Tag Archive for: myeloma nurses

How Can Myeloma Nurses Start Clinical Trial Conversations at Start of Care?

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How Can Myeloma Nurses Start Clinical Trial Conversations at Start of Care? from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What are some strategies for myeloma nurses to initiate clinical trial conversations at the outset of care? Advanced practice provider Charise Gleason explains methods her clinic has used for advanced practice providers and the improvements they have observed in their clinical trial participation rates.

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See More from EPEP Myeloma

Related Resources:

Do Myeloma Treatment Advancements Create Care Challenges?

 Best Practices: Crafting Myeloma Clinical Trial Conversations to Individual Patient Needs

 How Can Myeloma HCPs Overcome Unforeseen Practice Related Barriers?

Transcript:

Dr. Nicole Rochester:

We’ve been talking about this team-based approach. We know that nurses serve as key coordinators of care in the myeloma trial setting, as well as other members of the healthcare team. So from your perspective, what are some recommended strategies that you can share to encourage advanced practice providers, specifically how to initiate the clinical trial conversation at the outset of care?

Charise Gleason:  

First, we need to educate our advanced practice providers. So for new APPs coming into our system, part of their onboarding is the research mission, exposing them to the clinical trials, exposing them to what we have available. We have a weekly research meeting, I’m sure Dr. Cole has similar practices. And then our group has a separate meeting once a week, where we meet for two hours. The myeloma team, we have APPs who are off that day who call in for this meeting, because we go over our patients, we talk about what clinical trials are available, that’s just how we practice and we think about that.

I would like to add to that, referring to a center early is so essential as well, and for us to start having that conversation. And I’ll talk a little bit to build on something Dr. Cole said with our patient population.In Atlanta, in our database, 40 percent of our data is based on Black patients. And we enroll about 32 percent to 33 percent of Black patients on clinical trials. And what our work on trials has showed us too, if you give the same access to every patient, you have good outcomes and good outcomes for Black patients, if not better, than white patients. So we all need to be versed on that, whether you’re the research nurse, the clinic nurse, the physician, the advanced practice. And so we really do bring that approach to taking care of our patients.

 And then, managing those side effects and having that open dialogue. So patients aren’t surprised by things. And I’ll use talquetamab (Talvey), for instance. We have a patient who is still on the original trial, who relapsed on a BCMA targeted therapy. Early on, these side effects were new to everybody. And she wanted to come off the trial month end. And it was that education piece and working with her, holding the drug, that now almost two years later, she’s still in remission, tolerating the drug. And so those are the stories and these are the experiences we have. We’re giving really good drugs on clinical trials, and patients are responding well.

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Best Practices: Crafting Myeloma Clinical Trial Conversations to Individual Patient Needs

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Best Practices: Crafting Myeloma Clinical Trial Conversations to Individual Patient Needs from Patient Empowerment Network on Vimeo.

What are some ways for myeloma nurses and care providers to optimize patient care? Advanced practice provider Charise Gleason shares her perspective on how care team members support patients and collaborate with physicians and research team members. 

Download Resource Guide  |  Descargar guía de recursos

See More from EPEP Myeloma

Related Resources:

Do Myeloma Treatment Advancements Create Care Challenges?

 How Can Myeloma HCPs Overcome Unforeseen Practice Related Barriers?

 How Can Myeloma Nurses Start Clinical Trial Conversations at Start of Care?

Transcript:

Dr. Nicole Rochester:

So certainly, this conversation alludes to the fact that the clinical trials regarding these medications are also increasingly complex. And so I’m going to go to you, Ms. Gleason, because we know that nurses and advanced practice providers provide understanding of these trials, including potential benefits and risks, and all of the things that are required as they consider participating in a trial. And then, as you all have both shared, there is some tailoring around the treatment with regard to the disease state, whether it’s relapsing, whether it’s refractory. So with that in mind, do you have any best practices around tailoring the trial conversation with regard to specific patient needs and situations?

Charise Gleason:

Well, I’ll start with, we bring that discussion with all of our patients about the potential of a clinical trial from the start. And so we’re all versed on that, we all look to what clinical trial could be available for this patient. So we’re used to having that conversation. So our teams all need to be educated, participate in our research meetings, so we are ready to discuss a trial on that. We sometimes get to spend more time with patients, and we get to know our patients.

These are patients we see frequently, and so we can have those conversations. You might have somebody who’s starting to have a biochemical progression. It’s not time to change their therapy yet, but we’re already thinking about what’s that next line of therapy. And so as we start to approach that with clinical trials and standard of care, and opening that dialogue, so it’s really that communication and that rapport and relationship you have with your patient, and that care partner. So an ongoing conversation about the different treatments that are available to them.

Dr. Nicole Rochester:

So we know that patients with myeloma are living longer lives based on everything that you all have shared, and with that comes a different set of options and challenges.  And you also have alluded to this team-based approach, Ms. Gleason, and we know that there’s a critical role that advanced practice providers play in the myeloma clinical trial setting. So I’d love for you to speak to that..the role that advanced practice providers play in myeloma clinical trials. 

Charise Gleason:  

Yeah, the advanced practice providers have started specializing like our physicians do, and we have that collaborative relationship, and we are part of that team approach to take care of our patients. So we’re identifying patients for potential clinical trials. Our scope of practice does vary a little bit from state to state. So in some cases, we can also enroll patients. If we’re not able to do that, though, we can already have discussed the trial, discussed side effects, presented them with the consent.

So when they do meet with the physician, they’ve already seen a lot of that information, and then they can ask further questions with the physician. I think the other big role that we play in the clinic setting is we see these patients, we see these patients for follow-up. So we’re doing a lot of management of the side effects, supportive care through the trials. We might be a little more available during the week, so if a patient’s here on another day, and they’ve got something going on, we’re answering those portal questions, and calling patients back and  just really collaborating with our physicians and also the research team.

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