Sir Bobby Robson Foundation

Concerns about oncology nurse recruitment -particularly in research nursing -were raised by the Experimental Cancer Medicine Centres national nurses steering group in 2017, and this led to the development of a national pilot educational engagement project.The project involved delivering educational sessions to nursing students to improve their understanding of the role of cancer research nurses and clinical research in cancer settings.These sessions were delivered onsite to second-year and third-year adult nursing students at two universities in north east England and one in Edinburgh, Scotland, and online to students at Canterbury Christ Church University, England.This article discusses the results of pre-intervention and post-intervention questionnaires that aimed to determine whether the educational sessions improved students' understanding of the research nurse role and whether they would consider it as a career on graduating.

2562 Background: BAL101553 is a prodrug of the small molecule BAL27862, a novel microtubule-targeting agent (MTA) with potent activity in tumor models refractory to conventional MTAs. Its anti-canc...

An oncological emergency is an acute medical problem related to cancer or its treatment, which may result in serious morbidity or mortality if not treated quickly. It may be secondary to a structural/obstructive, metabolic or treatment-related complication (Cervantes and Chirivella, 2004). The emergency may be the first manifestation of malignant disease, particularly for superior vena cava obstruction (SVCO) and malignant spinal cord compression (MSCC).

To the Editor: Using multiple regression analysis, Robson et al. (1) were unable to show a significant correlation between jugular bulb oxyhemoglobin desaturation and neurologic/cognitive outcomes at 3 mo in patients undergoing coronary artery surgery. Although this was a noninterventional trial, the authors neglected to address a serious flaw in study design that has been identified previously in this (2) and other settings (3): regression to the mean (RTM). RTM is a statistical finding masquerading as a real one (4). To illustrate, consider a population selected at random in whom systemic blood pressure is measured at time zero and again at 3 mo. If the individuals found to be hypertensive are prescribed medical treatment, their blood pressure at 3 mo will be closer to the mean of the entire population–even if they fail to take their medication–owing to RTM (5,6). Individuals with the highest values at time zero will show the greatest reductions, whereas the decline in those with values closer to the mean will be much smaller. The converse is observed when initial blood pressures are less than the population mean. Yudkin and Stratton (4) propose some approaches to minimizing RTM, such as randomized controlled trials (in which any difference in response between the two groups will exclude RTM) and basing selection on the mean of several (e.g., four) measurements at each time point, rather than a single value. Future studies exploring neurological outcome after open-heart surgery should address RTM in their design. Laurence Landow, MD