The nurse liaison role in the cooperative group setting.

Objectives: To review the history of nurse involvement within the cooperative group environment, define the role of the nurse liaison, identify challenges for the nurse in interdisciplinary research, and explore future trends of nurse involvement in cooperative group studies.

Data Sources: Published articles, government reports, and Web sites.

Conclusion: Nurse liaisons provide a nursing perspective to the design of cooperative group trials and ensure that nursing and patient feasibility issues about the trial are addressed, and provide guidance to nurses at participating institutions, as well as their home institution.

Implications For Nursing Practice: The nurse liaison must be committed to their cooperative group role. Because of their proximity in time and space to the patient, nurse liaisons have a unique vantage point that can provide meaningful feedback for all stages of protocol development, implementation, and evaluation.