The Nederlandse federatie van umc’s (NFU) (English: Dutch Federation of University Medical Centers) has awarded GCP Central the contract to develop further and maintain the e BROK® course from 2024 to 2027. The BROK® (Basiscursus Regelgeving en Organisatie voor Klinisch onderzoekers – English: Basic Regulatory and Organizational Course for Clinical Researchers) has existed since 2006 and is a mandatory course for all clinical researchers conducting medical scientific research with human subjects or “WMO-mandated research.”
With their collaboration, the NFU and GCP Central are joining forces to achieve a joint mission: to strengthen the knowledge of clinical researchers in the UMCs about clinical research regulations. This is so that high-quality clinical research is delivered in the UMCs and contributes to an attractive climate for clinical research in the Netherlands.
From left to right: Mirte Scherpenisse (Vice Chair BROK® committee), Denise Mailly (Chair BROK® committee), Marieke Meulemans (director GCP Central), and Hermien Gaasbeek (project leader eBROK® of the NFU)
GCP Central was founded in 2012 by Marieke Meulemans and has since trained over 17,000 trainees in the Netherlands and Europe in the rules of clinical trial design and conduct. GCP Central is a unique training provider, combining substantive and practical knowledge of clinical research with the in-house developed and validated learning management system myGCP® and educational expertise.
In developing the future-forward eBROK®, GCP Central deploys new continuous learning solutions, continuously measuring and keeping researchers’ knowledge up-to-date even after completing the eBROK® course. They do this in an accessible and efficient way for the researchers via an app.
Marieke Meulemans on this method: “We want to make learning about clinical research more enjoyable, better, and easier. The hospital workload is already high; we don’t want to increase it with unnecessary and repetitive training. The continuous learning app, developed by partner BrightAlley, works with a smart algorithm that measures the researchers’ existing knowledge and only offers knowledge that has faded somewhat or is new to the researcher. That way, more time is left for conducting the research, and that’s what matters.”
The future-proof eBROK® course is expected to be launched on August 1, 2024.
https://www.nfu.nl/en/themes/boundary-conditions-scientific-research/brokr
