Cancer Clinical Trials: Improving Awareness and Access for Minority and Medically Underserved Communities

Cancer clinical trials offer patients an opportunity to receive new and innovative treatment, as well as contribute to the future of cancer care. Enrollment onto clinical trials also may lead to better care and outcomes; however, few adult patients with cancer and even fewer ethnic and racial minority patients participate.

AT A GLANCE

• To address the known facilitators and barriers, multilevel approaches are needed. 
• The authors present a case example of interventions to address and improve barriers to clinical trial enrollment at an urban National Cancer Institute–designated comprehensive cancer center.
• As frontline providers in cancer care, nurses are in a unique position to address barriers to clinical trial enrollment, particularly through interpersonal communication with their patients.