A successful communication skills training program about clinical trials is expanding to cover pediatric cancer. The workshop trains medical oncology fellows to communicate clearly with patients and their families about the benefits of enrolling in a clinical trial.
One-fifth of clinical trials fail because of a lack of patient participation. The workshop addresses this problem by helping oncologists to make shared decisions with patients and their families about participation in clinical trials. The workshop focuses on how to best address barriers and concerns that are raised in this discussion.
Funding for this expansion comes from Blood Cancer United, formerly known as The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. It supplements a previous award to program leaders Carma Bylund, Ph.D., and Naomi Parker, Ph.D., from the UF Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics and its division of Implementation Science and Health Interventions. Carla Fisher, Ph.D., is a co-investigator on the new supplement.
The Cancer Clinical Trials Communications Skills program has been operating since 2023, and a peer-reviewed article in 2024 by a 14-person team explains its research-based approach.
Conversational sessions
Nearly 130 adult hematology-oncology fellows have attended this workshop on communication about clinical trials for cancer. Enrolling children in clinical trials involves additional concerns and barriers that pediatric hematology-oncology fellows will be trained to address.
The free workshop has been implemented in 16 fellowship programs. Bylund hopes to expand the program to all fellowship programs across the U.S.
The fellows receive three hours of training that includes role playing with live patient actors in small groups.
Researchers created a guiding process based on current communication theory and tailored it to the needs of oncologists and their patients. The process follows the acronym COMM for the steps of Check-in, Outline options, Make a shared decision, and Map out next steps.
By surveying the fellows six months after the workshop, the research team found that fellows retain these communication skills. Fellows also reported increased willingness to discuss clinical trials often and early in the treatment process.
Eventually this change may translate into higher participation in clinical trials. The workshop may also improve a physician’s overall skills in communication and patient interactions.