Table 8.

Issues with applications identified by RECs before and during the ethics officer intervention. Source: REC meeting minutes and opinion letters

	Baseline (n=110 applications)			Intervention period (n=100 applications)
Type of issue	Number of issues	Number (% of all) applications with an issue	Mean number of issues per application	Number of issues	Number (% of all) applications	Mean number of issues per application
Document issues
Consent documents	45	27 (25)	0.4	46	32 (32)	0.5
Other documentation	298	85 (77)	2.7	268	85 (85)	2.7
REC application	121	57 (52)	1.1	81	43 (43)	0.8
Subtotal	464	93 (85)	4.2	395	88 (88)	3.9
Ethical issues
Participant care	249	89 (81)	2.3	207	75 (75)	0.7
Confidentiality	147	68 (62)	1.3	132	57 (57)	0.6
Informed consent	30	23 (21)	0.3	31	24 (24)	0.2
Community issues	10	10 (9)	0.1	20	18 (18)	0.2
Subtotal	436	101 (92)	4.0	390	84 (84)	0.8
Study issues
Design and conduct	299	93 (85)	2.7	225	78 (78)	0.8
Recruitment	179	82 (75)	1.6	131	65 (65)	0.6
Subtotal	478	104 (95)	4.3	356	88 (88)	0.9
Total issues	1378	108 (98)	12.5	1141	96 (96)	11.4

REC, research ethics committee.