Training Requirements

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee Members

Date adopted: September 7, 2005

Last updated : December 9, 2008

Federal law requires that the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) make recommendations to the Institutional Official (I.O.) for development and administration of animal care and use training programs for all personnel involved in the use of animals in teaching or research. The members of the IACUC require training in order to understand and properly conduct IACUC responsibilities and functions. It is the policy of The University of Montana-Missoula IACUC to provide and document a comprehensive training program for all committee members.

Policy Procedure

• Administrative Responsibility
  • It is the responsibility of the IACUC coordinator to:
    • procure reference materials,
    • schedule facility tours,
    • maintain records of committee member training,
    • notify the IACUC members of available conferences,
    • schedule 10-minute training modules for IACUC meetings in consultation with the chair and the attending veterinarian (A.V.),
    • provide instructions for use of the Collaborative Institutional Training Initiative (CITI) online training web site,
    • provide occupational health and safety materials, including a summary of hazards and instructions for participation in the program, and
    • schedule review of the IACUC web site home page tutorial for all new members with the Chair, the AV, or the IACUC Coordinator.
  • It is the responsibility of the A.V. or an employee of Laboratory Animal Resources (LAR) designated by the A.V. to provide tours of LAR facilities.
• Documentation of Training
  • The IACUC Coordinator will maintain individual files for all IACUC members that will include
    • Training received by IACUC members
    • Training provided by IACUC members to other committee members or to animal users, and
    • Service on other related committees, such as the Institutional Biosafety Committee, the Radiation Safety Committee, and the Institutional Review Board.
  • All training documents will be made available by the IACUC Coordinator to the IACUC, federal regulatory personnel, or any other qualified inspector on demand.
• Training Program
  • New IACUC members should receive the following within 1 month of appointment to the IACUC
    • References
      • The Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals
      • Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee Guidebook
    • Facility tour
    • Review of IACUC web site home page tutorial with the Chair, the AV, or the IACUC Coordinator
  • All IACUC members
    • 10-minute training modules on specific topics at all IACUC meetings. Examples include:

Regulation review on items relevant to current business
Reports of members or guests from recently attended meetings
New regulations or "hot topics" in laboratory animal medicine

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    • Annual completion of IACUC module on the CITI training web site http://www.citiprogram.org,
      • "Essentials for IACUC Members"
    • To use the CITI web site for the first time, select "Register Here"; choose Univ of Montana from the list of institutions; fill out your username (email address is good), password and member information; page heading "Select Group - U. of Montana, at bottom of page select "Continue to question 1 at this time;" check the appropriate course(s) that you want to take; are you a VA member? select "No"; "Learners Menu": take the course(s) you have selected and take the related quiz; send an email to kathryn.mariucci@umontana.edu stating that you have completed the courses required.

For subsequent uses of the web site sign on using your unique user name and password; select "Learners Menu " and scroll to the bottom of the page; select the course(s) you wish to take.

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    • All IACUC members will be offered the opportunity to attend one IACUC 101 meeting
  • IACUC Coordinator
    • Same training and documentation as IACUC members
    • First year of employment may include at least two (2) conferences such as:
      • "Essentials of IACUC Administration" sponsored by Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R)
      • Animal Welfare Information Center and National Agricultural Library data base training
    • Encouraged to complete "Certification Examination for Professional IACUC Administrators" sponsored by the Council for Certified Professional IACUC Administrators an affiliate of PRIM&R