"Open to Options” Program Provides Decision Support to Blood Cancer Patients and Enhances Provider Training on Clinical Trials

What is Open to Options? 

Open to Options (formerly ENACCTing Wellness) is an innovative pilot project between The Wellness Community and ENACCT (Education Network to Advance Cancer Clinical Trials) designed to improve access to high quality cancer treatment, including clinical trials, and to improve access to psycho-social support for blood cancer patients.  The pilot consists of two core components to address barriers to quality cancer care, and is being piloted in three local Wellness Communities: San Francisco East Bay, Cincinnati, and Philadelphia.  First, the program uses ENACCT’s unique education model focusing on knowledge and behavior to train primary care providers and clinical trial staff about how to talk with patients about clinical trials. Second, the project uses TWC’s professional clinicians to provide one-on-one decision support services using an evidence-based model, in an effort help patients communicate better with their physicians as they make treatment decisions One on One Decision Support for Patients. 

The model for the one-on-one decision support element “Open to Options” is a novel program designed to reduce “decisional regret” for people in high stress situations.  It is also intended to help patients become more confident about how to manage their situation, and to find support when needed.  Developed by Dr. Jeff Belkora, University of California, San Francisco, the “SCOPED” model helps patients gain clarity around their: Situation [key facts], Choices [options], Objectives [desired goals and priorities], People [individuals who can help with decision-making], Evaluation [reconciling options and their consequences] and Decisions. SCOPED has received the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s highest evidence based rating for clinical practice.

Training for Health Care Professionals

Since this project began, 25 health care professionals, including nurses, counselors, social workers and physicians, have received training to become “provider-trainers” who will educate their peers about discussing clinical trials with hematological cancer patients as a first-line treatment option.  This year, Open to Options is focusing on (1) providing one-on-one decision support to patients; (2) expanding training opportunities to improve the cultural competency of clinical trial staff in our pilot sites to optimize patient recruitment and retention; (3) reaching underrepresented minority populations for both the training and decision support services. To date, the decision support services have been provided to twenty-five patients, with nineteen percent of these patients being minorities. For more information about the Open to Options project, please visit http://www.enacct.org/our-programs/open-options.