Welcome to Phillips Oncology Evidence-Based Practice Internship! We are excited about the journey that lay ahead. 

Background: Cancer care delivery continues to evolve with new scientific discoveries. Personalized care inextricably links clinical trial and high-quality cancer care. Cancer clinical research is essential to finding new treatments and improving patient outcomes and survivorship. Delivery of care for patients on clinical trials differs from those who are receiving standard care in that care is dictated by a research protocol, the interventions are investigational in nature, the clinical monitoring is intensified, the clinician synthesizes high volumes of information in the assessment of patients and clinical decision-making. 

Research nurses are centric to clinical research to coordination for patients on clinical trials and utilize their clinical decision making, intellectual curiosity, and technical skills to take the best care of patients while giving them access to novel treatments. Research nursing is a sub-specialization requiring foundational knowledge of the governing regulations, practical experience incorporating real-time-emerging evidence-based medicine and refined inquiry skills.

Research nursing practice requires a foundation in Good Clinical Practice guidelines (GCP) and the ability to implement those protocols through quality patient centered care, appropriate collection of clinical data, and adherence to research compliance and ethics. The goal of this course is to build on clinical skills and practice as it relates to clinical research principles and good clinical practice guidelines and to provide a foundation for care of patients on clinical trials and trial management. This course will be taught through the lens of oncology clinical research nursing. 

Course requirements will include lectures, class discussions, clinical rotations, selected readings, quizzes and culminate with a case presentation to demonstrate knowledge of key clinical research principles. Each student will be offered the opportunity to choose a research education project or nursing led research project as a final presentation and project. To this end, the student will collaborate with selected healthcare professionals (research nurse preceptors), faculty, patients, and other nursing personnel to best fulfill the requirements for the selected project. There will also be a final case based presentation intended to bring together theoretical concepts and practical applications learned through your oncology rotation. Routine discussions with instructors, clinicians, and preceptors will occur to help facilitate course progress and final projects.