Congress Abstracts 2003

87

PATIENT EDUCATION MATERIAL FOR CUTTING-EDGE CANCER TREATMENTS: NURSES IN INDUSTRY AND AT THE BEDSIDE COLLABORATING ON A CANCER VACCINE EDUCATIONAL TOOL. Dory Sample, RN, MSN, MPH, OCN^®, Biomira, Inc., Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

New therapeutic agents are rapidly being developed for cancer patients. Current advances in gene therapy, targeted therapies via molecular pathways, and immunotherapy are just a few of the new, cutting edge approaches that have begun to contribute to the battle against cancer. Access to these new agents through clinical trials has created a tremendous, specialized educational need for healthcare professionals and, subsequently, patients and their families and the community at large.

Patient education is an essential component of nursing care, and the oncology nurse is in a unique position to explain the pros and cons of therapies to patients and their families in order to optimize patient outcomes. Unfortunately, educational materials, particularly those geared at the patient level, are still largely lacking for many new treatments. Oncology nurses involved in the direct education of patients and industry nurses who have access to detailed information regarding investigational products, and perhaps financial resources, have an opportunity to work together to develop educational tools. The resulting materials could facilitate a patients’ improved understanding of the therapy in question, while also assisting the healthcare provider charged with providing current and accurate information.

This presentation will detail one such collaboration, between an oncology nurse at Biomira, Inc., a biotechnology company in Edmonton, Canada, and nurses at sites enrolling patients into a vaccine clinical trial. Together, these nurses developed a much-appreciated educational tool, a flip chart, geared on one side of each page with information at a general patient level and on the other side, with more detailed information for healthcare professionals (which could be, if appropriate, shared with the patient). The steps undertaken in the development of this tool could be used as a model for nurses struggling with the creation of their own educational products related to novel therapies.