Collaborate with different departments to support your research.
How do I access other departments for my research study?
- Begin by identifying departments that can provide services to support your research.
- Complete the Fraser Health departmental agreement for providing research-related services form.
- Follow the instructions on page 1. Copies of this form may be used for the different departments.
- Get approval from the department. Note these approvals may be obtained along with the ethical review submission, but must be submitted before the Letter of Authorization to Conduct Research can be released.
- For sponsored clinical trials, get department approval before the clinical trial budget is finalized and the Clinical Trial Agreement is executed.
- For grant sponsored studies, get department approval before the grant funding submission.
- For unfunded studies, provision of services is at the discretion of the department/area.
- Contact the departments for more information on requirements and fee schedules.
- Departments may require that the researcher submit the research protocol or proposal to assist with costing services.
- Each department negotiates costs based on their own cost structure, if the study is/will be funded from an external sponsor/grant agency.
- Once agreement has been negotiated, get the signature of the individual with signing authority for the specific department. View the Fraser Health departmental agreement for providing research-related services form for the names of these individuals.
- Email the completed and signed form to research.approvals@fraserhealth.ca.
- Once the study is approved and the researcher has received both the certificate of ethical approval and the Letter of Authorization to Conduct Research, submit the letter to the department(s).
What departments can I access for my research study?
You can access various departments for your research study. These departments may include:
- Anatomical pathology
- Biomedical engineering
- Communicable disease prevention
- Health and business analytics (access to data)
- Health records
- Information technology
- Laboratory medical services
- Medical imaging
- Patient care (if access to particular patients is required)
- Operating rooms
- Use of acute and community facilities (access to rooms for consenting patients or conducting staff focus groups/interviews)
- Pharmacy
- Pathology
- Procurement/Purchasing
- Surgical services
How do I request a health record or administrative data?
Complete the Application for Initial Ethical Review. Submit your completed application and Appendix 2 to our team. Once approved by our Research Ethics Board, the application and all other applicable study documentation will be sent to our Privacy department.
Our Privacy Team reviews the study to see if a Privacy Impact Assessment (PIA) is needed.
If a PIA is needed, our Privacy Team will:
- Notify the principal investigator and send the study to our Information Management Department to work with the researcher to make sure that a PIA is completed.
- Upon approval, approve data access and ask the study principal investigator to sign the Data Access Agreement.
- Notify the Fraser Health Research Ethics Board so that the Letter of Authorization to Conduct Research can be issued to the principal investigator.
If a PIA is not needed:
- The Letter of Authorization to Conduct Research is issued once all approvals are in place.
- Once the Data Access Agreement is signed off, data may be gathered from Fraser Health as long as the Fraser Health departmental agreement for providing research-related services form has also been signed off by the appropriate department that has the authority to release data.
What are the privacy and confidentiality requirements when accessing personal information?
We comply with the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act (FOIPPA), which regulates the use of personal information collected by public bodies, such as health care institutions and schools.
Section 35a restricts the use of personal information and prohibits its use for contacting prospective subjects to invite them to participate in research.
Bill 73 restricts the transmission of data outside of Canada and requires consent from the owner of the data (for example, the patient or prospective participant) before data can be sent outside of the country (Section 30.1).
Visit the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner for more information.