Change Management Is the Hard Part of CTCAE Automation

Introduction: Technology Is the Easy Piece

Organizations often underestimate the role of change management in CTCAE automation. The technology may work, but adoption fails when teams feel excluded, confused, or threatened.

In oncology, where safety documentation carries legal, ethical, and regulatory weight, trust is as important as functionality.

Why Clinicians Are Skeptical

Clinicians and research staff have lived through waves of health IT that promised relief and delivered new burdens. Skepticism toward automation is rational, not resistant. Many worry about hidden errors, loss of control, or increased audit exposure.

Ignoring these concerns guarantees failure.

Framing the Purpose Clearly

Successful change management starts with clarity. Automation should be framed as documentation support, not decision replacement. The message must be explicit: clinicians retain authority, and patient safety remains paramount.

Vague assurances are insufficient. Teams need to see exactly how suggestions are generated, reviewed, and overridden.

Identifying Internal Champions

Adoption accelerates when respected nurses, coordinators, and investigators are involved early. These individuals understand real workflows and can identify mismatches between design assumptions and reality.

Their feedback improves the system, and their endorsement carries credibility that no executive mandate can replicate.

Training Through Real Cases

Abstract training fails. Effective onboarding uses real patient cases, showing how automation handles common scenarios and edge cases. When users see their own work reflected accurately, trust grows.

Change management is not a one-time event. It is an ongoing dialogue between technology and practice.