A digital solution to support the Multidisciplinary Tumor Board activities: implementation process and impact analysis
 
More details
Hide details
1
Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A. Gemelli IRCCS, Rome, Italy
 
2
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Rome, Italy
 
 
Publication date: 2023-04-27
 
 
Popul. Med. 2023;5(Supplement):A566
 
ABSTRACT
Background and Objective: Colorectal cancer (RC) is the third most common cancer, with an increasing incidence in recent years but also significant improvements in clinical outcomes. Modern treatment strategies are based on the close working of related disciplines within Multidisciplinary Tumour Boards (MTBs). This study has been aimed to implement a digital solution within the RC-MTB and analyse its impact in the context of the Fondazione Policlinico 'A. Gemelli' in Italy. Methods: A multidisciplinary working group was created for the platform customization according to the RC-MTB specific needs (definition of the data to be recorded and stored in the platform for each clinical case discussed) and its integration into the hospital IT system to allow the automatic import of patients’ data. Subsequently, the platform was validated through a pilot test and operatively launched. The platform impact analysis was carried out through a pre-post comparison of the RC-MTB. Descriptive and inferential analyses were performed, with a p-value < 0.05 being considered statistically significant. Results: The implementation of the platform allowed more healthcare professionals to attend meetings (p<0.001) and resulted in a decrease of patients sent to the RC-MTB for re-staging after radiotherapy-chemotherapy (RT-CT) (p=0.001) and an increase of patients sent to the RC-MTB for the definition of treatment strategies (p<0.001). The shared clinical decision “Needed further diagnostic investigation results” showed a significant reduction (p=0.023) and the “Referring patients for RT-CT” one a statistically significant increase (p<0.001). Conclusions: The study showed a positive impact of the platform for organizational and patient-related aspects. For future perspectives, a) the assessment of virtual MTBs impact could be expanded to other cancer diseases and analysed also in terms of processes (e.g. clinical paths timing/adherence to guidelines), and clinical outcomes (e.g. survival/quality of life); b) the IT platform could be used also for research and teaching activities.
ISSN:2654-1459
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top