RECONNECT: Overcoming Racial and Ethnic Inequity in Clinical Trial Enrollment via Clinical Trial Nurse Navigation and Provider Communication Training
Shazia Nakhoda
MDFox Chase Cancer Center
Project Term: July 1, 2024 - June 30, 2029
This study will implement a skill-based didactic course for providers to improve the quality of communication around structural racism, mistrust, implicit biases, and clinical trial counseling. This study will also implement a culturally competent, specialized clinical trials nurse navigation program that connects patients to educational resources around clinical trials and standardizes pre-screening for new patients prior to the initial clinic visit.
Patients from groups historically underrepresented in cancer clinical trials (e.g., racial/ethnic minoritized groups, older adults) are disproportionately impacted by social, economic, and environmental disadvantage, which affects their ability to access promising novel therapies through enrollment in a clinical trial. Effective interventions, screening, and enrollment practices are essential in reducing and ultimately eliminating disparities in trial accrual, and multi-level interventions are required to address these disparities. This study will implement a skill-based didactic course (SBDC) for providers to improve the quality of communication around structural racism, mistrust, implicit biases, and clinical trial counseling. This study will also implement a culturally competent, specialized clinical trials nurse navigation program that connects patients to educational resources around clinical trials and standardizes pre-screening for new patients prior to the initial clinic visit.