Vulnerable populations is defined very simply by NCBI as “the disadvantaged sub-segment of the community that require specific considerations and protections in research.”

Vulnerable populations is defined very simply by NCBI as “the disadvantaged sub-segment of the community that require specific considerations and protections in research.” (“Vulnerable population and methods for their safeguard,” 2013). This group includes pregnant women, minors, employees, prisoners, the terminally ill, minorities and the elderly.

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The strategies used to protect vulnerable populations according to NCBI start with the use of an ethics review board (ERB). The board assesses the ability for decision making and also revisit consent during studies. The Development of comprehensive safety monitoring (DSMC) review information in a fair manor, especially when it comes to pregnant women. Research involving children requires parents to make decisions due to age and cognitive capability.

When it comes to research with prisoners, their informed consent document (ICD) and patient information forms(PIF) undergo screening by the ethics review board. If a participant becomes imprisoned while participating in a research trial, they will be assigned the same documents. when it comes to psychiatric patients, selection of these participants selection begins with assessing the individuals ability of intellectual judgments and skills. In these circumstances the protocol should be to seek consent from a legally authorized/acceptable representative or waiver of consent as appropriate (“Vulnerable population and methods for their safeguard,” 2013).

Strict monitoring and research criteria is to be used when the criteria for research involves vulnerable populations. If the risks are high in the sample population, than the monitoring needs to be very aggressive for the safety of the participants.

RESPONSE 2 Bernis

Vulnerable population to me means a set of individuals who need care but are not able to care for themselves, who could also be easily taken advantage of because they might not be able to fight back or have freewill like the rest of the people do. Harmon. A in 2015 described the vulnerable population as those who can be easily harmed physically, mentally, or emotionally. The vulnerability might be as a result of their age, education, ethnicity, gender, illness, income, race. An example of vulnerable populations refers to but not limited to vulnerable populations refers to but not limited to minors, fetuses, prisoners, employees, military persons and students in hierarchical organizations, terminally ill, comatose, physically and intellectually challenged individuals.

There are laws in place to protect these populations, for example its law to get inform consents before any treatment or research can be carried out on an individual even if the person is incarcerated. Also, any form of deliberate violations to Good Clinical Practices (GCP) with references to autonomy, voluntariness, distributive justice, other parameters of safeguards are to be imperatively examined and those involved or found guilty will be appropriately penalized by the appropriate authorities. There are also regulatory roles in biomedical and behavioral research so that international collaborations of regulatory organizations can establish scientific and regulatory policies to positively impact global safeguards for vulnerable populations.

Although these laws and safeguards are in place, I believe it’s safe to say these populations still fall victims, therefore as nurses it is important to check that informed consent paper and look out for our patients especially the vulnerable ones making sure they are not being taking advantage of.