Clinical Trials Nursing Education to Improve Care for Patients on Cancer Clinical Trials

About This Grant

Project Summary /Abstract This application responds to the NCI R25 grants program focus on enhancing the training of the workforce to meet the nation’s clinical research needs. The specific area of this proposal is “treatment of cancer”, and the target group is training of Clinical Trials Nurses (CTNs). The objective of this Course for Skill Development is to prepare CTNs to improve care for patients on cancer treatment trials. This training program is consistent with the mission of NCI to advance the treatment of cancer and improve the care of patients on clinical trials. The Specific Aims are: Specific Aim 1: Create a curriculum to train oncology CTNs in key areas of quality care for patients on clinical trials. Specific Aim 2: Deliver the curriculum in five national in person courses and virtual courses to competitively selected oncology CTNs from cancer programs. Specific Aim 3: Evaluate the impact of the curriculum by measuring the process and outcomes of participants’ integration of the training to improve care at their institutions. Specific Aim 4: Disseminate findings through peer-reviewed publications, oncology organizations, and professional networks, and develop a network of course participants to share experiences in improving patient care. Cancer clinical trials are the foundation for progress in the treatment of cancer, symptom management and cancer care delivery. Extensive literature has documented many patient care challenges related to participation in clinical trials including treatment toxicities, symptoms associated with advanced disease, often unclear understanding of prognosis or further treatment options, and problems encountered in transitioning care beyond the clinical trial. CTNs, including Advanced Practice Nurses, are essential in the care of these patients and require training and support to improve the quality of care for patients on oncology clinical trials. The design of this training project is to develop and conduct national training courses for CTNs, in person (held as a preconference to a cooperative group meeting) and virtually, and to conduct evaluation to monitor success in implementation of goals by the participants. A total of 400 participants from cancer programs will participate in one of five courses. Monthly webinars are held for each cohort for a year to reinforce learning and support implementation of goals for improving patient care into practice settings. This course includes national nursing leaders in clinical trials as faculty and letters of support are provided by national clinical trials and oncology organizations including the four adult oncology cooperative groups and the key oncology organizations of ASCO and ONS. This training project is our first national training project focused on Clinical Trials Nurses. 1