Research
Clinical research is a branch of medical science that determines the safety and effectiveness of medications, devices, diagnostic products, and treatment regimens intended for human use. These may be used for prevention, treatment, diagnosis or for relief of symptoms in a disease.
A specific high level objective of the Health Services Executive (HSE) is to develop its research capabilities, putting research evidence into practice with the outcome of better patient care for all.
Research in Cork University Hospital is governed internally by a research policy and registration of all research activities, and externally from an ethical perspective by the regional Clinical Research Ethics Committee (CREC ) of the Cork Teaching Hospitals.
The Clinical Research Ethics Committee of the Cork Teaching Hospitals deals with clinical research involving human participants, their identifiable data or tissue. Its remit comprises the granting or refusing of permission on ethical grounds for research projects entailing:
- clinical trials (of treatments or of diagnostic processes);
- epidemiological or other studies involving the collection of personal healthcare related data;
- behavioural studies of persons in a healthcare setting;
- studies on tissues and tissue extracts obtained in a healthcare setting.
This Committee is recognised by the Department of Health and Children as a nationally competent ethics committee for clinical trials under the European Communities (Clinical Trials on Medicinal Products for Human Use) Regulations (S.I. 190/2004) - It also assesses clinical trial protocols submitted to it by researchers who are not staff members either of UCC or of the hospitals affiliated to UCC for teaching. It should also be noted that CREC reserves the right, as a matter of institutional authority, to modify research validated by an external research ethics committee on the basis of local competence to deliver.
Research Activities