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

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/CIA

• The 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 podcast

• Clinician 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 learners

• Meaningful 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 chasms

• Prospective educational efforts focused on this clinical topic and targeted to hematology/oncology clinicians are necessary

Rodgers:Pharmacosmos: Consultancy.