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Eligibility (TBS)

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To be supplied

LATN standard criteria

To be supplied

Study-specific eligibility criteria

To be supplied

Assessing mood and mental health

To be supplied

Assessing drug use history

To be supplied

 

Lab Suicidality Procedure

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This page is for training only.  For further instruction, please see common\participants\Phone_screening_materials\Suicide assessment and prevention materials

Occasionally, you will phone screen a participant who endorses suicidal thoughts. When this happens, you will need to go through the lab suicidality procedure. This is available in common\participants\Phone_screening_materials\Suicide assessment and prevention materials; but make sure to have a copy at hand as it has the appropriate questions to ask as well as the relevant steps to take

When asking about suicidal ideation, try to make the distinction as to whether the subject could be considered to be at imminent risk for self-injury/suicide.

If the subject has: suicidal ideation, but no specific plans or intent to take action on a plan (some people have thoughts or taking their life/self-harm or even a plan, but say they could/would never do it); resources he/she can rely on and has relied on in the past (family, friends, therapist, counseling, etc); plans for the week/next week—then he could be considered to not be at imminent risk

On the other hand, the following are risk factors for imminent risk: suicidal ideation with a specific plan and (at least) some intent to take action on a plan, prior suicide attempts and instances of self-harm, few resources he/she can rely on, few plans for the week

If you determine that the subject is not at imminent risk, you can contract for safety and then proceed with finishing screen. Make sure to send the participant a copy of community resources.

If you feel that the subject could be at imminent risk for self-harm/suicide, ask him/her to contract for safety. In addition, keep the subject on the phone! Ask others in the lab to help out by calling Diego, Dr. Olson, Nancy, Rosi, Alexis, Dr. Vitaliano, Laurie, Christian. Calling 911 may be necessary

 

 

Recruiting Methods

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Most of this section needs more information

We use a number of sources for recruitment in the lab. The most successful are the BU quickie jobs board, and Craigslist.

Online Recruitment Survey

Additional information to be supplied

There is a general recruitment database for LATN studies called “Lablab”. It is password-protected on the Jupiter common server. See instructions in the first tab of Lablab for use.

In order to contact participants from this database, you MUST be on study staff for the studies referenced.

Internet Advertising

Craigslist

Free Option ($0/ad):

  • http://boston.craigslist.org/vol/
  • At the top right corner of the “Volunteers” page, there is a link called “Post”
  • When asked to choose a category, choose “Volunteers”
  • When asked to choose a region, choose whichever best fits (e.g. metro west or Boston/Cambridge/Brookline)
  • Put the IRB-APPROVED text into the “Posting Description” section (you may need to shorten your title to fit)
  • Under “Compensation,” put the full amount of compensation subjects may earn
  • Easiest way to post the ad, is to re-post!

 

Paid Option ($45/ad):

  • http://boston.craigslist.org/etc/
  • At the top right corner of the main page, under the “Jobs” column, scroll down and select “[ETC]”
  • At the top right corner of the “Jobs” > “et cetera jobs” page, there is a link called “Post”
  • When asked to choose a category, choose “et cetera”
  • When asked to choose a region, choose whichever best fits (e.g. metro west or Boston/Cambridge/Brookline)
  • Put the IRB-APPROVED text into the “Posting Description” section (you may need to shorten your title to fit)
  • Under “Compensation,” put the full amount of compensation subjects may earn
  • Easiest way to post the ad, is to re-post!

Other websites

College recruitment

  • See document saved under common/participants/flyers
  • BU quickie jobs is very easy and very high-yield!!

Clinicaltrials.gov

Any protocol that has an ‘intervention’ (MRIs count) must be registered on clinicaltrials.gov. This is a government website run by the FDA. You must provide yearly updates on the trial posting.

