KEY POINTS:
Karen Spells
Age: 38
Hours: 32 hours a week
Employer: ADHB
Pay scale: $55,000 to $61,000 for 40-hour week
Prerequisites: nursing experience in oncology, ideally you will be working towards a degree.
Prospects: New Zealand is increasingly involved in international research. The number of clinical trials and the number of patients on trials will
increase, so there is also the prospect of increasing numbers of research jobs.
Describe your job
My job is to bridge the gap between research and practice, making a research protocol work within our service. From a patient point of view it would involve informing and educating the patient on the study, the drugs and any side effects. It's acting as the patient advocate, to get their questions answered so they can make the choice to go on to the study, and supporting them through their treatment, answering questions, speaking with family, liaising with people in the community, GPs, nurses - and liaising with doctors and other staff within this hospital, particularly the nurses giving the treatment.
Why did you choose the job?
I like a challenge. I like the fact that in research every day is different. It is exciting and interesting to be involved in new drugs.
What is your background?
I've been nursing for 16 years, all that time in oncology and haemotology. I worked as a research nurse about 10 years ago in London and I specialised in breast cancer but when I came to New Zealand I came back to research.
Why is the job important?
I'm part of a wider team involved in research. We take an important question in medicine and put it into practice - for example, is A better than B as a treatment?
What's the best part of the job?
The patients, as with any nursing job. You meet a lot of interesting people and their families. Also it's nice to work in a relatively autonomous role with the challenges. It keeps you on your toes.
How many drug trials are you running? With how many patients?
We have approximately 120 patients on trials in Auckland with many more on follow-up. And we have approximately 14 studies up and running, with more planned.
What are your strengths?
Communicating, able to rise to a challenge, able to think on your feet. My strengths would probably be the strengths of any nurses working in oncology.
How many cancer research nurses are there in New Zealand?
Every cancer centre in New Zealand would have cancer research nurses. The majority of all specialties have research nurses like renal and cardiac areas. You stay within your specialty and you do courses according to your specialty.
What changes in cancer treatment/research have you seen?
The most interesting one is probably Herceptin. When I was a research nurse in London about 10- 12 years I was involved with some of the first trials of Herceptin which were for end-stage breast cancer. And then to come to now, where it has been proven to work in the adjuvant setting. That's huge. You realise what can happen.
How long does it take to set up a trial?
It's a very long process. The research team is the doctors, consultants, we have a research manager and we have a team of trial co-ordinators. It would start with a company approaching a doctor to discuss a trial, and it would have to go through a process of being deemed a good study. It can take many months to get the trial started and it has to go through the ethics committee and be signed off by nursing medicine management in the hospital. It's a long, laborious process to get to the stage where I get involved. I look at the nursing hours needed for the study budget, and make sure the patient information is easily understood because I'm the one who has to answer questions. We have our own trial pharmacist in the hospital. He doesn't just cover cancer; he covers all the clinical trials.
What's your job hunting advice for nurses wanting to move into research?
You have to be a nurse in oncology and you've got to have a genuine interest in research. You need a broad understanding of oncology.
How do you cope with the emotional side of this job?
I am lucky to have supportive colleagues. We are all treating people with cancer and it can be hard. I think you have to put things in perspective. For me, going home to a 7-year-old puts everything back in focus because you don't have time to dwell on things. There's a difference between Karen the nurse and Karen the mum, you have to have that work-life balance right.
