Continuing education needs of nurses caring for patients undergoing CAR T-cell therapy for hematological malignancies: A Canadian survey

Ines Ben Henda, Caroline Arbour, Karine Bilodeau

Abstract


CAR T-cell therapy represents a major, ongoing advance in the treatment of hematological malignancies, but it requires complex, highly specialized care. Given the central role they play in managing this care, nurses need access to tailored continuing education. Unfortunately, little evidence exists to guide the development of these programs. This study presents the findings of the first Canadian survey designed to identify the continuing education needs of nurses involved in the care of adult patients receiving CAR T-cell therapy.

A bilingual (French and English) survey developed using the competency framework proposed by He et al. (2024) and adapted to the Canadian context was sent to the members of the Canadian Association of Nurses in Oncology/Association canadienne des infirmières en oncologie (CANO/ACIO). The resulting data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and qualitative thematic analysis. 

A total of 88 nurses completed the questionnaire. Most were women (94%), aged 30 to 49 years (73%), working primarily in oncology (38%), or an outpatient centre (35%). The findings revealed significant needs in terms of theoretical knowledge (treatment processes, complications) and operational skills (therapy administration, management of side effects, outpatient follow-up, interdisciplinary communication). Notable differences were observed depending on practice setting, clinical experience and prior training. 

These findings emphasize the need to develop structured continuing education programs that are easy to access and adapted to suit various practice settings in order to support nurses in delivering safe, high-quality care to patients undergoing CAR T-cell therapy.

Keywords: training needs, nursing care, continuing education, CAR T-cell therapy, hematological malignancies, survey, Canada

https://doi.org/10.5737/23688076363365


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References


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