Increasing primary care physician support for and promotion of cancer clinical trials

Only 2.5%-3% of adult cancer patients participate in cancer clinical trials, yet about 20% of cancer patients are medically eligible to participate. Research suggests that the primary care provider (PCP) can influence a patient's awareness of, and potentially, his or her decision to consider a clinical trial. To address low cancer clinical trial accrual rates, 'Imi Hale Native Hawaiian Cancer Network partnered with The Queen's Cancer Center to provide and evaluate education on clinical trials to Hawai'i PCPs. The educational materials were developed from a national curriculum and tailored to local audiences. Objectives of the curriculum were to educate PCPs about common myths (attitudinal barriers) around clinical trials and suggest ways that PCPs can introduce the concept of clinical trials to their patients with cancer or suspicion of cancer. The curriculum was tested on 128 PCPs in 2012. Knowledge of the PCP's role and their willingness to mention clinical trials were measured through a post-test immediately following the presentation, which 74 (58%) PCPs completed. The post-test results suggested an increase in awareness among PCPs of their potential role in cancer clinical trial accrual, and an increase in PCP willingness to mention clinical trials to their patients with suspicion of cancer or diagnosed with cancer. Although findings suggest that this intervention is useful in increasing PCP receptivity to promoting cancer clinical trials, more research is needed to test if increased willingness results in increased accrual of cancer patients into clinical trials in Hawai'i.