on the project will be listed as one of the co-authors on the publication. Researchers should incorporate other deadlines like IRB submission, factor in data collection and meet with a biostatistician.Researchers are responsible for collecting data and making it available to the biostatistician in a de-identified, usable format (see REDCap info below).

Optimizing Data Collection

REDCap (research electronic data capture) is a recommended tool for research data collection and can be customized to the specific project. REDCap is designed to comply with HIPAA regulations and data can be exported in many formats such as SPSS and excel worksheet. REDCap accelerates research by limiting repeated effort and centralizing processes. REDCap helps ensure data confidentiality and is much preferred over using Excel data sheets. See the UMKC BHI REDCap page for training videos, or visit the REDCap Resources page.

Step 5: Research evaluation

Send the brief summary of the research proposal and the signed Mentor Agreement form to the School of Medicine Associate Dean of Research for review.

Email Dr. Paula Nichols with the subject line "Research at SLH".

Dr. Nichols will either:

  • Approve the proposal
  • Schedule a brief phone interview
  • Schedule a brief one-on-one meeting to discuss the project proposal

The SLH IRB will require a signed approval document provided by Dr. Nichols.

Step 6: Contact the SLH IRB to initiate the IRB submission process

Email the SLH IRB or call 816-932-2589.

The completed SLH IRB submission requires the following signatures at SLH:
  • Director of Medical Education (Diana Dark, MD)
  • Project principal investigator (SLH medical staff member)
  • Principal investigator’s department director

The SLH IRB also requires a copy of the Mentor Agreement form (see step 1).

Step 7: Research support team

Contact the Research Support team of study coordinators for guidance on completing the appropriate IRB forms for the IRB submission.