INSTITUTIONAL ANIMAL CARE AND USE COMMITTEE

CASE IACUC POLICIES

Process Flow for Baseline-Health Care Assessment & Obtaining Animal Facility Access

Animal Research Personnel (ARPs- employees, faculty, students and volunteers) must contact the IACUC office when they plan to work with experimental animals at Case, when they need access to Animal Research Center (ARC) or when they get added to a protocol.

They will be asked to complete an addendum to add personal form. They will also be asked to complete a University Health Services (HEALTH SERVICES) health form and will be directed to HEALTH SERVICES for baseline screening. HEALTH SERVICES will perform the baseline-health assessment and determine appropriate antibody titers. HEALTH SERVICES will give the required vaccinations or obtain a waiver from the individual. In the rare circumstance that HEALTH SERVICES determines an individual cannot/should not work with animals (based on the base line assessment, IACUC-office, Human Resources (HR), the hiring manager, or the Principal Investigators will be notified so appropriate personnel decisions can be made .

HEALTH SERVICES will send the IACUC-office a list of candidates who have undergone baseline screening; for the IACUC-office grants access to the ARPs. Upon addition to a given (or new) protocol, the Protocol Specific-Risk Analysis is performed by the ARC-veterinarian and/or IACUC-compliance officer and appropriate additional training will be mandated. All protocol specific risks are managed by additional training, protective apparel or access control. All ARPs who are on an IACUC protocol and/or with facility access will be maintained in a database and monitored/trained on a regular basis (at least every 3 years). ARPs fill in CWRU-HEALTH SERVICES health forms. These forms will be reviewed by a nurse/doctor in order to determine any health risks. If the ARP is a CWRU employee or a student, the assessment will be entered into the electronic medical record and personnel forms will be scanned. If the researcher is not an employee the documentation is placed in a separate registry. The registry is updated on a regular basis and shared with IACUC-office.

HEALTH SERVICES will contact ARPs via e-mail for any immunization deficiencies or for other clarification. All CWRU employees who need to be seen for follow-up will be asked to make appointments to visit HEALTH SERVICES. Non-CWRU ACPs under the IACUC protocol will be informed of their deficiencies. They will be asked to contact their Occupational Health Department or Supervisor for follow-up and will be required to provide to the IACUC documentation of the appropriate follow-up.

ARPs who are advised to receive Rabies Vaccine will be contacted and offered a 3 dose Rabies Vaccine based on the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommended regimen (at 0, 7 and 21 or 28 days) for pre-exposure prophylaxis. Protective antibody titers should be assessed every 2 yrs. Booster doses will be offered for those with sub optimal titers. HEALTH SERVICES will maintain the registry and track ARPs who receive the vaccine and notify ARPs when follow up is necessary.