Current Practices for Delivering New Diagnosis Education at Children's Oncology Group Institutions: A Report From the Children's Oncology Group

Abstract

Background: The Children's Oncology Group (COG) Nursing Discipline developed expert consensus recommendations and resources to guide the delivery of new diagnosis education across its member institutions. Current new diagnosis education practices across COG member institutions are unknown.

Objective: To understand current new diagnosis education practices across COG member institutions.

Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of COG nurses between July and October 2023 to elicit current practices to deliver new diagnosis education to families across COG institutions. Data were collected and managed using REDCap electronic data capture tools. Individual responses from single institutions were averaged as a single institution-level response.

Results: Respondents included 146/227 (64.3%) COG institutions across 5 countries. Advanced practice nurses and nurse educators have primary responsibility for new diagnosis education at 28.1% and 26.7% of institutions, respectively. Less than half (42.4%) of institutions have a clearly defined process for delivering new diagnosis patient/family education. Almost all (88.2%) institutions use the COG Family Handbook; 64.7% use the COG New Diagnosis Guide, and 41.9% use the COG KidsCare app to support the delivery of new diagnosis education. More than half (61.5%) of institutions use checklists to facilitate the delivery of new diagnosis education, with 81.6% of large institutions versus 44.1% of small institutions reporting the use of checklists ( P = .004).

Conclusions: There is variability in current new diagnosis education practices across COG institutions.

Implications for practice: These findings highlight opportunities for implementing standardized approaches aligned with expert consensus recommendations for the delivery of new diagnosis education.