Enhancing Clinician Knowledge and Confidence Using IV Iron for Cancer-Related Anemia and Chemotherapy-Induced Anemia through a Virtual, Multi-Modal Educational Initiative

Abstract

Background:Anemia is a common and deleterious complication experienced by patients with cancer, with harmful impacts ranging from diminished patient-reported quality-of-life metrics, to functional capacity, to morbidity and mortality implications. Cancer-related anemia (CRA) and chemotherapy-induced anemia (CIA) arise from a multi-factorial etiology, but iron deficiency (ID) is an especially prominent genesis in these patients and is a preeminent clinical focus for the multidisciplinary and interprofessional hematology/oncology care team, not only because of its prevalence, but because it is directly treatable using iron supplementation.The rapidity of evolving data and recent positive readouts examining intravenous (IV) iron as a monotherapeutic mechanism for improving anemia outcomes in comorbid oncologic states evidence an exigent need to educate the hematology/oncology clinicians managing patients with cancer. These clinicians are ideally positioned to ensure improved CRA/CIA patient outcomes using IV iron-focused treatment strategies. Methods:We designed and developed a 60-minute webinar, led by two expert faculty, that sought to comprehensively appraise the evolving and expanding evidentiary base for IV iron in CRA/CIAThe session was recorded, edited, and hosted as a 12-month enduring activity on ceconcepts.com; educational content was also made available via social media restreaming and a podcastClinician knowledge and confidence metrics were evaluated from pre-activity to post-activity and outcomes data were captured on ceconcepts.com; all assessment questions intimately correlated with activity learning objectives Results:Across all 3 delivery modalities, the educational initiative reached a vast audience of nearly 8,300 learnersMeaningful knowledge advancements were achieved across each of the following key scientific messages (statistics reflect differential between pre-test and post-test performance):Therapeutic benefits of IV iron for CRA/CIA as established in clinical trials (+15%)Pivotal results of the IRON-CLAD study and therapeutic implications for IV iron monotherapy in CIA management (+35%)Designing an evidence-supported treatment plan given a real-world CIA patient case (+18%)Attendee confidence using IV iron to manage CRA increased from 51% pre-activity to 86% post-activity (+35%)93% of respondents said they felt more confident using IV iron after attending the session Conclusions:Our outcomes analysis highlights baseline knowledge and confidence deficiencies related to IV iron among hematology/oncology clinicians, and tangibly showcases how responsive educational activities can help bridge these chasmsProspective educational efforts focused on this clinical topic and targeted to hematology/oncology clinicians are necessary