According to the Animal Welfare Act, the principal investigator is required to provide a written narrative stating that alternatives to painful procedures have been explored and are not available. Animal Care Policy #12 of the USDA Animal Care Resource Guide, "Written Narrative for Alternatives to Painful Procedures" states:
When a database search is the primary means of meeting this requirement, the narrative must, as a minimum, include:
- the names of the databases searched;
- the date the search was performed;
- the period covered by the search; and
- the key words and/or the search strategy used.
Regardless of the alternatives source(s) used, the written narrative should include adequate information for the IACUC to assess that a reasonable and good faith effort was made to determine the availability of alternatives or alternative methods.
It will help your report to keep a log of the above four points for each search performed. @LTWEB provides a link to a worksheet that may be helpful when thinking about creating your narrative.
The literature search is an iterative, multi-step process. Because of recent USDA Inspection Guide changes requiring "a detailed narrative describing the methods and sources used to determine that no alternatives to the painful/distressful procedure are available,” all USDA Category D and E protocols require consulting with a librarian.
The lay summary:
The goal of the lay summary is to build a narrative that a member of the public would be able to understand. Remember – one of the required members of the IACUC is the non-scientific member. That person must be able to understand your lay summary. It is also important to illustrate specialized research for those members of the IACUC that may not be familiar with the species or procedures that your protocol is using.
Here are some pointers:
- Reduce or eliminate technical jargon.
- Be clear and concise (no more than 250 words)
- Write at a high school level.
- Describe
- The objective of the experiments.
- Why you are doing the experiments.
- The knowledge you hope to gain.
- The potential benefits of the experiments to human or animal health.
- Write the lay summary at the beginning or end of the creation of the protocol rather than in the middle. This prevents you from having to switch back and forth between technical and lay language.
