Improving the effectiveness of multidisciplinary team meetings for patients with chronic diseases: a prospective observational study (October 2014)

Summary

Multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings have been endorsed by the Department of Health as the core model for managing chronic diseases. The proliferation of MDT meetings in health care has occurred against a background of increasingly specialised medical practice, more complex medical knowledge, continuing clinical uncertainty and the promotion of the patient’s role in their own care. In this environment, it is believed that MDT meetings ensure higher-quality decision-making and improved outcomes. However, the evidence underpinning the development of MDT meetings is not strong and the degree to which they have been absorbed into clinical practice varies widely across conditions and settings. In the light of this uncertainty, there have been calls for empirical research on MDT meeting decision-making in routine practice to understand how and under what conditions MDT meetings produce effective decisions.

This large mixed-methods study of MDTs for a range of chronic diseases examines and explores determinants of effective decision-making (defined as decision implementation) and areas of diversity across MDT meetings. The authors of the study applied a transparent and explicit consensus development method to develop a list of indications of good practice, based on their results, to improve MDT meeting effectiveness.