In its mission to ensure that it provides high quality and diverse translational research services, the Translational Research Institute (TRI) recently conducted a survey of researchers and staff that revealed a high level of satisfaction with TRI services.
The online survey went to 135 employees who used TRI’s research services portal (TRIservices@uams.edu) and yielded 69 completed surveys from researchers at all TRI Hub sites: the main UAMS campus, Arkansas Children’s Hospital and its Research Institute, the UAMS Northwest Campus, and the Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System.
Overseen by Beatrice Boateng, Ph.D., director of TRI’s Evaluation Program, the survey was conducted one year after the email portal was introduced. She noted that the survey only includes researchers and staff who used the portal to request services.
“The survey report helps capture the breadth of services offered by TRI and shows that TRI staff are committed to helping UAMS investigators achieve their research goals,” Boateng said.
On the question of “the extent to which services received were ideal” respondents scored TRI at 8.17 on a 1-10 scale, exceeding its benchmark of 8.
Graph shows the level of satisfaction with services provided by TRI.Graph shows the level of satisfaction with services provided by TRI.
The responsiveness of TRI staff to requests also slightly exceeded the goal. On a 1-7 scale, survey respondents gave TRI staff responsiveness a 6.08.
The survey also produced a number of positive comments about TRI programs and staff. Examples include:
Community Engagement: “I participated in the Community Review Board process with Dr. (Kate) Stewart and Ms. (Camille) Hart. They were both extraordinary in their help and generous with their time.”
Recruitment Unit: “Ashley (Sides) was wonderful and did a great job recruiting …”
Mock Study Section: “The mock grant review was excellent.”
Regulatory Affairs: “Regulatory affairs are managed in a very timely and efficient fashion.”
Graph shows services that were sought via TRIservices@uams.edu during the survey period.Graph shows services that were sought via TRIservices@uams.edu during the survey period.
On TRI employees:
“(Dr.) Laura James was outstanding in her willingness to work with me one on one and to give straight-forward feedback.”
“Donna (Mattingly) went out of her way to help accommodate our training program.”
“Trey Spencer was a godsend helping me to understand the best way to present my research results. As a novice researcher I was grateful for the attention and support he provided in my hours of need.”
“Michael (Charles) Bailey did an outstanding job. Very prompt, helpful, resourceful, very nice to work with. I would specifically request him again!”
“Kudos to Amy Jo Jenkins who organized an internal review for an RO1 proposal. The TRI put together a highly qualified team to review the proposal and they gave excellent feedback and suggestions on how to improve the proposal.”
TRI will frequently seek feedback from researchers and staff for continuous improvement of TRI services to ensure that TRI is responsive and provides resources for evolving research needs.
Help is available for all research needs through TRI’s research services portal: TRIservices@uams.edu.