Paid Advertisements

Postcards

Both CAMDL and LATN have worked with Northpoint Printing to send out postcards to specific demographics within a definable radius of McLean. A postcard drop of 2500 costs about $1800. Here are the steps involved in creating and sending out postcards:

  • Use Adobe Illustrator to create a postcard. You can find a past template here: Z:\common\Participants\Postcards for recruitment
    • Adobe Illustrator is installed on the Workstation-10 computer.
  • Submit the postcard (in PDF or .doc format) to your study’s IRB. Make sure that your study protocol mentions use of postcards in the section on recruitment. If it does not, you may need to amend the protocol as well as submitting an image of the postcard.
    • Once the IRB approves your postcard, you can email a PDF version to Mike Sullivan at Northpoint Printing: ms@northpointprinting.com. Be sure to include:# of postcards you would like to drop
    • Geography > Radius > Address Based Radius (we have specified 10 miles in the past)
    • Demographics > Gender
    • Housing Type: (we have specified single family & multi family, not PO BOX)
    • Ask for a price quote.
  • Once you approve the price quote with your PI and Mike sends out the postcards, you will need to use Peoplesoft to create a requisition. On the “Add Items and Services” page, you should click on “Special Request.”
  • 1-2 days after submitting the payment to Northpoint Printing, you should receive an email from Josephine Amico that includes a PO# for the invoice. You must email this PO# to Mike Sullivan to complete the transaction.

Advertise on the T

TrialSpark

To be supplied

Flyers

IRB-approved flyers are in common/admin/flyers.  In general, it’s a good idea to keep a list of places you flyer and every 2 weeks or so go check them out. You may need to post new copies up because the tabs are all gone. You also want to be sure to take them down before they reach the IRB expiration date. We have a google doc and google map of flyering locations in the area.

On the McLean campus, basically you can flyer anywhere there is space on one of the cork boards. Make sure to use IRB-approved fliers, they should have an IRB stamp on them. The hot spots are:

  • Both doors of the cafeteria
  • By Cole Resource Center (to the left when walking with your lunch to find a seat inside),
  • In Admissions across from the elevator,
  • In North Belknap next to the elevator,
  • Across from the vending machines by the mail room in the tunnels
  • Any place else you can find a cork board or other research flyers! If you want to post them in particular departments (say the Geriatric Psychiatry unit) you should ask the director or secretary of the department if it’s okay to do so. Most departments have locked cabinets where they hang flyers and have limited space for their own advertising.

If you want to flyer in the community, say at a coffee shop, grocery store, gym or library, it’s best to ask someone that works there if it’s okay to put up the flyer.  Harvard removes flyers around 8am on Monday and Thursday.

 

Lablab and the Online Survey (TBS)

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To Be Supplied

Add a complete section on Lablab and the recruitment survey.  This could be a separate KnowledgeBase of its own.

 

Petty Cash

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For some of Diego’s behavioral experiments, it is more effective if subjects can receive immediate cash for their performance as opposed to waiting weeks to get a check in the mail. Petty cash can only be used for payments under $50 and only for one payment per subject.

Each study keeps its own petty cash in the cash safe. Cathy O’Connell (x2637) can answer any questions you have about the petty cash process

Requesting a Petty Cash set-up

  • Pre-Approval from the IRB Office
  • Memo from the PI to research director (email both Cathy and Raquel Espinosa) requesting a petty cash set-up that should include the following information:
    • PI Name
    • Study title
    • Protocol #
    • Project period
    • Person responsible for the cash and contact information (address, email & phone number)
    • Petty cash amount
    • Amount to be paid total per subject
    • Amount to be paid per subject visit
  • Once the letter is returned, you can fill out a check request for the petty cash

Check Request

  • We have usually requested a larger check with enough money to last six months
  • Use the Expenses system to fill out the check request, as you would a subject payment
    • Under Single Payment Vendor: Name: “Petty Cash”
    • Under address: put the cash custodian’s (your) name here, then fill out McLean’s address
    • Under Invoice Information: Account 919700, Project: your fund number
    • Under comments put “Handling code ML”, and the contact name and phone number of the cash custodian.
    • Also include how the petty cash will be broken up ex:“$300 to pay 30 subjects $10 each”
    • Attach a scanned copy of the approval letter, and submit.

Cash Handling

  • The check will come to Cathy O’Connell about 2 weeks after the request was made. She will call you when it is ready for pickup, but if you don’t hear from her it is worth calling to ask if it is available.
  • Once a check is received by the person responsible, it can be cashed at a bank. (?? at petty cash office??)
  • The cash should be stored in the petty cash safe. Each study should be keep its cash separated in an envelope or pouch of its own.
  • The subject must sign a receipt when they receive cash. You should find preprinted receipt forms in the safe.

Payments and Records

  • The receipts should stay in records for a period of 3 years after the close out of the study.
  • Update the Subject Payment spreadsheet with the subject’s name, social security number, date, amount dispersed, and the name of the RA who dispensed the money to the subject
  • When requesting more money, you must attach a copy of the subject payment record so far, complete with an indication of when the previous petty cash check was received, and the number of subjects who receive money from the previous check.

