Despite the importance and acceptance of research ethics consultation as an entity in many medical research areas, little is known about its status in nursing research. Focusing on inquiries from nurse researchers, we retrospectively analyzed records of integrated clinical research consultation, provided by members of the Clinical Research Center independently of the research ethics committee, at a Japanese university hospital during 2018–2019. Among various consultations in nursing studies ( n = 101), 43 were related to research ethics. The main issues in research ethics consultation were compatibility with guidelines ( n = 28; 65%) and application of ethics review ( n = 12; 28%). Future studies should investigate international settings and address the relevance of research ethics consultation to promote proper nursing studies.

Objective In Japan, under the new Clinical Trials Act pertaining to investigator-initiated clinical trials that came into effect on 1 April 2018, review boards should review proposed clinical trials while considering written opinions from specialists. Additionally, involvement of non-specialists is mandatory, and attention is being placed on their effective contributions. This study was performed to determine representative key issues with which to promote these contributions. Methods This qualitative study was conducted in 2018 using a focus group interview of six non-specialists regarding perspectives on clinical research itself and research ethics committees. Results For perspectives on clinical research itself, 33 codes were established and sorted into 2 categories and 6 subcategories relating to ambivalence toward clinical research. For perspectives on research ethics committees, 54 codes were established and sorted into 3 categories and 10 subcategories relating to the theme “knowledge and an environment that promotes non-specialist members’ participation.” One notable result was the willingness of participants to obtain details about a study should they be selected. Conclusions The results suggest that detailed explanation of a particular study would encourage non-specialist members to participate in a clinical research review committee. Education aimed at non-specialist participation should therefore be considered in future studies.

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This study evaluated the combined use of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence and microbiological assays for monitoring environmental surfaces in a teaching hospital to develop a method for rapid detection of microbial contamination that could constitute a health risk to patients. ATP bioluminescence assay and microbiological screening were performed of various surfaces of toilet facilities in outpatient wards. In each of theˆve sites screened, the ATP levels were signiˆcantly higher than on a cleaned, disinfected stainless steel surface, indicating that all screened surfaces werè`h igh-touch'' surfaces and the surfaces harbored signiˆcantly higher levels of certain organic matter. The microbiological assay conˆrmed that the microbiological contamination had spread throughout the screened sites. The ATP values of the samples positive for microbes occurred in a signiˆcantly higher range than those of the samples negative for microbes (p＜0.01). However, no linear relationship was established between the ATP values and aerobic colony counts of the screened sites. These results clearly imply that the use of ATP bioluminescence to measure the microbial contamination of an environment yields qualitative rather than quantitative data. In conclusion, ATP monitoring is a rapid and convenient method to assess environmental contamination and persistence of microbes and to monitor the eŠectiveness of current cleaning practices.