Abrams D, Mitchell T, Child C, Weingart Z, Townley D; International Conference on AIDS.
Int Conf AIDS. 1990 Jun 20-23; 6: 290 (abstract no. S.D.801).
County Community Consortium, San Francisco, CA USA
OBJECTIVE: To better understand factors which may influence their participation in community-based clinical trials, the County Community Consortium (CCC) surveyed physicians in the San Francisco Bay Area. METHODS: The CCC sent an anonymous questionnaire to 188 physicians in January, 1990. Most physicians were primary care providers, but subspecialists were also included. RESULTS: 113 (60%) physicians responded to the survey. Most physicians' concerns regarding participation in clinical trials were pragmatic (e.g., not enough time, additional paperwork), rather than ideational (e.g., ethical concerns with randomization, role conflict). Eighty-five percent of respondents feared being overburdened with additional paperwork and 57% felt they could not manage the paperwork required to perform Phase I/II trials. Lack of time was identified by 85% as the most important barrier to participation and 87% considered research nurse support a prerequisite for participation. Eighty-five percent felt participation in clinical trials would not adversely affect the doctor-patient relationship and 84% did not feel there was a conflict between the role of the physician and the role of the scientist; 98% did not find it difficult to discuss issues of informed consent and 82% said they would not feel personally responsible if their patient were randomized to an ineffective or harmful drug. CONCLUSION: By integrating clinical research into routine patient care, community-based clinical trials can increase the number of drugs being tested and expand access to experimental drugs for large numbers of people. These goals can be achieved, however, only with the participation of community physicians who agree to enroll eligible patients and to adhere to the requirements of the protocol(s). These results suggest that physicians will participate in community-based clinical trials if paperwork is minimized and research nursing support is provided. In contrast to data on community oncologists, issues such as role conflict or ethical concerns with randomization were not reported as barriers to participation in this physician population.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- Clinical Trials as Topic
- Comprehension
- Data Collection
- Humans
- Informed Consent
- Medical Oncology
- Physicians
- Questionnaires
- Research Design
- San Francisco
Other ID:
UI: 102192000
From Meeting Abstracts