Cancer Care Companion: an EHR tool to help parents of children with cancer
Official title: Cancer Care Companion: An Electronic Health Record Tool to Improve Information Exchange and Self-Management in Pediatric Cancer
Funded at Washington University · NIH-11321108 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project will build and pilot an Epic MyChart-based Care Companion to help parents of young children with cancer track symptoms, access education, and message clinicians.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R21 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Washington University NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Saint Louis, United States) |
| Project start | April 12, 2025 |
| Project end | March 31, 2027 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $183,731 |
| NIH project number | 5R21CA290223-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11321108 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Parents or primary caregivers of children (approximately 0–11 years old) who are receiving treatment or follow-up for pediatric cancer and who have access to or can create a MyChart portal account.
✕Less likely to help
Families without access to Epic MyChart, reliable internet or devices, non–portal users, or those outside the targeted pediatric age range may not receive benefit from this intervention.
What this research studies
I am a parent of a child with cancer and this project asks parents like me to co-design an electronic tool linked to MyChart that provides videos, text education, symptom surveys, and quick portal messaging. The team will run six participatory design workshops with parents and pediatric oncology clinicians to choose and refine the content and functions. After design, they will build the Cancer Care Companion into Epic MyChart and pilot it in clinical settings to test usability, feasibility, and cost. The investigators plan to prioritize features that support families and make the tool easy to share with other hospitals that use Epic.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, the tool could make it easier for parents to monitor symptoms, get timely information, and communicate with their child's care team.
How similar studies have gone: MyChart add-ons and portal-based symptom tools have shown promise in adult populations, but pediatric oncology-specific communication tools are largely new and not widely studied.
Where this research is happening
-
Washington University
Saint Louis, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Sisk, Bryan Anthony — Washington University
- Study coordinator: Sisk, Bryan Anthony
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About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.