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Streamlining the Multi-Disciplinary Team Meeting: The Introduction of Robust Pre-Preparation Methods and Its Effect on the Length of Case Discussions

INTRODUCTION: The multidisciplinary team (MDT) approach has long been considered the optimal way in which to deliver a high standard of care to patients with breast cancer. With a growing number of patients and ever-increasing complexity of cases, the strain on time and resource of the MDT is becomi...

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Autores principales: Merker, Louise, Conroy, Soraya, El-Wakeel, Hassan, Laurence, Nicola
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Dove 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9993954/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36910017
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S387174
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author Merker, Louise
Conroy, Soraya
El-Wakeel, Hassan
Laurence, Nicola
author_facet Merker, Louise
Conroy, Soraya
El-Wakeel, Hassan
Laurence, Nicola
author_sort Merker, Louise
collection PubMed
description INTRODUCTION: The multidisciplinary team (MDT) approach has long been considered the optimal way in which to deliver a high standard of care to patients with breast cancer. With a growing number of patients and ever-increasing complexity of cases, the strain on time and resource of the MDT is becoming increasingly evident. It is therefore essential that local hospital departments adapt their MDT processes to better streamline discussions and optimise efficiency. The Royal United Hospital in Bath is a district general hospital in the UK. Approximately 500 patients with cancers are treated annually, and the MDT discusses approximately 60 patients per week. METHODS: To improve our MDT meeting processes and increase productivity, we created a concise MDT template using Microsoft Access™: giving all clinicians the ability to add patients and information in real time. We also allocated weekly preparation time whereby a senior clinician ensured all patients were prepared prior to the meeting with results and potential outcomes prepopulated where possible. RESULTS: We recorded the time spent discussing patients during 6 MDT meetings before and after implementation of changes. Cases were classified by pathology category to determine if there were differences following the preparation changes. Overall, we significantly reduced our average MDT discussion time (p=0.02). We significantly reduced average discussion time in postoperative malignant cases (p<0.0006) and expected benign core biopsy cases (p<0.0047), allowing appropriate redistribution of time towards discussion of more complex cases, reflected by the significant increase in time spent discussing complex radiology cases (p<0.025). CONCLUSION: We offer an effective method for improving the MDT meeting preparation and presentation by ensuring each patient is appropriately prepared prior to the meeting, and outcomes for those simple cases are already prepopulated. This creates additional time within the meeting to discuss more complex clinical cases while allowing all members of the team an opportunity to discuss all patients if needed.
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spelling pubmed-99939542023-03-09 Streamlining the Multi-Disciplinary Team Meeting: The Introduction of Robust Pre-Preparation Methods and Its Effect on the Length of Case Discussions Merker, Louise Conroy, Soraya El-Wakeel, Hassan Laurence, Nicola J Multidiscip Healthc Original Research INTRODUCTION: The multidisciplinary team (MDT) approach has long been considered the optimal way in which to deliver a high standard of care to patients with breast cancer. With a growing number of patients and ever-increasing complexity of cases, the strain on time and resource of the MDT is becoming increasingly evident. It is therefore essential that local hospital departments adapt their MDT processes to better streamline discussions and optimise efficiency. The Royal United Hospital in Bath is a district general hospital in the UK. Approximately 500 patients with cancers are treated annually, and the MDT discusses approximately 60 patients per week. METHODS: To improve our MDT meeting processes and increase productivity, we created a concise MDT template using Microsoft Access™: giving all clinicians the ability to add patients and information in real time. We also allocated weekly preparation time whereby a senior clinician ensured all patients were prepared prior to the meeting with results and potential outcomes prepopulated where possible. RESULTS: We recorded the time spent discussing patients during 6 MDT meetings before and after implementation of changes. Cases were classified by pathology category to determine if there were differences following the preparation changes. Overall, we significantly reduced our average MDT discussion time (p=0.02). We significantly reduced average discussion time in postoperative malignant cases (p<0.0006) and expected benign core biopsy cases (p<0.0047), allowing appropriate redistribution of time towards discussion of more complex cases, reflected by the significant increase in time spent discussing complex radiology cases (p<0.025). CONCLUSION: We offer an effective method for improving the MDT meeting preparation and presentation by ensuring each patient is appropriately prepared prior to the meeting, and outcomes for those simple cases are already prepopulated. This creates additional time within the meeting to discuss more complex clinical cases while allowing all members of the team an opportunity to discuss all patients if needed. Dove 2023-03-04 /pmc/articles/PMC9993954/ /pubmed/36910017 http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S387174 Text en © 2023 Merker et al. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution – Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) ). By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms (https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php).
spellingShingle Original Research
Merker, Louise
Conroy, Soraya
El-Wakeel, Hassan
Laurence, Nicola
Streamlining the Multi-Disciplinary Team Meeting: The Introduction of Robust Pre-Preparation Methods and Its Effect on the Length of Case Discussions
title Streamlining the Multi-Disciplinary Team Meeting: The Introduction of Robust Pre-Preparation Methods and Its Effect on the Length of Case Discussions
title_full Streamlining the Multi-Disciplinary Team Meeting: The Introduction of Robust Pre-Preparation Methods and Its Effect on the Length of Case Discussions
title_fullStr Streamlining the Multi-Disciplinary Team Meeting: The Introduction of Robust Pre-Preparation Methods and Its Effect on the Length of Case Discussions
title_full_unstemmed Streamlining the Multi-Disciplinary Team Meeting: The Introduction of Robust Pre-Preparation Methods and Its Effect on the Length of Case Discussions
title_short Streamlining the Multi-Disciplinary Team Meeting: The Introduction of Robust Pre-Preparation Methods and Its Effect on the Length of Case Discussions
title_sort streamlining the multi-disciplinary team meeting: the introduction of robust pre-preparation methods and its effect on the length of case discussions
topic Original Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9993954/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36910017
http://dx.doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S387174
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