Advancing Nursing Practices in Hospital Oncology Care

The purpose of this study is to find out if a new training program for nurses called PACT (Partnership, Assessment, Care, and Transition) will be effective and relevant in helping nurses gain the skills needed to provide high-quality family-centered care. Family-centered care skills include engaging family caregivers as partners in patient care, and strengthening their capacity for caregiving by assessing family support needs and facilitating access to resources when needed. The study will also look at whether the quality of nurses' family-centered care skills is associated with improved outcomes for family caregivers. Both nurses and family caregivers will be enrolled in this study. Participants will be nurses/caregivers who care for advanced GI cancer patients admitted to Memorial Sloan Kettering.

Active, Not Recruiting

This study is active but is not currently recruiting participants.

Key information

Conditions

Gastrointestinal Cancer Digestive System Diseases Digestive System Neoplasms Gastrointestinal Disease Gastrointestinal Diseases Gastrointestinal Neoplasms Neoplasms Neoplasms by Site Nurse's Role

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

New York, 10065, United States

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

Inclusion criteria

Nurses:

MSKCC day-shift nurses and/or night-shift nurses (Clinical Nurse I to IV) assigned to the GI inpatient unit (M16) at the time of study, all of whom provide initial and ongoing assessment of patients' physical, psychosocial, cultural and informational needs
Nurse is comfortable speaking and reading English as per self report

Family caregivers (FC) - Phase 1b:

Adult (≥18 yrs) family caregiver (family caregiver is defined here as any informal caregiver who is a relative, friend or legal representative) who self-identifies and/or is identified by the nursing staff as involved in the care of an MSK cancer patient who either:

is currently admitted to the M16 unity for at least 12 hours OR
has been discharged from the M16 unit within the last 2 weeks
English-speaking as per self-report
Only one FC per patient case will be invited to participate.

M16 Patients (chart review only):

Adult (≥18 yrs) cancer patient who is currently admitted in the M16 unit at Memorial Hospital for at least 12 hours o English speaking as per self-report

Exclusion criteria

Nurses:

Nurse plans to leave MSK or the GI unit within 3 months as per self-report
[Phases 2-4] Nurse refuses observation of consultations as per self-report

Family caregivers (FC) - Phase 1b:

FC's patient is deceased at time of consent

Treatment and study plan

Partnership, Assessment, Care and Transition training intervention

Behavioral

Partnership, Assessment, Care and Transition to psychosocial resources. Nurses who participate in PACT will receive 8 hours of training in a single, full-day workshop. We will train nurses in clusters of 10-12 nurses at one time, which will allow for cross-coverage with minimal disruption to workflow, and provide a more intimate, small-group learning environment.

Other names: PACT

Primary outcomes

Frequency of nurses' use of family centered care practices

Time frame: 30 days

Frequency of nurses' use of family centered care practices as observed during inpatient consultations with family caregivers

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Other

Registry information

Official study title

Advancing Family-Centered Care Nursing Practices in Inpatient Oncology Care

Important dates

Study start: 2021
Primary completion: 2026
Study completion: 2026
First posted: Sep 22, 2021
Registry last updated: Sep 19, 2025

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.

Completed