Examining and Enabling the Role of Health Care Providers as Patient Engagement Facilitators in Clinical Trials

Purpose: The Tufts Center for the Study of Drug Development conducted a study among practicing physicians and nurses (health care providers) across multiple specialties to assess their attitudes and experiences with referring patients into clinical trials and to supplement the body of scholarly research focused primarily on referral practices among oncology-based health care providers.

Methods: A total of 755 physicians and 1255 nurses completed online surveys in late 2015 and early 2016.

Findings: The results of the study indicate that a high percentage of multispecialty nurses and physicians is interested in referring their patients to appropriate clinical trials, are familiar with the clinical trial process, and are comfortable providing clinical trial information to, and discussing clinical trial opportunities with, their patients. Study results also indicate, however, that health care providers refer only a small number of patients each year largely because of the inability to access clinical trial information and the lack of sufficient information and time to evaluate and confidently discuss clinical trial options with their patients.

Implications: Many reasons for choosing not to refer patients appear addressable, particularly through effective but presently -underused communication leveraging social media communities and using liaisons who can act as a bridge between clinical care and clinical research.