Toward Improving the Quality of Cancer Care: Addressing the Interfaces of Primary and Oncology-Related Subspecialty Care

“…[70] A lack of agreement regarding roles and responsibilities among patients, primary and specialty care providers during survivorship can exacerbate the issue. [71,72] The Institute of Medicine formally recognized the need to address coordination of survivorship care nearly a decade ago by recommending provision of a survivorship care plan. This includes a treatment summary and follow-up care plan for cancer survivors as they transition across the primary/ specialty care interface.…”

Section: Survivorship Care Coordination and The Interface With Primarmentioning

confidence: 99%

Survivorship and Improving Quality of Life in Men with Prostate Cancer

et al. 2015

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Figure 1 displays transitions in care beginning with diagnosis (which is often initiated by a primary care encounter that occurs outside of the hospital or cancer center) through end of life, recurrence or remission. Those intervention points include the following: 1) changes in major treatment modality through the cancer experience (eg, surgery, radiation, chemotherapy); 2) posttreatment survivorship care and/ or surveillance, which occurs following treatment; and 3) decisions to engage end-of-life or palliative care, which require a modified treatment plan (3). An important feature of the MDC team approach is that a patient can experience MDC team intervention at different points in the illness experience.…”

Section: Team Intervention the Zapka Et Al (mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Organization of Multidisciplinary Care Teams: Modeling Internal and External Influences on Cancer Care Quality

et al. 2010

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Quality cancer care is complex and depends upon careful coordination between multiple treatments and providers and upon technical information exchange and regular communication flow between all those involved in treatment (including patients, specialist physicians, other specialty disciplines, primary care physicians [PCPs], and support services) (1). Earlier in this supplement, Taplin and others have pointed out the challenges of transferring information and responsibility among providers and institutions; a problem at the interfaces of care. Advances in surgical procedures, chemotherapy, computer technology, and targeted molecular and radiation therapies have all led to an increase in multimodality therapy, which increases the number of interfaces among cancer specialists and other clinicians in the treatment of any single patient. Contemporary cancer care thus presents a paradox: The potential for unparalleled quality and sophisticated treatment is high, yet the number of potential "failure" events in the continuum of cancer treatment (2) has multiplied significantly. Each failure in communication between various physicians and care providers and every transition and interface miscue can result in delayed treatment planning and implementation, unnecessary duplication of tests, incomplete follow-up, increased patient anxiety, decreased patient satisfaction, and declines in quality of life.This article will examine a particular type of organizational structure focused on the interfaces between multiple specialists involved in cancer treatment: the multidisciplinary treatment care (MDC) team. This structure has been identified as one method of ensuring the exchange of patient-related and technical information between all physicians and support services involved in a patient's care. The setting and format of the MDC encourage active involvement of all actors (including the patient and his/her family) in the development of a care plan. Once formed, MDC team meetings can be convened at multiple times throughout the process of cancer care (Figure 1 in Taplin) (3) and can thus serve as an ongoing communication structure aimed at smoothing the transitions between multiple stages of care.MDC teams are the successors to the tumor conference, and they have been an arrangement for coordinating cancer care for at least 30 years (4,5). The health-care management literature advocates for more frequent use of MDC teams (6,7), and the National Cancer Institute has historically supported their development and diffusion, dating back to the cancer network demonstrations of the late 1970s and early 1980s (5,8), and through the National Cancer Institute Community Cancer Center Programs of recent times (9). However, little, if any empirical evidence exists on the prevalence, efficacy, and diffusion of MDC teams in cancer treatment or on their effectiveness in smoothing transitions across stages of cancer care.This article presents a targeted review of the literature (primarily since 2000) on what is known about various types of MDC ...

show abstract

Toward Improving the Quality of Cancer Care: Addressing the Interfaces of Primary and Oncology-Related Subspecialty Care

Cited by 112 publications

References 24 publications

The Two Solitudes of Primary Care and Cancer Specialist Care: Is There a Bridge?

The Two Solitudes of Primary Care and Cancer Specialist Care: Is There a Bridge?

Survivorship and Improving Quality of Life in Men with Prostate Cancer

The Organization of Multidisciplinary Care Teams: Modeling Internal and External Influences on Cancer Care Quality

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About