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NCT Number: NCT07083674

TeamTalk: Improving Inter-professional Communication During Cancer Treatment

This study focuses on improving interprofessional communication during cancer treatment, through an individual and hospital system intervention, to improve provider outcomes, patient care, and, ultimately, survival for children with cancer in low-resource settings.

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Key information

Conditions

Pediatric Cancer Behavior Communication Neoplasms

Age range

18 year and older

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Washington University in St. Louis

St Louis, Missouri, 63110, United States

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

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

Inclusion criteria

  • Hospitals identified as being in lowest quartile of communication quality, as defined by prior cross-sectional CritCom analysis and measured as the overall CritCom score.
  • All Global Alliance hospitals providing childhood cancer care will be eligible to participate.
  • Individual participants will be included if they care for hospitalized children with cancer at risk of deterioration.

Exclusion criteria

  • None

Treatment and study plan

Multi-level communication intervention

Behavioral

The intervention will target multiple levels (provider, unit, hospital) and will respond to identified modifiable communication challenges. Aim 2 intervention mapping will finalize the specific intervention; we anticipate it will involve training and education of staff members and new unit protocols for communication.

Primary outcomes

  1. Communication quality - CritCom Measure

    Time frame: We will evaluate outcomes at three time points; baseline, one month after intervention, and six months after intervention.

    Reliable, published measure of communication quality; measured across 6 domains on a Likert scale; self reported by clinical team members; Will assess change in clinician perspective of communication quality within 6 months

Other outcomes

  1. Provider burnout and retention

    Time frame: We will evaluate outcomes at three time points; baseline, one month after intervention, and six months after intervention.

    Provider outcomes will be assessed at the individual level via questions about burnout and intent to leave. This will use pre-existing, reliable measures where individuals report their self-reported rates of burnout and intent to leave their job. These are categorical responses.

  2. Patient mortality and safety/adverse events

    Time frame: We will evaluate outcomes at three time points; baseline, one month after intervention, and six months after intervention.

    Patient outcomes data will be collected via prospective registry of all clinical deterioration events, defined as unplanned transfers to intensive care (ICU), the use of ICU interventions on general wards, or unplanned death on the ward.

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Sara Malone, LCSW, PhD

CONTACT

[email protected]

‭(502) 797-0240‬

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Washington University School of Medicine

Other

Collaborators

  • National Cancer Institute (NCI)
  • National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Registry information

Official study title

TeamTalk: Strategies to Improve Communication Structure and Quality in Low-resource Childhood Cancer Hospitals

Important dates

Study start
2027
Primary completion
2029
Study completion
2029
First posted
Jul 24, 2025
Registry last updated
Jan 7, 2026

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.

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