Table 3.

Monthly Staff Acuity Scores and Number of Patient Encounters by Variables of Interest

Site characteristic or variable by acuity score and encounter	Group 1			Group 2			Group 3			Group 4			Group 5
	No. of research staff*	Median†	Range	No. of research staff*	Median†	Range	No. of research staff*	Median†	Range	No. of research staff*	Median†	Range	No. of research staff*	Median†	Range
Site characteristic
No. of individual staff		6	1-8		15.5	9-22		4	2-7		3	1-14		3	1-8
No. of unique protocols		69	12-150		88	20-160		33	9-50		27	5-75		20	16-47
Total No. of staff FTEs		5	1-7		14.9	8.3-20.9		3.25	1.3-6.5		2.85	1-12		2.7	0.8-6.6
Patient status
On study treatment
Acuity score	38	27.75	6-117	103	17	2-117.5	25	8	1-62	37	47.5	3-98.5	13	23.5	3-40.5
No. of patient encounters		10.5	2-75		6	1-37.5		3	1-22		14.5	1-31.5		8.5	1-17.5
On study off treatment
Acuity score	20	11.5	1-107.5	68	2.25	1-49	15	2	1-17.5	33	2.5	1-9.5	7	1.5	1-4
No. of patient encounters		11.5	1-107.5		2.25	1-49		2	1-17.5		2.5	1-9.5		1.5	1-4
Off study follow-up
Acuity score	28	2.75	1-91	64	2	1-35	14	1.75	1-5	26	1.25	1-4.5	9	2	1-4
No. of patient encounters		2.75	1-91		2	1-35		1.75	1-5		1.25	1-4.5		2	1-4
Sponsor
NIH/NCI Cooperative group/research base
Acuity score	39	34.5	8-265.5	107	14.5	1-97	20	8.25	1-69	23	2	1-66	8	7.75	2-37
No. of patient encounters		18	3.5-187.5		7	1-56.5		3.5	1-33		1.5	1-26		3.75	1-4
Industry
Acuity score	14	5.75	1-27.5	67	8	1-110	14	5.75	1-22.5	36	40.5	2-95	12	14.25	1-39
No. of patient encounters		3.5	1-18.5		2.5	1-27.5		2	1-17.5		13	1-36		4.5	1-13
Academic
Acuity score	6	3	1-19	22	3	1-24	8	1.5	1-25.5	1	3	—	3	2	1-5
No. of patient encounters		3	1-19		2	1-11		1	1-8.5		3			1	1-5
Other
Acuity score	12	6.5	1-67	27	10	1-30	7	3	1-6	26	2	1-17.5	6	4	1-8
No. of patient encounters		3.5	1-67		5	1-15		2	1-2		1.5	1-7.5		2	1-5
Trial type
Treatment
Acuity score	39	33	7-235.5	107	18	1-119	24	8.75	1-66	37	48.5	1.5-99	11	27	3-41.5
No. of patient encounters		15	2-165.5		9	1-56.5		4.25	1-29		16.5	1.5-40		9.5	1-14.5
Cancer control
Acuity score	33	4	1-68	73	4	1-54	14	2.75	1-20	9	4	1-6	8	3.75	1-13
No. of patient encounters		3	1-67		2	1-27		2	1-17.5		2	1-3		1.75	1-12.5
Correlative science
Acuity score	10	4.5	1-23	11	2	1-6	5	1.5	1-6	1	50	—	2	1	1-1
No. of patient encounters		3	1-23		2	1-3.5		1.5	1-3		25			1	1-1
Observational registry
Acuity score	25	3.5	1-18	42	2.25	1-19.5	10	3.5	1-22.5	18	2.5	1-14	7	2	1-5
No. of patient encounters		3.5	1-10		2	1-10		2	1-7.5		2.25	1-6.5		1.5	1-5
Staff title
Research nurse
Acuity score	22	42	10.5-265.5	45	19.5	1-115	18	12.75	2-70	28	53	11.5-107.5	9	30	3-42.5
No. of patient encounters		16	3.5-81		9	1-41.5		5	1-34		18	5-43		11.5	1-20
Research coordinator
Acuity score	1	44	—	34	33.5	2-110	3	20.5	11-23.5	1	21	—	4	16.75	1-27
No. of patient encounters		44			15.5	2-41		10.5	9-15.5		10.5			9.25	1-13
Clinical research associate
Acuity score	6	38.75	8-93	34	15.5	1-119	5	15	3.5-25.5	7	50	5.5-79	1	3	—
No. of patient encounters		26.75	7-187.5		7.5	1-38.5		8.5	2.5-15		25	5.5-29.5

NOTE. Group 1, CCOP/MB-CCOP with seven or fewer FTEs (n = 13 research programs); group 2, CCOP/MB-CCOP with more than 7 FTE (n = 10 research programs); group 3, community hospital/NCCCP (n = 8 research programs); group 4, private practice, not hospital based/private research network (n = 12 research programs); group 5 = private practice, hospital based (n = 7 research programs).

Abbreviations: CCOP, Community Clinical Oncology Program; FTE, full-time equivalent; MBCCOP, Minority-Based CCOP; NCCCP, NCI Community Cancer Center Program; NCI, National Cancer Institute; NIH, National Institutes of Health.

^*No. of staff are research staff engaged in patient-associated encounters for specific variable of interest.

^†Monthly median was calculated by taking the median of monthly aggregate protocol acuity scores × the number of patient encounters.