Dr Kathleen Unroe is the principal investigator of NEXT STEPs initiative. Credit: Regenstrief Institute.

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) unit National Institute on Aging has granted a five-year award totalling nearly $15.5m to a team from Indiana University School of Medicine and Regenstrief Institute for establishing a national network to include nursing home residents in clinical studies.

Called Nursing Home EXplanatory Clinical Trials: Supporting Transformation by Enhancing Partnerships (NEXT STEPs), the initiative seeks to include more nursing home residents in clinical research, a group claimed to be underrepresented in such studies.

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Indiana University School of Medicine and Regenstrief Institute research scientist Dr Kathleen Unroe is the principal investigator of NEXT STEPs.

Unroe said: “Growing the infrastructure and capacity of researchers to conduct high-quality clinical trials to test diagnostic and therapeutic advances and care delivery in nursing homes are urgently needed.

“Our network will partner with industry leaders and nursing home resident advocates to identify key priorities and strategies to advance nursing home research.”

The new network aims to address the exclusion of nursing home residents from clinical trials, which hampers the development of medical therapies and care models tailored to this demographic.

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By removing barriers to participation, NEXT STEPs aims to foster a more inclusive research environment.

The network will be established across nine states, involving multidisciplinary researchers who will enhance the number and quality of clinical trials.

These trials are claimed to focus on prevention, medical therapeutics, and behavioural and health services interventions, to optimise care and quality of life for nursing home residents.

The upcoming steps involve creating an organisational structure, along with processes and procedures, to establish a sustainable and diverse network of nursing home partners and researchers.

This network will focus on conducting successful explanatory trials aimed at enhancing the quality of care for individuals with multiple chronic conditions and serious illnesses.

NEXT STEPs’ infrastructure will be developed through three supporting cores: recruitment and retention; methods, measures, and data; and training and projects.