Patient participation in multidisciplinary tumor conferences

Abstract

Objectives: To identify (1) how frequently patients are invited to take part and actually do take part in multidisciplinary tumor conferences (MTCs), (2) which patient characteristics affect whether they are invited to MTCs and whether they decide to participate, (3) the extent to which invitation and participation depend on the specific hospital.

Study design: Survey data from 4146 newly-diagnosed breast cancer patients treated in 83 hospitals in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, were analyzed using multilevel modeling.

Results: 12% of the patients were offered participation in the MTC. More than half of these patients actually participated. Invitations to participate differed by patients' sociodemographic, disease, and treatment characteristics, whereas decisions to participate were largely independent of these characteristics. Invitation and participation are strongly dependent on the specific hospital.

Conclusion: The practice of inviting cancer patients to MTCs requires further research, particularly on benefits and disadvantages for patients and ways of organizing MTCs.

Keywords: Breast cancer; Multidisciplinary; Patient involvement; Patient participation; Tumor board; Tumor conference.