title: Oncology physician and nurse practices and attitudes regarding offering clinical trial results to study participants.
abstract: Despite recent interest on the part of advocates and researchers of oncology clinical trials in sharing study results, participants in these trials are not routinely informed about the results. We identified oncology physicians and nurses through the Cancer and Leukemia Group B database and surveyed them about sharing clinical trial results with participants. Of 1977 eligible members, 796 (40.3%) responded to the mailed survey, 497 (62.4%) of whom reported that they offer trial results to participants less than one-fifth of the time. A total of 576 (72.4%) of responders believed that most patients want to know the results of studies, and 634 (79.7%) of responders expressed willingness to offer results to most study participants in the future, believing that most patients want to know trial results and that routinely offering results would not have a negative effect on patients. Concerns of some responders about routinely offering trial results included negative emotional effect on patients, patient difficulty understanding the information, and resources required to offer the results. Of concern, 16.2% (129/796) of responders believed an obligation to offer results to study participants would make them less likely to enroll patients on studies. Future studies should consider sharing trial results with patients and evaluating the process and its effect on both patients and clinicians.
authors.affiliation: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA 02115, USA. ahpartridge@partners.org
authors.forename: Ann H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Partridge
authors.forename: Nadia
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Hackett
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Blood
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gelman
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Joffe
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bauer-Wu
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Knudsen
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Emmons
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Collyar
authors.forename: Richard L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Schilsky
authors.forename: Eric P
authors.initials: EP
authors.lastname: Winer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001291:Attitude of Health Personnel; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D030881:Disclosure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000592:standards*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009723:Nurse-Patient Relations; D009726:Nurses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D010820:Physicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States