Open to Options (Funded through 8/2011)
Open to Options (formerly known as ENACCTing Wellness), funded as a cooperative agreement with the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a pilot project which seeks to demonstrate how community-centered education, outreach and support services can both address informational needs and enhance access to care among those living with blood cancers.
Currently being piloted in The Cancer Support Community's facilities in Cincinnati, Philadelphia and San Francisco, and through online community at www.thewellnesscommunity.org.
Open to Options:
- helps cancer patients learn how to get the most out of their visits with their oncologists and to help them speak more openly with their families about the things that matter the most to them.
- helps primary care providers educate patients about the importance of clinical trials as an option for first line treatment, refer patients to local oncologists who participate in clinical trials, and encourage patients to ask about clinical trials when meeting with an oncologist.
- helps clinical research staff improve recruitment, consent and accrual procedures and processes in cancer clinical trials, especially among ethnic and racial minorities and the medically underserved.
Key Activities of Open to Options Include:
- Educating patients about their treatment options, including the option of receiving their treatment though a clinical trial;
- Increasing awareness of support services for patients, their family members, friends, and caregivers;
- Educating primary care providers, especially those caring for the medically underserved, about options to refer patients to local clinical trials for first line treatment; and
- Enhancing cultural competency skills of local clinical trial investigators and their teams.
Read more about Open to Options in ENACCT's Winter 2009 newsletter.
Open to Options FREE E-Course for Primary Care Providers
Open to Options is pleased to announce a new web-based training course for primary care providers. The training, titled "Why Cancer Clinical Trials are Important for My Practice," is an online workshop, approximately an hour in length, designed to reach medical professionals who have direct contact with patients. The purpose of this training is to prompt primary care action on:
- referral to local oncologists who participate in clinical trials
- educating patients about the importance of cancer clinical trials as an option for first line treatment and
- encouraging patients to ask about clinical trials when presenting to an oncologist.
Providers interested in participating can access the course by clicking here.
Continuing education credit is no longer available for this course.
Continuing education credit provided through Clinical Directors Network, Inc.
