Creating Initial Orders for SWOG Treatment Trials

Sites opening SWOG treatment trials have a new resource available that should expedite one step of the process – protocol-specific initial order builds (IOBs) designed to streamline the creation of drug treatment orders for a given trial.

These IOBs complement the electronic medical record (EMR) template that CTSU provides, and they can be readily adapted by sites across different practice settings. They’re now being made available for all relevant SWOG treatment trials at activation.

Many sites have pharmacists create trial-specific builds for their order entry systems, but interpreting information from resources such as investigator brochures and package inserts can be time consuming and potentially tricky. Providing sites carefully reviewed order builds they can deploy as part of protocol activation should save them time and resources.

This IOB initiative has been driven by SWOG’s pharmaceutical sciences committee (PSC), in collaboration with our new advanced practice provider (APP) and nurse scientist committee  (and, before they became a formal committee, our APP working group). These collaborators convened a focus group that built, tested, and refined an IOB template prototype. 

Now, for all relevant trials approaching activation, an all-volunteer team of PSC disease committee liaisons drafts drug treatment IOBs tailored to the protocol’s treatment arms.

The IOB focus group reviews and refines these drafts, which then go to the study chairs and relevant research committee chairs for review and feedback.

About 30 IOBs have been completed thus far, covering 10 trial protocols, some currently active (S2308, S2414, S2433, SN2426, and S2427), some soon to be activated. IOBs are posted to a trial’s protocol abstract page on the CTSU website, in the Documents section, under the Protocol Related Documents tab.

Importantly, the focus group is also creating these resources for SWOG Clinical Trials Partnerships (SWOG CTP) studies, which are conducted without federal funding. IOBs are now in place for 21CTP.LEUK01, and the next CTP trials to activate will have them from the start.

Please be sure your site’s pharmacists, APPs, research nurses, investigators, and EMR tech staff know these IOBs are available as new SWOG treatment trials come online.

If you’re using them at your site – or if you’re a study chair of a trial that’s deployed them – the IOB focus group wants to learn from your experience. You can send feedback to sfwong1120@gmail.com.

We thank the pharmaceutical sciences committee – particularly Drs. Siu Fun Wong and Joyce Lee, the committee’s past and current chairs, respectively – and the APP and nurse scientist committee for undertaking this valuable initiative. You can learn more about it at these committees’ open sessions at the spring group meeting (both sessions can also be attended virtually).

We also want to give a shout-out to all members of the IOB focus group. Your volunteer efforts are making a difference, helping us deliver the potential benefits of clinical trials to more patients more quickly.