 

The Expenses system

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The application you use to file expense reports is called Expenses.  All travel-related spending must be reported via e-Expenses, even if it was paid for using a corporate card or Egencia. This application is also used to obtain a reimbursement when someone spends their own money for something such as parking at the Martinos Center or printing a poster.

  • Training: http://pulse.partners.org/services/training_expenses.htm
  • Diego will name an RA as his delegate within the system so they can submit expenses for him
    • Diego should log into his PeopleSoft, navigate to financials production->employee self-service->travel and expense center-> Delegate
    • Then he should add you as a delegate by entering in your Partner’s ID

To submit an expense report:

Update is required: some of these instructions are obsolete, because of the new eWallet application. Refer to the training material on the Supply Chain website for the latest procedures.

  • First, tape each receipt to plain paper. You can have multiple receipts on a page, but make sure they are all readable. It is good practice to write next to each receipt what it is for, and whether it was paid with the corporate card, personal card, or cash. Labeling isn’t necessary, but it makes things easier for AP, and also for you if you have to look back at old expenses.
  • Login to PeopleSoft
  • Navigate to Financial Production/Employee Self-Service/ Travel and Expense Center/ Create an Expense Report
  • You will need to click the magnifying glass to indicate who you are creating this for (i.e you or Diego)
  • Select “blank report”
  • The approver is usually Janice, but for the MIC speaker series reimbursements, it is David Olson. Make sure to select the appropriate person. This is done on the top-right of the form.
  • Write a description of the event
  • Fill out the Expense type, date, amount, payment type, etc (usually local expenses).
  • Business purpose is usually general expense
  • Fill out location (Boston)
  • Click on “*Detail” and provide a more in depth description of the expense. Diego likes to list who he went to dinner with and why for example.
  • From “Detail”, select “Accounting Detail” and fill out the appropriate billing information, putting the cost center as the “Project” and “1600” for the GL Unit, and if necessary put “000000” under “Dept”
  • Click check expense for errors. If they come up, write a reason in the appropriate box (if the dinner is coming up as too expensive, but it was for 2 people, indicate “dinner was for two people” in the Amount Exceeded row)
  • Click submit
  • Now upload the pdfs if you have them, or it is okay to fax the receipts with the coverpage of the expense report
  • Print the expense report in NON-printable view. This will give you an itemized printout of the expense report which will make it much easier if you have to reference the report in the future.
  • Click, printable view and print a copy, make sure the barcode prints properly
  • If you are submitting an expense report for a trip Diego took, you keep all of the receipts for the trip in one expense report. You will also have to track down the hotel reservation and the flight booking to include in the faxed documents (even though these are booked through Egencia using a fund number and therefore don’t need to be officially added to the expense report). I usually write on the bottom of the reservations not included in the report, “Booked through Egencia using a Fund number, no reimbursement needed”. Finally, you will need to include a print out of the conference schedule, which can usually be found online. This is also included in the fax.
  • File the expense report in the appropriate folder for the grant that was used to pay for the travel under the month that the expense report was submitted

 

Some specific purchasing exceptions

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Poland Springs Water

We have Poland Springs water available for mixing the electrolyte solution for EEG sessions (1 gallon distilled water), and small water bottles (500ml) for participants and speaker series.

  • The small bottles are stored in the file cabinets outside of the cubicles (#3), and the larger gallon containers are stored in the EEG room.
  • Water is ordered by sending an email to Scott DeFeo (Defeo@waters.nestle.com)
  • Our account number is: 0438687238
  • Use Center-wide (Pierce) fund
  • The products to order are: cases of distilled water (6 gallons per case), and 24-packs of ½ liter bottles
  • Make sure to ask for an invoice.

Here is a sample email:

Hi Scott,
I’d like to order more water for our lab at McLean Hospital. We would like:
    2 cases (48 bottles) of 500ml Poland Spring water bottles and
    12 Gallons (2 cases) of distilled water.
The address is:
   McLean Hospital, Mailstop 331
   115 Mill Street
   Belmont, MA 02478
Our account number is 0438687238 and the grant fund number we would like to use is: 400619.  If you could please send me the invoice or total amount, that would be great, thanks.

