Healthcare Teams & Teamwork Processes in Cancer Care Delivery

Studies focused on any aspect of the cancer care continuum that:

• Identify modifiable features of the following associated with differences in cancer care quality and patient outcomes:
  • Care team structure (e.g., care team composition or organization)
  • Care team functioning (e.g., decision-making, communication, coordination behaviors, collaboration, leadership)
• Examine or address implications of the following topics on aspects of interprofessional care team structure and functioning associated with differences in cancer care quality and outcomes:
  • Organizational characteristics of the healthcare delivery system;
  • Telehealth, digital health, or other technology tools;
  • Integrated diagnostics, diagnostic pathways for symptomatic or non-screenable cancers, or diagnostic pathways following multi-cancer detection tests;
  • Multiple chronic conditions;
  • Monitoring of patient reported outcomes;
  • Multilevel approaches examining or intervening on factors at two or more levels, including: patient/caregiver, care professional, team, delivery organization, health system, community, payer, or policy factors
• Advance measurement of constructs relevant to cancer care delivery research on interprofessional teamwork and care coordination
• Develop and test interventions to improve cancer care quality and outcomes by:
  • Modifying the structure and/or functioning of interprofessional teams or teams-of-teams;
  • Engaging patients and caregivers as members of their cancer care team
  • Strengthening coordination of care across care teams, specialties, or settings, including care in the home or community settings
• Test interprofessional approaches to:
  • Ensure timely, high-quality cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment for all
  • Improve accrual and retention in cancer clinical trials;
  • Improve health by addressing financial hardship or other risk factors (e.g., food, transportation, housing instability) associated with differences in cancer care access, quality, and outcomes
  • Improve access and delivery of supportive care or rehabilitation services
  • Care for long term cancer survivors, including survivors of childhood cancers
  • Coordinate and address whole person care for people impacted by cancer
  • Understand and address the burden of interacting with the healthcare system for people impacted by cancer and caregivers

Grant applications examining any of the topics above or other aspects of teaming in cancer care delivery can be submitted to any active NCI parent funding opportunity or any active NIH parent funding opportunity that NCI participates in. Funding opportunities can be found on the DCCPS Apply for Cancer Control Grants website.

• For example, R03 or R21 applications could support formative work to identify modifiable features of care team structure or teamwork processes associated with cancer-related care, outcomes, or related disparities; develop and test measures of related teamwork constructs; or develop and pilot test interventions.
• R01 applications could support larger observational studies or studies that evaluate interventions designed to improve care quality and patient outcomes by cultivating interprofessional teamwork and coordination during cancer diagnosis and treatment.
• P01 applications could support well integrated, multi-project research programs involving a number of independent investigators who share knowledge and common resources while working towards a unifying overall scientific goal or overarching research question. P01 applications should clearly demonstrate how the collaborative research effort can accelerate the acquisition of knowledge more effectively than a simple aggregate of research projects that have no interaction or thematic integration.

Applicants are encouraged to:

• Identify the specific aspects of teamwork (teamwork related behaviors, cognitions, attitudes, or other aspects) that are being examined and the conceptual path through which they are hypothesized to or have demonstrated associations with the patient outcomes of interest.

• Sallie Weaver (sallie.weaver@nih.gov)
• Veronica Chollette (cholletv@mail.nih.gov)