Training: IACUC Committee Members

Federal law requires that the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) make recommendations to the Institutional Official (IO) for development and administration of animal care and use training programs for all personnel involved in the use of animals in teaching or research. The members of the IACUC require training in order to understand and properly conduct IACUC responsibilities and functions. It is the policy of Saginaw Valley State University IACUC to provide and document a comprehensive training program for all committee members. 

Procedure
IACUC Coordinator Responsibility: procure reference materials; schedule facility tours; maintain records of committee member training; notify the IACUC members of available conferences; schedule short training modules for IACUC meetings in consultation with the chair and the veterinarian; provide instructions for use of the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) online training web site; provide occupational health and safety materials, including a summary of hazards and instructions for participation in the program; and schedule review of the IACUC web site home page tutorial for all new members.

Laboratory Coordinator/PI will be responsible for tours of Lab facilities. 

Documentation of Training - The IACUC Coordinator will maintain individual files for all IACUC members that will include:  Training received by IACUC members; all training documents will be made available by the IACUC Coordinator to the IACUC, federal regulatory personnel, or any other qualified inspector on demand.

Training Program
New IACUC members should receive the following within 1 month of appointment to the IACUC:  References - The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee Guidebook; Facility tour; Review of IACUC web site home page tutorial with the IACUC Coordinator.

All IACUC members - short training modules on specific topics at all IACUC meetings.
Examples include: Regulation review on items relevant to current business; Reports of members or guests from recently attended meetings; New regulations or “hot topics” in laboratory animal medicine; Annual in-service training conducted by the IACUC Coordinator; Triennial completion of IACUC module on the CITI training web site http://www.citiprogram.org -  “Essentials for IACUC Members.”

IACUC Coordinator - Same training and documentation as IACUC members.
First year of employment may include at least two (2) conferences such as: “Essentials of IACUC Administration” sponsored by Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R) or Animal Welfare Information Center and National Agricultural Library data base training.  Encouraged to complete "Certification Examination for Professional IACUC Administrators" sponsored by the Council for Certified Professional IACUC Administrators an affiliate of PRIM&R.