Training Requirements

Each person conducting or assisting with a research project involving animals is first required to complete training on ethical and regulatory issues.
The courses approved by Texas Tech Health El Paso are the web-based Working with the IACUC, 
Reducing Pain and Distress in Laboratory Mice and Rats, and Working with (Species) in Research Settings courses administered by the University of Miami through the Collaborative IRB Training Initiative (CITI, www.citiprogram.org). Training must be completed every 3 years. Renewal training is identical to the initial CITI course.

Training regarding financial conflicts of interest in research is required of all investigators and research staff.

Texas Tech Health El Paso is also using CITI (www.citiprogram.org) for this training. Instructions for completing the training can be found here. Training must be completed every 4 years. Renewal training is identical to the initial CITI course.

TTUHSC EP OP 73.09 requires that principal investigators and research staff update their financial disclosure forms on at least an annual basis, or within 30 days of a change in significant financial interests. The annual disclosure form may be accessed through iRIS via the Conflict of Interest Module under "My Workspaces" at the top left of the iRIS dashboard. Guides for the submission of the financial disclosure through iRIS can be located here.

Each person conducting or assisting with a research project involving animals, working in the Lab Animal Resource Center (LARC) or otherwise entering the LARC must obtain clearance from the OHS Nurse. Individual must complete a Health Questionnaire form and make an appointment with the OHS Nurse to evaluate their form prior to working with animals. OHS Clearance must be renewed every 3 years.

 The questionnaire is available as a fillable form at: Risk Assessment For Animal Contact Health Questionnaire.

Please visit https://elpaso.ttuhsc.edu/research/committees/iacuc/risk-assessment.aspx for a complete description of the OHS clearance process.

LARC Employee Health Program

To begin an online course, visit www.citiprogram.org and click on "Register". After selecting Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center - El Paso (not Texas Tech University) as your institution, you will be directed to create a username and password. You do not need an eRaider account to access or complete the training. If possible, please use your TTUHSC email address as your primary email and include a personal account as the secondary. 

If you have an existing CITI account, please use the “add an affiliation” links of your CITI homepage to affiliate your account with Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center - El Paso.

Once affiliated, select “View Courses” next to our institution name and then “Add a Course” to reach a listing of all courses that may be registered for.

An overall score of at least 80% is required to earn completion credit for an individual course. Upon completion of a course, you will be able to download a course transcript and may return at any time to print your completion report by clicking on “View previously completed coursework. Texas Tech Health El Paso receives a notification of your successful completion of a course and training records automatically transfer over to your iRIS account (if one exists) within approximately 3-4 hours.

All investigators and research staff are required to renew their training at regular intervals, training regarding animal research and most supplemental courses offered by CITI must be renewed at least once every three years. Conflict of Interest training must be renewed every four years.

The ability to submit new projects or continuing reviews of ongoing projects may be limited if required training items have lapsed. The renewal training is identical to the initially completed CITI course.

What if I have completed this CITI training course previously?

Many institutions use the CITI program to administrate required training courses and the same course is often used between different institutions. If you have completed a specific course (or modules within a course) within the past two years then you will automatically receive credit for those portions when enrolling for the same course under the Texas Tech Health El Paso affiliation in CITI.

How do I transfer records of previous CITI course completions to Texas Tech Health El Paso?

Simply affiliate your CITI account with Texas Tech Health El Paso and enroll for the course under our section. Upon enrolling, you will automatically be granted credit for the courses or modules/portions of courses that you have completed in the past two years. Please note that the Course ID must match for credit to be transferred; similar training with different course numbers is not accepted and will not transfer.

Why did my CITI course completion from a different institution not transfer to Texas Tech Health El Paso?

If you have followed the steps above and credit has not transferred, it may be due to the following 
reasons:

• The course completed at the other institution is not compatible with the Texas Tech Health El Paso
  version. This occurs when an institution opts for a highly customized course with institution specific content rather than the base course offered by CITI or simply uses a different base course with similar content. You will need to enroll for and complete our required course(s) in their entirety as these have been approved by our institutional bodies to comply with local/state/federal regulations.
• Not all modules required for the course by Texas Tech Health El Paso have been completed. For some courses, Texas Tech Health El Paso requires completion of supplementary modules beyond the base course offered by CITI. If you have completed the base course at another institution within the past two years you will receive credit for those portions upon enrollment and need only complete the additional modules. Upon completion of these, you will receive a new certificate for the entire course valid for the full renewal period.
• The course is expired or was completed more than two years ago. Due to the renewal periods set by our institution and federal regulations, training older than two years is not accepted for transfer to Texas Tech Health El Paso. 

CITI Course Transfer FAQ download

Each person conducting or assisting with an animal research project involving antibodies must complete this associated training.
The courses is administered by the University of Miami through the Collaborative IRB Training Initiative (CITI, www.citiprogram.org). Training must be completed every 3 years. Renewal training is identical to the initial CITI course.

Each person performing surgical procedures as part of an approved animal research project must complete this associated training.
The courses is administered by the University of Miami through the Collaborative IRB Training Initiative (CITI, www.citiprogram.org). Training must be completed every 4 years. Renewal training is identical to the initial CITI course.