Enhancing protections for human participants in clinical and health services research: a continuing process

The authors provide brief information about the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Veterans Health Administration, to establish an understanding of this large, multifaceted organization. They then offer an overview of the VA's Office of Research and Development, with particular emphasis on recent and ongoing efforts to enhance protection of the rights of human participants in clinical research. The authors discuss various policies and regulations intended to protect human participants in any type of VA research. The protection of human research participants must be a major concern for all researchers. Patients should be well informed about the scope of the research and what their participation entails, and there should be no question as to the voluntariness of their consent. Making sure that these standards are met for each and every veteran who participates in VA research is of the utmost importance.