TeamTalk: Improving Inter-professional Communication During Cancer Treatment
For patients and families
In plain language
An automatic summary of structured registry data. It is an orientation aid, not a substitute for the official protocol or a physician assessment.
- What is being studied
- The protocol lists: Multi-level communication intervention.
- Who it may be relevant to
- Registry conditions: Pediatric Cancer. Basic parameters: from 18 years · All.
- What needs checking
- Age, condition and sex are only basic indicators. Prior treatment, laboratory values and other mandatory requirements appear in the eligibility criteria below.
- Where it takes place
- United States
- Next step
- Save the trial, show it to the treating physician, and confirm current recruitment with the study center. Costs, documents and travel →
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Official title
TeamTalk: Strategies to Improve Communication Structure and Quality in Low-resource Childhood Cancer Hospitals
Overview
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.
Interventions
- Behavioral Multi-level communication intervention
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.
Primary outcome measures
- Communication quality - CritCom Measure [Time frame: We will evaluate outcomes at three time points; baseline, one month after intervention, and six months after intervention.]
Eligibility criteria
Inclusion criteria
- 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.
Exclusion criteria
- None
Criteria are shown verbatim from the registry (in English). Final eligibility is always assessed by the study center.
Healthy volunteers: No
Study design
- Allocation
- Randomized
- Model
- Parallel assignment
- Masking
- Open label
- Primary purpose
- Health services research
Study locations
United States · 1 center
- Washington University in St. Louis — St Louis
Publications
- DEVELOPMENT OF A QUANTITATIVE MEASURE (CRITCOM) TO ASSESS THE QUALITY OF INTERDISCIPLINARY COMMUNICATION AROUND PATIENT DETERIORATION IN VARIABLY RESOURCED HOSPITALS
- 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
Identifiers
NCT: NCT07083674 · 202503183 · 1R01CA287374