Defining the Role of the Advanced Practice Provider Within the National Cancer Institute Community Oncology Research Program.

Purpose: Oncology advanced practice providers (APPs), including nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, physician assistants, and clinical pharmacists, contribute significantly to quality cancer care. Understanding the research-related roles of APPs in the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) could lead to enhanced protocol development, trial conduct, and accrual.

Methods: The 2022 NCORP Landscape Assessment Survey asked two questions about the utilization and roles of APPs in the NCORP.

Oncologists' perceived confidence and attitudes toward managing pre-existing chronic comorbidities during patients' active cancer treatment.

Purpose: To examine practicing oncologists' perceived confidence and attitudes toward management of pre-existing chronic conditions(PECC) during active cancer treatment(ACT).

Methods: In December 2018, oncologists in the National Cancer Institute's Community Oncology Research Program (NCORP) were invited to complete a was pilot-tested, IRB-approved online survey about their perceived confidence in managing PECC. Pearson chi-square test was used to identify oncologists' differences in perceived confidence to manage PECC and attitudes toward co-management of patients' PECC with non-oncologic care providers.

National Cancer Institute: Restructuring to Support the Clinical Trials of the Future.

Objectives: To describe the evolution and structure of the National Cancer Institute clinical trials programs, their notable accomplishments, nurses' roles in these accomplishments, and the essential role of nursing today and in the future.

Data Sources: Manuscripts, government publications, websites, and professional communications.

Conclusion: Change is inevitable and a constant factor in the world of advancing science and clinical research.

The National Cancer Institute and Department of Veterans Affairs Interagency Group to Accelerate Trials Enrollment (NAVIGATE): A federal collaboration to improve cancer care.

Cancer clinical trials represent an important option for patients with a diagnosis of cancer and the clinician-investigators involved in their care who seek options for their disease. For all who are impacted by cancer, these studies offer opportunities for greater learning. Conducting these important studies involves several challenges, including recruiting eligible participants.

A Randomized Controlled Study Comparing the National Cancer Institute's Original and Revised Consent Form Templates.

Since 1998, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) has mandated that researchers use its consent form template in developing consent forms for their NCI-funded clinical trials. The template was substantially revised in 2013 to aid in the development of simpler, more concise consent forms. The NCI conducted a randomized controlled trial with cancer survivors (N = 153) to assess the revised template's effect on individuals' knowledge, satisfaction, clarity, and likelihood of joining a trial in the future.

Feasibility of a Centralized Clinical Trials Coverage Analysis: A Joint Initiative of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and the National Cancer Institute.

Purpose: Clinical trial billing compliance is a challenge that is faced by overburdened clinical trials sites. The requirements place institutions and research sites at increased potential for financial risk. To reduce their risk, sites develop a coverage analysis (CA) before opening each trial.

Assessing Clinical Trial-Associated Workload in Community-Based Research Programs Using the ASCO Clinical Trial Workload Assessment Tool.

Purpose: Clinical research program managers are regularly faced with the quandary of determining how much of a workload research staff members can manage while they balance clinical practice and still achieve clinical trial accrual goals, maintain data quality and protocol compliance, and stay within budget. A tool was developed to measure clinical trial-associated workload, to apply objective metrics toward documentation of work, and to provide clearer insight to better meet clinical research program challenges and aid in balancing staff workloads. A project was conducted to assess the feasibility and utility of using this tool in diverse research settings.

Clinical Trial Assessment of Infrastructure Matrix Tool to Improve the Quality of Research Conduct in the Community.

Purpose: Several publications have described minimum standards and exemplary attributes for clinical trial sites to improve research quality. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) Community Cancer Centers Program (NCCCP) developed the clinical trial Best Practice Matrix tool to facilitate research program improvements through annual self-assessments and benchmarking. The tool identified nine attributes, each with three progressive levels, to score clinical trial infrastructural elements from less to more exemplary.

