Individual Abstract within a Delegate Designed Symposium Clinical Oncology Society of Australia Annual Scientific Meeting 2024

Building a virtual bridge to equitable health services research training in regional Victoria (#137)

Tenille Lewin 1 2 , Heather Cameron 2 , Craig Underhill 3 4 , Meinir Krishnasamy 1 5
  1. Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Parkville, Vic, Australia
  2. Regional Trials Network Victoria, Albury-Wodonga, Australia
  3. Border Medical Oncology, Border Medical Oncology Research Unit, Albury, NSW, Australia
  4. Latrobe University, Wodonga, Vic, Australia
  5. University of Melbourne, Parkville, Vic, Australia

Aim: Delivery of care closer to home is a cornerstone of the Victorian Cancer Plan. For regional cancer patients, this policy initiative assumes equity of opportunity for care, treatment and research participation, compared with metropolitan patients. We set out to develop and implement a virtual health services research (HSR) training resource to equip regional health care professionals with the knowledge and tools to lead HSR with and for regional patients.

Methods: A multi-phased project was undertaken to build, refine, and deliver the resource. Phase 1: in-depth interviews and focus groups with key regional stakeholders, a comprehensive scoping review, and environmental scan to identify existing HSR training programs. Phase 2: engagement with national key stakeholders to establish collaborative relationships, to gain understanding of existing HSR training opportunities, and to identify gaps that the new virtual resource could fill. In Phase 3, data from Phases 1 and 2 were used to build the resource. The project Steering Committee provided feedback on all stages of resource development.

Results: Phase 1 data provided information to inform the content and function of the virtual resource. Phase 2 data identified 168 freely available HSR resources and eight key stakeholders who are currently delivering clinical trials education and HSR education. Of those delivering HSR training, none had capacity to expand their programs and agreed to collaborate with @research to facilitate greater access for regional health professionals. Phase 3 saw delivery of @research, (https://www.research.regionaltrialsnetwork.org/) – a virtual HSR platform that includes over 70 accessible research tools and templates to support novice to expert HSR researchers develop, implement, and evaluate HSR projects.

Conclusion: The collaborative approach taken to the development of @research has delivered a virtual platform to support growth of HSR among regional Victorian health professionals, scaling potential to deliver research-informed care closer to home.