ECOG-ACRIN Nursing Committee

The Nursing Committee is a standing committee within ECOG. A priority of the Nursing Committee is to support ECOG’s mission to conduct clinical cancer trials. This has been best accomplished by the important role of the Nursing Liaison. There are currently fifteen Nurse Liaisons, who have been appointed by the Nursing Committee chair, serving on all Disease and Standing Committees (particularly the Symptom Management Committee). There is participation from both the academic and community settings. The Nurse Liaison attends the Core Committee, participates in conference calls between meetings, but the main focus of the role is in the protocol development process. The Nurse Liaison’s input is provided from concept development to activation of the protocol. During the review process the Nurse Liaison serves as the “nursing perspective” in the trial development by reviewing feasibility issues that may hinder accrual, suggesting necessary clarifications in the dose modification sections for easier interpretation, identifying inconsistencies, ensuring the informed consent is written clearly and correctly for the patient, providing input into the drug monograph tool, creating the nursing implication section of the study and occasionally creating educational tools that facilitate accrual to difficult trials. Having protocols reviewed by both academic and community based nurses provides different perspectives in all of the areas mentioned and strengthens the review process. In the Symptom Management Committee, there are Nurse Co-Chairs for protocols. The Nurse Co-Chairs functions similarly to the Nurse Liaison in the protocol review process, ensuring ongoing awareness and focusing on accrual. Once Disease or Symptom Management trials are activated, the Nurse Liaison or Nurse Co-Chair may provide review of particular trials at the bi-annual Nursing Committee meetings to increase awareness, clarify issues and ultimately assist in trial accrual.