Korean J Intern Med.  2020 Jan;35(1):205-214. 10.3904/kjim.2019.189.

Practice patterns of multidisciplinary team meetings in Korean cancer care and patient satisfaction with this approach

Affiliations
  • 1Department of Medical Oncology and Hematology, Kyung Hee University Hospital, Seoul, Korea
  • 2Department of Oncology, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Incheon, Korea
  • 3Department of Hematology-Oncology, Dong-A University College of Medicine, Busan, Korea
  • 4Department of Internal Medicine, Wonju Severance Christian Hospital, Wonju, Korea
  • 5Department of Internal Medicine, Veterans Health Service Medical Center, Seoul, Korea
  • 6Department of Internal Medicine, Dongguk University Ilsan Hospital, Goyang, Korea

Abstract

Background/Aims
The multidisciplinary team (MDT) approach is a cornerstone of clinical oncology. This study investigated the current state of MDT care, including patient satisfaction, in Korea.
Methods
We obtained the annual number of cancer patients who have received MDT care since 2014 from the registry of the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA). In addition, patients who received MDT care from August 2014 to May 2017 at four university hospitals were further characterized, and patient satisfaction was measured prospectively using a patient-reported questionnaire.
Results
The total number of patients who received MDT care increased from 2014 to 2016 (2,113 to 9,998 patients, respectively) in the HIRA Cohort. The type of cancer that most often required MDT was breast cancer (23.8%), followed by colorectal cancer (19.1%). In the Representative Cohort (n = 1,032), MDT was requested by the surgeon more than half the time (55.7%). The main focus of MDT was decision making for further treatment planning (99.0%). The number of doctors participating in the MDT was usually five (70.0%). After initiating an MDT approach, the treatment plan changed for 17.4% of patients. Among these patients, 359 completed a prospective satisfaction survey regarding their MDT care. The overall satisfaction with the MDT approach was very high, with an average score of 9.6 out of 10 points.
Conclusions
The application of MDT care is a rapidly growing trend in clinical oncology, and shows high patient satisfaction. Further research is needed to determine which types of cancer patients could benefit most from MDT, and to enable MDT care to operate more efficiently so that it may expand successfully throughout Korea.

Keyword

Multidisciplinary team; Patient satisfaction; Treatment outcome; Medical oncology
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