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Head and neck multidisciplinary team meetings: Effect on patient management
Author(s) -
Brunner Markus,
Gore Sinclair M.,
Read Rebecca L.,
Alexander Ashlin,
Mehta Ankur,
Elliot Michael,
Milross Chris,
Boyer Michael,
Clark Jonathan R.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
head and neck
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.012
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1097-0347
pISSN - 1043-3074
DOI - 10.1002/hed.23709
Subject(s) - multidisciplinary approach , medicine , multidisciplinary team , head and neck , audit , head and neck cancer , malignancy , general surgery , radiation therapy , physical therapy , surgery , nursing , social science , management , sociology , economics
Background The purpose of this study was for us to present our findings on the prospectively audited impact of head and neck multidisciplinary team meetings on patient management. Methods We collected clinical data, the pre‐multidisciplinary team meeting treatment plan, the post‐multidisciplinary team meeting treatment plans, and follow‐up data from all patients discussed at a weekly multidisciplinary team meeting and we recorded the changes in management. Results One hundred seventy‐two patients were discussed in 39 meetings. In 52 patients (30%), changes in management were documented of which 20 (67%) were major. Changes were statistically more likely when the referring physician was a medical or radiation oncologist, when the initial treatment plan did not include surgery, and when the histology was neither mucosal squamous cell cancer nor a skin malignancy. Compliance to the multidisciplinary team meeting treatment recommendation was 84% for all patients and 70% for patients with changes in their treatment recommendation. Conclusion Head and neck multidisciplinary team meetings changed management in almost a third of the cases. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 37: 1046–1050, 2015