Background: Clinical trials, especially in oncology, have been a major trend in medical centers. Nurses are essential health care providers in the front line of clinical trials as patients and their family depend on nurses constantly to obtain professional consultation and health care. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors affecting the knowledge and attitudes of clinical nurses toward oncology clinical trials. Methods: In this descriptive and cross-sectional study, questionnaires were completed by nurses caring for patients undergoing oncology clinical trials in the wards and the oncology ambulatory clinics of five medical centers and teaching hospitals in northern, central, southern and eastern Taiwan. Results: A total of 254 valid questionnaires were collected. Overall, 71% of nurses had experience caring for patients in clinical trials, but only 20% of nurses received training in clinical trials. As a whole, their attitudes toward oncology clinical trials were positive (mean=3.93, SD=0.5). Nurses in ambulatory clinics gave the highest scores (4.2±0.5), followed by those in the general wards (3.96±0.50), while those in oncology wards gave the lowest scores (3.79±0.5). Most nurses had insufficient knowledge about oncology clinical trials, and they answered on average 67.3% of the questions correctly (range 8.3% to 93.3%). Nurses who were more senior and who worked at oncology ambulatory clinics had more positive attitudes toward oncology clinical trials. A positive correlation was found between knowledge and attitudes toward oncology clinical trials. Conclusions: The current nursing continuing education program in Taiwan lacks information and training on ethics and human clinical trials. This study showed that nurses' knowledge about clinical trials is inadequate, and it recommends that nurses actively and constantly update their knowledge on medical research and clinical trials. Clinical research nurses, who specialize in providing care in clinical trials, should strengthen their professional roles; and in order to upgrade the quality of care of patients enrolled in oncology clinical trials, these nurses should also actively participate in patient education.
Background: Clinical trials, especially in oncology, have been a major trend in medical centers. Nurses are essential health care providers in the front line of clinical trials as patients and their family depend on nurses constantly to obtain professional consultation and health care. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors affecting the knowledge and attitudes of clinical nurses toward oncology clinical trials. Methods: In this descriptive and cross-sectional study, questionnaires were completed by nurses caring for patients undergoing oncology clinical trials in the wards and the oncology ambulatory clinics of five medical centers and teaching hospitals in northern, central, southern and eastern Taiwan. Results: A total of 254 valid questionnaires were collected. Overall, 71% of nurses had experience caring for patients in clinical trials, but only 20% of nurses received training in clinical trials. As a whole, their attitudes toward oncology clinical trials were positive (mean=3.93, SD=0.5). Nurses in ambulatory clinics gave the highest scores (4.2±0.5), followed by those in the general wards (3.96±0.50), while those in oncology wards gave the lowest scores (3.79±0.5). Most nurses had insufficient knowledge about oncology clinical trials, and they answered on average 67.3% of the questions correctly (range 8.3% to 93.3%). Nurses who were more senior and who worked at oncology ambulatory clinics had more positive attitudes toward oncology clinical trials. A positive correlation was found between knowledge and attitudes toward oncology clinical trials. Conclusions: The current nursing continuing education program in Taiwan lacks information and training on ethics and human clinical trials. This study showed that nurses' knowledge about clinical trials is inadequate, and it recommends that nurses actively and constantly update their knowledge on medical research and clinical trials. Clinical research nurses, who specialize in providing care in clinical trials, should strengthen their professional roles; and in order to upgrade the quality of care of patients enrolled in oncology clinical trials, these nurses should also actively participate in patient education.