Organizational and physician factors associated with patient enrollment in cancer clinical trials.

Background: Our purpose was to identify physicians' individual characteristics, attitudes, and organizational contextual factors associated with higher enrollment of patients in cancer clinical trials among physician participants in the National Cancer Institute's Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP). We hypothesized that physicians' individual characteristics, such as age, medical specialty, tenure, CCOP organizational factors (i.e.

The National Cancer Institute-American Society of Clinical Oncology Cancer Trial Accrual Symposium: summary and recommendations.

Introduction: Many challenges to clinical trial accrual exist, resulting in studies with inadequate enrollment and potentially delaying answers to important scientific and clinical questions.

Methods: The National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) cosponsored the Cancer Trial Accrual Symposium: Science and Solutions on April 29-30, 2010 to examine the state of accrual science related to patient/community, physician/provider, and site/organizational influences, and identify new interventions to facilitate clinical trial enrollment. The symposium featured breakout sessions, plenary sessions, and a poster session including 100 abstracts.

Measuring clinical trial-associated workload in a community clinical oncology program.

Purpose: The ability to quantify clinical trial-associated workload can have a significant impact on the efficiency and success of a research organization. However, methods to effectively estimate the number of research staff needed for clinical trial recruitment, maintenance, compliance, and follow-up are lacking. To address this need, the Wichita Community Clinical Oncology Program (WCCOP) developed and implemented an acuity-based workload assessment tool to facilitate assessment and balancing of workload among its research nursing staff.

Achieving high cancer control trial enrollment in the community setting: an analysis of the Community Clinical Oncology Program.

Determining the factors that lead to successful enrollment of patients in cancer control clinical trials is essential as cancer patients are often burdened with side effects such as pain, nausea, and fatigue. One promising intervention for increasing enrollment in cancer control trials is the National Cancer Institute's Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP). In this article, we examined CCOP staffing, policies, and procedures associated with enrollment in control trials.

Organizational designs for achieving high treatment trial enrollment: a fuzzy-set analysis of the community clinical oncology program.

Purpose: To examine the organizational design features that were consistently associated in 2010 with high levels of patient enrollment onto National Cancer Institute (NCI) cancer treatment trials among the oncology practices and hospitals participating in the NCI Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP).

Methods: Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis was used to identify the recipes (ie, combinations of organizational design features) that CCOPs used to achieve high levels of patient enrollment onto NCI treatment trials in 2010. Four organizational design features were examined: number of open treatment trials with at least one patient enrolled, number of newly diagnosed patients with cancer, number of CCOP-affiliated physicians, and number of CCOP-affiliated hospitals or practices where patient enrollment could occur.

Engaging referring physicians in the clinical trial process.

By building relationships with referring physicians and educating them about the clinical trial process, oncologists can help increase trial accrual among patients with cancer.

A method for analyzing the business case for provider participation in the National Cancer Institute's Community Clinical Oncology Program and similar federally funded, provider-based research networks.

Background: The Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP) plays an essential role in the efforts of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to increase enrollment in clinical trials. Currently, there is little practical guidance in the literature to assist provider organizations in analyzing the return on investment (ROI), or business case, for establishing and operating a provider-based research network (PBRN) such as the CCOP. In this article, the authors present a conceptual model of the business case for PBRN participation, a spreadsheet-based tool and advice for evaluating the business case for provider participation in a CCOP organization.

Oncology clinical trials nursing: developing competencies for the novice.

Oncology clinical trials are important in the improvement of outcomes for people with or at risk for cancer. Because of the complexity of oncology clinical trials and the needs of patients with cancer, nurses play a crucial and unique role in the trial setting. However, great variability exists in how the role of the nurse on a research team is defined and implemented.

Kansas office-based nurses' evaluation of patient tobacco cessation activities.

In this study, we examined the tobacco cessation efforts of nurses working in primary care settings. A 43-item questionnaire was mailed to 1,036 office-based nurses located throughout Kansas. With a response rate of 50.