📩Please consult the WUSTL IRB/HRPO Guidance to make sure your study is  appropriate for executing any of the following methods for implementing electronic informed consent (eIC). 

🧠What do I need to know?

You can complete an eIC in-person, by phone, or in a remote capacity (via secure links sent by email or SMS through RedCap).  

🏥If you are completing eIC in-person:

  • Open the eIC as a survey and log out of your REDCap account.  Then, give the participant access to the RedCap survey on the preferred and available device (e.g., computer, iPad, tablet).

📞If you are completing the eIC remotely by phone:

  • You would use REDCap to send the participant a secure link (e.g., via email).  Once the participant receives the email, they would click on the secure link to open the RedCap eIC survey.  You can read through the eIC together by phone.

📧If you are completing an eIC without in-person or phone contact:

  • You would use REDCap to send the participant a secure link via email.  Once the participant receives the email, they would click on the secure link to open the REDCap eIC survey.  The participant must be given the opportunity to submit questions to you before signing the eIC form.

🔐Adding a layer of security:

For a recommended extra layer of security for REDCap eIC, you could require the participant to enter a PIN to gain access to the REDCap eIC survey.  The user experience would be the following:

  1. The participant would receive a secure link via a REDCap email.
  2. The participant clicks on the secure link which opens a web page that requests the unique PIN.
  3. Once the participant enters the unique PIN, the participant gains access to the eIC.

❔How do I create an eIC in REDCap for a New Project?

WUSTL E-Consent Template

The preferred method for creating an eConsent is the WU IRB, HRPO, and HRQA approved REDCap WUSTL eConsent Template and adjoining Standard Operating Procedure (SOP): “Using the REDCap Template to Create an eConsent.” The WUSTL eConsent Template can be accessed directly within REDCap Version 10 by following the step by step process of the SOP.  

To Get Started:

1. Open the SOP: “Using the REDCap Template to Create an eConsent”

2. Log in to REDCap (make sure to use the latest version)

3. In the header, select the “+ New Project” button, and fill out the “+Create a new REDCap Project” form:

4. In the section Start project from scratch or begin with a template? select the option, “Use a template (choose one below).” Then, select the “WUSTL REDCap Academic E-Consent Template“:

5. Follow the step by step process within the SOP: “Using the REDCap Template to Create an eConsent” to generate a fully functional e-consent project ready to submit to myIRB.

Please note, the previous method of uploading the mHRC eConsent Data Dictionary has been retired for new projects.

Once created, what does an eIC look like in REDCap (PDF form)?

mHRC eIC Template (.pdf file)

🛠️Are there additional WUSTL resources for how to use/set up REDCap? 

Check out these video tutorials where Chris Sorensen from the WUSM Becker Medical Library walks you through Using the REDCap eConsent Template and SOP and Obtaining eConsent from a Participant Remotely Using REDCap eConsent.

For additional video tutorials and resources on how to navigate and use RedCap, please visit the WUSTL Bernard Becker Medical Library web site.

For additional questions regarding the REDCap eConsent Template or SOP, please email Chris Sorensen at sorensenc@wustl.edu

For additional questions about using REDCap please email, redcap_helpdesk@wustl.edu