Abstract
Few evidence-based trainings exist on how to equip healthcare providers, particularly nurses, with the skills to engage in cost of care conversations with patients/caregivers to mitigate the impact of cancer-related financial toxicity. This study evaluated a pilot training developed in collaboration with Triage Cancer® to prepare oncology nurses to identify and assist patients/caregivers facing financial and/or legal barriers to care. Ten pediatric oncology nurses completed the training and pre/post-surveys on behaviors related to financial and legal need screening, frequency and comfort level of answering questions, knowledge, and behavior changes, along with training evaluation questions. At baseline, six nurses reported never screening for financial needs and nine for legal needs. Following the training, seven nurses stated they were likely to screen for financial/legal needs. At six months post-training, nurses had referred 85 patients/caregivers to financial/legal navigation services. Comfort levels in answering financial/legal questions increased by 6.5 points and knowledge scores increased by 1.7 points post-training. Most nurses recommended this training to other healthcare providers who work with patients with cancer and their caregivers. This study highlights the importance of providing oncology nurses with resources to engage in cost of care conversations and oncology financial legal navigation programs to mitigate the impact of cancer-related financial toxicity.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
1-2025
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.3390/curroncol32010033
Funding Information
This research study was funded by the Kentucky Pediatric Cancer Research Trust Fund, Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services. The APC was funded by The Betty Irene Moore Nurse Leaders and Innovators Fellowship, UC Davis.
Repository Citation
Edward, Jean; Wiggins, Amanda T.; Baser, Louis G.; Fariduddin, Haafsah; Doran, Joanna F.; Bryant, Monica F.; D'Orazio, John August; and Northrip, Kimberly D., "Engaging Nurses in Effective Cost of Care Conversations to Address Cancer-Related Financial Toxicity: Results from an Exploratory Survey" (2025). Markey Cancer Center Faculty Publications. 287.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/markey_facpub/287
Notes/Citation Information
© 2025 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/).