Enhancing nursing students’ awareness of the role of cancer research nurses to improve future recruitment

Abstract

BackgroundEarly phase oncology trials are primarily delivered by a national network of Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres, which are fundamental to taking the first step in developing new treatments for patients with cancer. In 2017, concerns about nursing recruitment and the factors affecting enrolment to research nurse posts were discussed at an Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres national nursing steering group meeting, which was attended by members from across the UK. The steering group felt there were misconceptions about the research nurse role and that many research nurses 'fell into' their posts rather than choosing this area as a career. These discussions instigated the development of a national pilot educational engagement project initiated by one of the members, and first author, (BH).The project involved co-designing educational sessions with nursing students on placement at Newcastle Experimental Cancer Medicine Centre. These sessions covered what clinical research is, what patients' journeys from standard care to clinical trials entail, where clinical research occurs in the NHS and the vital role of cancer research nurses. They Citation Hood B, Wilson V, Croudass A (2021) Enhancing nursing students' awareness of the role of cancer research nurses to improve future recruitment. Cancer Nursing Practice.

Commentary: Development and evaluation of a clinical research nursing module for undergraduate nursing schools: expanding Clinical Research Nurses’ outreach

“…Similar to the findings in this paper, of a lack of awareness of the role of a Clinical Research Nurse is evident in the undergraduate curriculum in the UK. Another study examined undergraduate nurses' knowledge of the role of cancer research nurses at four UK universities, and only 19% reported they had knowledge of the role, and of those, it was evident many had misconceptions (Hood et al, 2021). In addition, only a small majority would consider this a career option (10%).…”