Nurses, APPs Critical to Getting Oncology Patients Newer Therapies

Nurses and advanced practice providers (APPs) are essential parts of oncology care teams, and their role is especially key when treating patients with newer therapies, said David A. Braun, MD, PhD, in an interview with Oncology Nursing News at the 2025 Kidney Cancer Research Summit.

Braun, who presented findings from a phase 1 trial (NCT02950766) investigating the use of a personalized cancer vaccine targeting neoantigens in patients with high-risk and resectable clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC), explained that enrollment in trials like these are often the suggestion of a nurse or APP, allowing for patients to receive the newest treatments that they may be eligible for.

He pointed out the utility of having “multiple sets of eyes” on a patient, which allows for better symptom monitoring along with identification of viable treatments. The findings Braun presented demonstrated early signs of durable response. Additionally, Braun shared in interview that adverse effects of the personalized cancer vaccine may include immune-related responses may occur, such as flu-like symptoms, along with other toxicities common among immunotherapies.

Braun is an assistant professor of medicine (medical oncology) and the Louis Goodman and Alfred Gilman Yale Scholar at the Yale School of Medicine, and a member of the Center of Molecular and Cellular Oncology at Yale Cancer Center in New Haven, Connecticut.

Transcript

Advanced practice providers (APPs) and nurses play a critical role overall in the management of patients with kidney cancer. The way an idealized clinic operates is that it’s a team-based approach. For the patient, the nurse, APP, and physician are all a unified front in providing support for the patient and their family, and it’s not just a concept.

I really believe patient care is best delivered in that way, because through having multiple eyes and different perspectives on a particular issue, they’re going to pick up on things that get missed during a visit, that someone has an idea for a clinical trial that someone might be eligible for, which might not always come to the forefront of someone’s mind when they’re first seeing a patient. Having those multiple sets of eyes—a team that’s caring for an individual—overall, is globally critical for outstanding patient care, but particularly for thinking about clinical trials in these newer therapeutic spaces.

This transcript has been edited for clarity and conciseness.