Research Nurses for Clinical Trials of Anti-Cancer Drugs: Developing a New Subspecialty in Taiwan
Resource
DRUG INFORMATION JOURNAL v.32 pp.1279S-1281S
Journal
DRUG INFORMATION JOURNAL
Journal Volume
v.32
Pages
1279S-1281S
Date Issued
1998
Date
1998
Author(s)
CHENG, ANN-LII
LAI, YEUR-HUR
YU, YU-CHIEH
Abstract
Experienced research nurses are indispensable in conducting high-quality clinical trials of anti-cancer drugs. They ensure patients' compliance, as well as physicians' attention to the details of study protocols, which are typically associated with significant treatment-related toxicity and tedious schedules of patient monitoring. In the past 10 years, the number of research nurses in the Oncology Society of Taiwan increased from four to 24. Most of them are located at the affiliate hospitals of the Taiwan Cooperative Oncology Group (TCOG), the National Health Research Institute (NHRI), and the Cancer Research Center of National Taiwan University College of Medicine (NTUMC). Although oncology research nurses are rapidly becoming a new subspecialty in Taiwan, major obstacles exist. The first obstacle comes from the society of nursing, opinion leaders of which ave, for obscure reasons, reluctant to recognize this new subspecialty. The second obstacle comes from the research funding organizations, which generally lack a suitable category of personnel for research nurses. It is critical that these problems be solved as soon as possible. Further the training program for and the mechanism of certification of oncology research nurses should also be enforced in the future.
Subjects
research nurse
oncology
SDGs