Ordering Books via Rittenhouse

  • Amazon does not accept purchase orders, so orders for books need to be made through Rittenhouse: call +1 (800) 345-6425 and use acct # 012959 – we get a 17% discount with them. For questions contact Josephine Amico.

Independent Consultants and Contractors

Out-of-date

This is a way of paying for outside services that are not Partners entities, and we don’t want to set up as a Partners vender. Note that this process is a HUGE pain, and can take months to complete. Avoid it if at all possible.

  • Joanne Miller is the contracts specialist for Partners, her email is JMILLER17@PARTNERS.ORG, and she can help guide you through the process.
  • Info is on: http://pulse.partners.org/mm/indcontractor.htm
  • Read over the 5 questions on the ‘Independent Contract Form’ found at common\Admin\Contracts
  • If the answer to any of the questions is ‘yes’, there is a high likelihood that Partners will reject the independent contract request

 

Useful Websites

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For updated website information refer to the file “Useful Websites”  in the folder common\Admin\Center_Directory_and_McLean_Contacts

McLean Sites

Partners Sites

During 2016, most Partners web sites were being redesigned to use SharePoint, and many of these URLs may be changing.  SharePoint sites rely on Office365 for security, and this frequently requires multiple logins and difficulties.

Office 365 Login

When an internal website prompts you with an Office 365 login screen, enter your email address and press OK.  A password is not required on that initial screen. You will be redirected to a standard Partners login page.

  • Research Navigator                                https://partnershealthcare.sharepoint.com/sites/phrmportal
    • All of the central research organizations such as the IRB, Research Finance, and Research IS have moved their web sites into the Research Navigator portal. Part of it is a public side, accessible without logging in, and part is private that has all the useful information.
    • According to their web site: “Research Navigator is a consolidation of research content, resources, and administrative systems for Partners employees hosted on the Microsoft Office 365 cloud.”
  • “PartnersPulse” Intranet                         http://pulse.partners.org
  • “PPD” Partners Phone Directory            http://ppd.partners.org
  • Supply Chain (formerly Materials Mgmt) http://supplychain.partners.org
  • Research Computing                              http://rc.partners.org

IRB Sites

Partners Applications

 

Study-Related Websites

 

CDASR websites

 

Invoices

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We occasionally have to process invoices, typically for services such as cortisol analyses. Note the standard Partners policy is to issue the check 45 days after the invoice is received.  If an invoice needs to be paid more quickly, be sure that everyone involved with this invoice is aware of the time required. To check on the progress of an invoice, call SCM Client Services (617-726-2142).

This must be rewritten

First, establish a purchase order for the invoice in eBuy:

  • Define Requistion
  • Buyer, category etc: can leave this blank as will define these in 2. Add items & services
  • Accounting details: enter dept (should be 000000) and project (the fund #). If want to split payment up by several funds, hit “+” sign on left to add more rows and then enter “pct” (needs to add to 100)
  • Add Items and Services
    • The type of purchase will almost certainly be a ‘special request’
    • When paying for a service such as a scan or cortisol analysis, select ‘fixed cost service’. Otherwise, use your best judgment or contact Materials Management
    • Fill out the various blanks as accurately as you can, using direct language from the invoice (e.g. service description, value of service). Category for services often will be “outside service – other”. Look up vendor name and ID. Leave start/end and quote info blank.
    • In the additional information box, add the send to/remit to information included on the invoice. Example:
  • Please issue a check for the total amount cited above and payable to BRANDEIS UNIVERSITY. The check should be mailed to:
  • Philip T. Gnatowski
  • Department Administrator in Psychology
  • Brandeis University
  • 415 South Street (MS-062)
  • Waltham, MA 02454-9110
    • If you don’t follow this step, the check will go to the wrong location!
    • Add the service or item to the purchase order
  • Review and Submit:
    • add the same send to/remit to information from the invoice to the comments area. Indicate that the invoice is attached and should be consulted for further information.
    • attach the invoice in the comments area
  • After a few days, you should receive an email from Purchasing that your purchase order has been processed. This email will include the purchase order (PO) number. If you do not receive this email within a few days and the invoice is urgent, contact Purchasing.
  • Send the invoice and purchase order number to Accounts Payable
    • Print out the original invoice
    • Add a sticky note to the invoice with the purchase order number. Also include your contact information
    • Send the invoice to Accounts Payable via interoffice mail