Reflections and experiences in conducting a European survey in relation to clinician practices with vascular access devices for systemic anti-cancer therapy.

Abstract

Background: Intravenous infusion is the principal way of providing systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT) for the vast majority of malignant diseases with approximately one million infusions conducted worldwide each day. A recent scoping review discovered a significant deficit in the literature covering clinical aspects of vascular access device (VAD) selection, insertion, and, in particular, training and education. To answer some of these questions, we are conducting a survey throughout Europe to investigate healthcare professionals' current practices surrounding vascular access devices used for systemic anti-cancer therapy.

Methods: This methods paper describes the actions that a research team studying vascular access took to carry out a comprehensive survey across Europe. The purpose of this paper is to share some reflections regarding the survey design. It also covers the steps involved in creating a high-quality questionnaire, the extent, quality, and impact of Public Patient Involvement (PPI) in survey design, the methodologies used to measure the questionnaire's face and content validity, and the experiences gained about stakeholder engagement and dissemination.

Conclusion: This paper summarizes some of the findings acquired from integrating and interacting with PPI during different stages of clinical research. It also provides practical tactics for managing a large global team of collaborators, as well as an explanation of the many methodologies used to increase the survey's validity and accuracy.