I’m Aware That I’m Rare: Sandeep Sahay, MD and Jordin Rice, RN (364)

The phaware® interview

Pulmonologist Sandeep Sahay, MD and Jordin Rice, RN from Houston Methodist Lung Center discuss a nurse’s role in informing and educating pulmonary arterial hypertension patients about clinical trials.

Sandeep Sahay, MD:
I am Sandeep Sahay and I’m a pulmonologist at Houston Methodist Lung Center, Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas, and I specialize in pulmonary hypertension and I’m actively involved with clinical care of pulmonary hypertension patients and also in clinical research.

Jordin Rice, RN:
I am Jordin Rice. I am a research nurse at Houston Methodist. I work directly with Dr. Sahay. We work with all types of PH patients near and far, and I have had the pleasure of becoming a research nurse after caring for them at the bedside. It’s just been a wonderful experience. They’re some of my favorite patients I’ve ever met. And I really look forward to talking about clinical trials and how we take care of them and manage their care.

Sandeep Sahay, MD:
Let me start with this. What is a nurse’s role in informing or educating PH patients about the clinical trials?

Jordin Rice, RN:
I think first and foremost, we approach everything as a team. You and I work really closely together, looking at patients, figuring out if people qualify. You obviously know things that I don’t. I might think of things about patients that you don’t, like their commute, how much time it’s going to take away from their normal job to participate in a trial. So nurses I feel like are really instrumental in that process in making this a realistic thing, to be enrolled in a trial. We help logistically get patients here and we talk about kind of the ins and outs of trials. Not all patients are going to qualify for something. It’s up to us to really dive into a patient’s medical records and talk to them directly about what it means to actually be in a trial. You have to come…