Dear Prospective Participant,
Researchers at the University of New Mexico are inviting you to take part in the Online survey ‘The attitude of healthcare professionals/staff working in a health care setting, towards upcoming COVID-19 Vaccine’.
WHAT ARE THE KEY REASONS YOU MIGHT CHOOSE TO VOLUNTEER FOR THIS STUDY?
Your participation in this survey as a healthcare professional, healthcare staff working in any capacity in any healthcare setting, and actively dealing with the current COVID-19 pandemic, is completely voluntary. The results from this research study will help us understand your anxiety, your concerns, your perspective, your understanding of the vaccine development process and its implementation to mitigate this healthcare crisis. This survey will also help the medical community and administrative personnel to form policies for implementation and administration of vaccination, once available.
Although you may not get personal benefit from taking part in this research study, your responses may help the medical community and administrative authorities to help address concerns about the upcoming COVID vaccination and its implementation.
WHAT ARE THE KEY REASONS YOU MIGHT NOT CHOOSE TO VOLUNTEER FOR THIS STUDY?
Participation in this research study is completely voluntary and no personally identifiable data is collected. If you chose not to participate in this survey just close the browser at any time, before the final submission. No incomplete survey data will be used for research purpose. Your response to the survey is anonymous which means no names will appear or be used on research documents or be used in presentations or publications. The research team will not know that any information you provided, came from you, nor even whether you participated in the study. Your response to the survey will be kept confidential to the extent allowed by the law. When we write about the study and its results you will not be identified.
• This is a non-funded research study and there is no compensation for taking part in this study.
• The survey/questionnaire will take about less than 5 minutes to complete.
• There are no known risks to participate in this study. Although we have tried to minimize this, some questions may make you upset, or make you feel uncomfortable, and you may choose not to answer them.
• We hope to receive completed questionnaires from about 5000 respondents, so your answers are important to us! Of course, you have a choice about whether or not to complete the survey/questionnaire, but if you do participate, you are free to discontinue at any time.
• Please be aware that while we make every effort to safeguard your data, once received on our servers via REDCap, given the nature of online surveys, as with anything involving the Internet, we can never guarantee the confidentiality of the data while being transmitted to us.
If you have questions about the study, please feel free to ask; my contact information is given below. If you have questions regarding your legal rights as a research subject, you may call the UNM Human Research Protections Office at (505) 272-1129.
Thank you in advance for your assistance with this important project. To ensure your responses/opinions are included in the study, please submit your response by Nov 15th, 2020. By continuing, you certify that you are at least 18 years old and give your consent to be a participant in this study.
Sincerely,
Dr. Rahul Shekhar
Assistant Professor, Department of Hospital Medicine,
University of New Mexico Health Sciences,
Albuquerque, NM
E-MAIL: Rshekhar@salud.unm.edu