Aishleen Brunton

". . .I am thankful to have had the opportunity to learn from my colleagues both in the United States and the Republic of Ireland."

Aishleen Brunton
Clinical Research Nurse
NICCTU
Belfast City Hospital Trust

Reflections on the 2006 NCI Clinical Trials Training for Nurses

I work as a Research Nurse in Cancer Clinical Trials in the Belfast City Hospital. I had heard great reports from my colleagues who had previously attended the National Cancer Institute Clinical Trials Training for Nurses in Washington DC. When I saw the advertisement in the Belfast Telegraph for the 2006 program, I knew that I would be foolish to pass up an opportunity like this. Thankfully I was successful during the interview process and was awarded the scholarship along with three other girls, two from Dublin and a colleague of mine from the Belfast City Hospital, Lorraine McKenna.

We attended an orientation day in Dublin which was a great opportunity for the four of us to become acquainted and also included a teleconference with our American mentors. This was useful in developing our aims and objectives for the five week program based on our own specific areas of interest. I had worked in clinical trials for almost a year and had previously worked in both inpatient and outpatient oncology units. More specifically I wanted to learn more about Cancer Clinical Trials as I was relatively new to the role of Clinical Research Nurse.

Elizabeth Ness, Georgie Cusack and Joyce Stocker had carefully organized our timetable for the five week period and were very supportive throughout the program. They truly did make it an enjoyable experience and made us feel very welcome at the NCI. We were allocated a mentor who would allow us to shadow their work and learn about their area of expertise. In doing so, I was able to observe many clinics, meet other members of the multi-professional team and compare the role of the research nurse at the NCI to my own role.

The education sessions proved valuable to our learning experience including the Fundamentals in Clinical Trials course, Bioethics course, IRB meetings and tutorials. I was particularly interested in the areas of Phase 0 Clinical Trials, Immunotherapy, Nursing Research, and the role of the Nurse Practitioner in Clinical Trials. The program included protected time for our own learning needs. I found this very useful because it allowed for me to explore these areas further by setting up informal meetings with managers and other allied health professionals.

The knowledge that I gained during this time was invaluable and I believe that my nursing practice has improved as a result. It was a great opportunity to reflect on current practice and to draw comparisons between the two settings. As a result we identified areas of our own practice that we would like to develop further and the necessary materials to aid this process.

Overall it was an amazing experience and I am thankful to have had the opportunity to learn from my colleagues both in the United States and the Republic of Ireland. We were made to feel very welcome and shown great hospitality throughout! It proved to be a very relaxed and enjoyable five weeks. I would definitely recommend it to others!