Multidisciplinary Team Meetings
I was recently fortunate to attend a Breast Cancer Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) meeting, as an observer, at the Austin Hospital in metropolitan Melbourne. As the Policy Manager for BCNA I felt it was important to see how a typical MDT meeting works - and I was in turn both surprised and impressed.
The meetings are held weekly and are attended by all the health professionals involved in the woman's care. This was the first surprising thing for me. We all know there are a lot of health professionals involved in the care of women with breast cancer. What I didn't realise was how big in fact, the meeting would be. There were surgeons, pathologists, oncologists, radiographers, radiotherapists, breast care nurses, interns and medical students. In all about 20 people were in the room.
I was also impressed by the discipline of the meeting. The chair abruptly called everyone to attention at 2pm. The blinds were drawn, the lights turned off, an overhead projector was turned on, and the work began.
Displayed on the wall, roughly three at a time, was a status update of each of the women under the care of this team of people. The typed updates were brief, and if you weren't familiar with the abbreviations you'd be forgiven for thinking they were written in code. But it was clear, very quickly, that everyone assembled in the room knew exactly what that code meant.
As each woman's case was discussed, a mammogram flashed onto the wall next to the update, or the pathology slide showing the magnified cells from the tumour, and each woman's situation was discussed and debated.
The doctor responsible for the woman's care at that point in time would recap on the previous actions, and outline their proposed plan for the next steps. Other doctors chimed in, seeking clarification, questioning the detail, offering a suggestion or challenging the plan. The social circumstances of the woman were also considered. Does she have enough support? Does she have other particular needs? Had she met with the Breast Care Nurse? What does the woman want?
The depth of discussion involved in each case, and the proposed next steps, was very impressive. The next woman on the list wasn't discussed until everyone was comfortable with the proposed plan that was outlined.
The meeting hammered along at a break-neck pace until all of a sudden at 3pm, each woman had been discussed, and it was all over. The lights came on, the blinds were raised and everyone started to leave, some pausing to chat to colleagues on the way out.
The whole experience left me with a strong sense of the real benefits of the MDT model, and the value it brings to the treatment and care of women with breast cancer.
Comments
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Thanks for this informative information Michelle. This is exactly what we need to have to support our women. Ally
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I visited the breast clinic for the first time yesterday and received my diagnosis within a couple of hours of starting the journey which I am now on... it is really reassuring to read such a commentary as (amongst other things which have occurred to me since - bearing in mind that it is now 4.30AM!!! and I am still awake!!!) the concept of MDT meetings, whilst explained to me didn't really gell until reading this. I was somewhat afraid of being passed from one "care giver" to another without there being a real passing on of info...
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I visited the breast clinic for the first time yesterday and received my diagnosis within a couple of hours of starting the journey which I am now on... it is really reassuring to read such a commentary as (amongst other things which have occurred to me since - bearing in mind that it is now 4.30AM!!! and I am still awake!!!) the concept of MDT meetings, whilst explained to me didn't really gell until reading this. I was somewhat afraid of being passed from one "care giver" to another without there being a real passing on of info...
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