A standard operating procedures (SOP) manual improves the quality and consistency in the operational activity of an organization. SOP manual guides an individual in doing tasks correctly. Thus, the procedural framework of the manual must entail mechanisms that promote the quality standard.

To help develop a quality SOP, the University of Philippines Mindanao (UPMin) together with the Regional Ethics Monitoring Board (REMB) XI, facilitated an SOP Workshop on February 28 to March 1, 2019. The trainers for the SOP workshop were Dr. Marita VT. Reyes and Dr. Doris Benavides of the Philippine Health Research Ethics Board (PHREB). The workshop on SOP aims to support the research ethics committees (REC) in developing their own SOPs with quality assurance and to simplify the procedures for the activities of the REC. There were 9 institutions in Davao Region who attended the workshop. The trainers highlighted the common mistakes in developing the SOP based on the submitted draft SOPs by the institutions. Part of the workshop was to present a draft SOP following the recommended format of PHREB. Representatives from the various institutions were assigned to present their lacking SOPs and were critiqued by other participating institutions.

The two-day training conspicuously capacitated the participants in developing a quality SOP. REMB XI looks forward to the application to PHREB accreditation of the attending institutions.