83 - Maintaining & Managing Satellite Facilities- How IACUCs Can Provide Necessary & Succinct Oversight with a Daily Activity Sheet

Background:  Federal regulations indicate that the authority and oversight of satellite housing facilities (that is, any animal containment area outside of a core or centrally designated/managed area wherein AWA-regulated species are housed for >12 hours and non-AWA regulated species are housed for >24 hours) rest with the institution through the IACUC. In accordance with the PHS Policy, satellite facilities must be evaluated by the institution’s IACUC and inspected at least once every six months.
This leaves a broad interpretation of the type and rigor of oversight satellite facilities require. For large institutions with potential for numerous scientifically-justified satellite facilities, this can become an overwhelming task. NU has implemented various institutional policies and SOPs which outline requirements of satellite facilities themselves, as well as personnel involved in maintaining the facilities up to the minimum standards set forth by the Guide. It is the responsibility of the IACUC to enforce these standards, policies, and SOPs. The following program is how the NU IACUC addresses and manages one key factor in oversight of its satellite facilities.

Program

Description:  The program includes implementation of a Daily Activity Sheet (DAS), which is to be maintained by research personnel with IACUC-approved satellite facilities, and submitted for evaluation to the IACUC office on a monthly basis. NU created a template DAS which is suitable for most satellites housing rodents, but individual PIs have the option to create their own DAS which can be tailored to fit the specific needs of the species they’re housing or unique environments they’re housing animals in, given the DAS covers all animal care-related aspects outlined in the Guide. The DAS includes various daily, weekly, and monthly tasks which research personnel physically sign off on, indicating the task was completed. Tasks include daily health & food/water checks, macroenvironment temperature and humidity recordings, cage changes, hood/rack/feed container/room sanitation, as well as laboratory manager and veterinary team verification checks. Each PI/laboratory maintaining a satellite is required to submit the previous month’s DAS(s) to the IACUC office for evaluation. The IACUC office collects and evaluates all DAS’s submitted each month. Each month is tied to a unique identifier code to correlate that month’s cohort of satellites requiring DAS submission.
With the use of Smartsheet, the IACUC office stores all DAS’s, communications related to DAS’s, and tracking of any consecutive issues related to DAS’s in one place.

Program

Assessment:  The program has been considered successful in that the IACUC has readily-available, cohesive documentation of all satellite facility activity since its inception. The program allows for continued IACUC oversight as well as accountability of the highest standards of animal care by research staff in satellite spaces. Additionally, this process centralizes documentation and housing locations for quick access in the event of an emergency. Regulatory oversight in this way is critical to the care and welfare of the animals, and the integrity of the institution’s program for animal care and use. The program also provides opportunity for feedback from laboratory personnel regarding research specific aspects of satellite facility management. This feedback contributes to robust discussion and collaboration between all parties involved in satellite facility management – research personnel, the IACUC, and animal husbandry staff, which ultimately leads to improvements in the animal care program as a whole.

Limitations: TThe program is considered successful because the IACUC has centralized documentation of satellite facilities oversight, as well as the fact that robust feedback and discussion between researchers and the IACUC has occurred regarding the program. The main limitation of the program is that issues are only identified monthly, given the frequency the DAS’s are submitted and reviewed by the IACUC. NU policy does however, require researchers to contact husbandry/veterinary/facilities management personnel should immediate animal welfare concerns arise during the month.
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Discussion:  Since the program is considered to be successful and helpful to all parties involved in satellite facility management, NU intends to continue using the program and develop further as needed going forward.
Implementation of the program via submission of the DAS’s showcased where more regulatory oversight was needed and specifically where satellite users could use more instruction and guidance from the IACUC. Description of the processes involved in maintaining the DAS’s is covered when a request for a satellite facility is made from a laboratory- so expectations are stated outright and acknowledgment of the robust nature of maintaining a satellite facility is clear. The intent of institutions is to limit the amount of satellite facilities and contain laboratory animal housing to centrally managed facilities. This program fosters that intent while also fulfilling the unique needs of researchers at a large academic institution, all the while maintaining federal regulatory standards and the highest level of animal care and welfare.