TeamTalk: Improving Inter-professional Communication During Cancer Treatment

NCT07083674 | Not Yet Recruiting

• 2 other identifiers: 2025031831R01CA287374
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 8
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

This study focuses on improving interprofessional communication during cancer treatment, through an individual and hospital system intervention, to improve provider outcomes, patient care, and, ultimately, survival for children with cancer in low-resource settings.

Conditions

Pediatric Cancer

Keywords

Pediatric Cancer; Communication

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Communication quality - CritCom Measure

  Reliable, published measure of communication quality; measured across 6 domains on a Likert scale; self reported by clinical team members; Will assess change in clinician perspective of communication quality within 6 months

  We will evaluate outcomes at three time points; baseline, one month after intervention, and six months after intervention.

Other Outcomes (2)

• Provider burnout and retention

  We will evaluate outcomes at three time points; baseline, one month after intervention, and six months after intervention.

• Patient mortality and safety/adverse events

  We will evaluate outcomes at three time points; baseline, one month after intervention, and six months after intervention.

Study Arms (2)

Intervention Group

EXPERIMENTAL

This study includes an intervention development phase (Aim 2) during which the intervention content and delivery mechanisms will be finalized. We will implement the multilevel intervention developed in Aim 2. We anticipate this will consist of one instance of intervention at each hospital and we will develop a full intervention manual following Aim 2. Details regarding the intervention will be updated prior to participant enrollment in the trial.

Behavioral: Multi-level communication intervention

Waitlist Control Group

NO INTERVENTION

The wait list control is a group that does not receive an intervention during the study period, serving as an untreated comparison during the study, although they later receive the intervention. This intervention will be delivered after the completion of the last data collection instance.

Interventions

Multi-level communication intervention BEHAVIORAL

The intervention will target multiple levels (provider, unit, hospital) and will respond to identified modifiable communication challenges. Aim 2 intervention mapping will finalize the specific intervention; we anticipate it will involve training and education of staff members and new unit protocols for communication.

Intervention Group

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Hospitals identified as being in lowest quartile of communication quality, as defined by prior cross-sectional CritCom analysis and measured as the overall CritCom score.
• All Global Alliance hospitals providing childhood cancer care will be eligible to participate.
• Individual participants will be included if they care for hospitalized children with cancer at risk of deterioration.

You may not qualify if:

• None

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Washington University School of Medicine: lead
• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital: collaborator
• National Institutes of Health (NIH): collaborator
• National Cancer Institute (NCI): collaborator

Study Sites (1)

Washington University in St. Louis

St Louis, Missouri, 63110, United States

Location

Related Publications (2)

• DEVELOPMENT OF A QUANTITATIVE MEASURE (CRITCOM) TO ASSESS THE QUALITY OF INTERDISCIPLINARY COMMUNICATION AROUND PATIENT DETERIORATION IN VARIABLY RESOURCED HOSPITALS

  BACKGROUND

• Agulnik A, Graetz DE, Carothers BJ, Rivera J, Blakeney EA, Hayes S, Chaitan VL, Cabassa L, Goss CW, Luke DA, Malone S. Strategies to improve healthcare team communication structure and quality in resource-variable childhood cancer hospitals (TeamTalk): a study protocol. Implement Sci Commun. 2025 Nov 17;6(1):124. doi: 10.1186/s43058-025-00811-z.

  PMID: 41250257 DERIVED

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Neoplasms; Communication

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Behavior

Central Study Contacts

Sara Malone, LCSW, PhD

CONTACT

‭(502) 797-0240‬; sara.malone@wustl.edu

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR
• PI Title: Assistant Professor

Model Details: Parallel-arm, pilot cluster-randomized wait list-controlled trial to evaluate the intervention compared to control

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: July 8, 2025
• First Posted: July 24, 2025
• Study Start (Estimated): September 23, 2027
• Primary Completion (Estimated): April 1, 2029
• Study Completion (Estimated): August 1, 2029
• Last Updated: January 7, 2026

Record last verified: 2025-12

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

US (1)