“I think it’s important to ensure that you consider each person uniquely. Because no matter how much I know or the nurse knows about the population, everybody is a little bit different. It’s really important to personalize every approach and ask them what they know and meet them where they are,” ONS member Reneé Kurz, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, AOCNP®, director of clinical research operations at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey in New Brunswick, told Jaime Weimer, MSN, RN, AGCNS-BC, AOCNS®, oncology clinical specialist at ONS, during a conversation about increasing diversity in clinical trials. You can earn free NCPD contact hours by completing the evaluation we’ve linked in the episode notes.

Music Credit: “Fireflies and Stardust” by Kevin MacLeod

Licensed under Creative Commons by Attribution 3.0

Earn 0.5 contact hours of nursing continuing professional development (NCPD) by listening to the full recording and completing an evaluation at myoutcomes.ons.org by May 19, 2025. The planners and faculty for this episode have no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies to disclose. ONS is accredited as a provider of NCPD by the American Nurses Credentialing Center’s Commission on Accreditation.

Learning outcome: The learner will report an increase in knowledge related to increasing diversity in clinical trials.

Episode Notes

Complete this evaluation for free NCPD.
Oncology Nursing Podcast episodes:
- Episode 19: The Practical Side of Clinical Trials
- Episode 126: Oncology Clinical Trials and Drug Development
ONS Voice articles:
ONS Oncology Clinical Trials Nurse Competencies
ONS Clinical Trials Huddle Card™
Clinical Journal of Oncology Nursing article: Cancer Clinical Trials: Improving Awareness and Access for Minority and Medically Underserved Communities
Oncology Nursing Forum article: The Role of Oncology Nurses in Discussing Clinical Trials
ONS book: Manual for Clinical Trials Nursing (third edition)
Citi Program
ClinicalTrials.gov
U.S. Food and Drug Administration Drug Development and Approval Process

To discuss the information in this episode with other oncology nurses, visit the ONS Communities.

To provide feedback or otherwise reach ONS about the podcast, email pubONSVoice@ons.org.

Highlights From Today’s Episode

“By ensuring access for diverse populations, we also promote trustworthiness within the diverse communities that we serve.” Timestamp (TS) 02:04

“We have a centralized education team for clinical trials, and all of the new investigators get a toolkit that they can use and get training on different informed consent processes and different resources that we have. We also have a really good relationship between research and our community outreach and engagement area. . . . And if either the research nurses or the investigators come up with any barriers to enrolling a specific population, there’s an online form to request community outreach services for their patients or location.” TS 09:50

“A major step is the scientific review board going through each protocol and making sure that the catchment area is really represented and that protocols are inclusive. We also have disease-specific group meetings where the investigators and all the research staff discuss new protocols and the barriers to opening it in specific locations.” TS 12:59

“I think nurses have to step back and figure out what they know about the communities that they serve. They’re used to being on the front lines and seeing patients every day. What kind of experiences have they had with the community, or what do they know about the community? And really what do the communities know about clinical trials, because a lot of it is going to be the nurse educating them.” TS 18:18

Episode 260: Diversity in Cancer Clinical Trials 26:21 Share

The Oncology Nursing Podcast

Shownotes Transcript

Episode 260: Diversity in Cancer Clinical Trials