Improving Patient-Centered Communication and Cancer Care

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Cancer patients and their family members continue to report communication deficits with their healthcare staff regarding diagnosis, disease progression, education about treatment and procedures, referral services, and psychosocial care. Given their increased exposure to patients and families, along with the intimacy of the care they provide, oncology nurses are often vulnerable to patient/family discussions about these topics. While national agendas and standard of care guidelines highlight the importance of communication during cancer care, nurses report being uncomfortable disclosing bad news, a lack of knowledge about cancer survivorship, difficulty discussing spiritual and sexual concerns, and experience missed opportunities to refer cancer patients to hospice. The proposed cancer education program will provide nurse communication training for oncology nurses by offering a two day workshop on cancer care and communication. This innovative educational initiative will be the first nurse-focused training program as prior work in this area over the last decade has focused exclusively on the role of the physician. Through this proposal we hope to establish a network of nurses trained in communication who can train other nurses and initiate institutional change. Specific Aims: The project aims to adapt an established communication training curriculum for cancer care. Secondly, the project aims to deliver the curriculum to competitively selected oncology nurse teams from NCI-designated cancer centers and community cancer centers. Finally, the project aims to evaluate the impact of the curriculum and disseminate findings to develop a network of nurses with expertise in patient-centered communication. Cancer Education Program Plan: The cancer education program plan will be based on the COMFORT communication curriculum. COMFORT is an acronym that stands for the seven basic principles of nurse communication and teaches nurses the skills they need to accomplish the six core functions of patient- centered communication as defined by the National Cancer Institute. Expert faculty in the area of clinical nurse and oncology education have confirmed their involvement, along with support from the Oncology Nursing Society. It is proposed that a two-day course be held annually for four years to 100 nurses, providing training to a total of 400 oncology nurses nationwide. Evaluation of the proposed cancer education program plan will include an assessment of curriculum content, individual goal achievement and institutional performance improvement. Upon completion of the course, participants will identify goals for institutional change and 6 and 12 month follow up will assess goal attainment, barriers, and successes. This proposal supports the NCI strategic aim of improving the quality of life for cancer patients, survivors, and their families by translating NCI's patient-centered communication framework into practical tools that will enable oncology nurses to provide timely, efficient, and equitable care to cancer patients and their families.