title: Organizational designs for achieving high treatment trial enrollment: a fuzzy-set analysis of the community clinical oncology program.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the organizational design features that were consistently associated in 2010 with high levels of patient enrollment onto National Cancer Institute (NCI) cancer treatment trials among the oncology practices and hospitals participating in the NCI Community Clinical Oncology Program (CCOP).
  
  
  METHODS
  Fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis was used to identify the recipes (ie, combinations of organizational design features) that CCOPs used to achieve high levels of patient enrollment onto NCI treatment trials in 2010. Four organizational design features were examined: number of open treatment trials with at least one patient enrolled, number of newly diagnosed patients with cancer, number of CCOP-affiliated physicians, and number of CCOP-affiliated hospitals or practices where patient enrollment could occur. Data were obtained from NCI data systems and CCOP grant progress reports.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Two recipes were consistently associated with high levels of patient enrollment onto NCI treatment trials in 2010: having many open treatment trials and many new patients with cancer, and having many open treatment trials and many affiliated hospitals or practices. Together, these recipes accounted for nearly two thirds of CCOP membership in the high-performance set in 2010.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  No single organizational design feature, by itself, was consistently associated with high levels of patient enrollment onto NCI treatment trials in 2010. Having a large menu of active treatment trials may be necessary to achieve high-patient enrollment performance, but this is not sufficient unless combined with either large patient volume or many participating sites.
authors.affiliation: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7590, USA. bryan_weiner@unc.edu
authors.forename: Bryan J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Weiner
authors.forename: Sara R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.forename: Lori M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Minasian
authors.forename: Marjorie J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Good
mesh_terms: D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic / Q000379:methods*; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000379:methods*; D055812:Community-Based Participatory Research / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017143:Fuzzy Logic; D006801:Humans; D008495:Medical Oncology / Q000458:organization & administration*; D054547:National Cancer Institute (U.S.); D009369:Neoplasms / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D018579:Patient Selection; D014481:United States