Work

Virtual tumor boards: community–university collaboration to improve quality of care

Year: 2013

Type: article

Abstract: Objective To develop and implement virtual interactive multidisciplinary cancer tumor boards (VTBs), created through telemedicine links between the University of California, Davis Cancer Center and community-based cancer care providers.The goal of this project was to facilitate communication among community and academic cancer specialists. Materials and methodsFour geographically remote sites were selected to participate with established disease-specific tumor boards of the UC Davis Cancer Center.Telemedicine links were created using dedicated T1 lines, and PolyCom HDX 9000 was used by the center for teleconference hosting.Participants were then surveyed on their perception of the benefit of VTBs. ResultsThe results across disease-specific virtual tumor boards show that most of the participants reported that the right amount of clinical information on the cases was presented and that new information was discussed that helped providers manage the care of the patients. ConclusionsTeleconferencing of disease-specific tumor boards allowed providers in a geographically remote group of providers to make prospective, case-based treatment decisions that increased their knowledge of treatment options and facilitated their decision making.This transfer of knowledge and experience speeds up the dissemination of rapidly evolving cancer care, which could lead to higher quality patient outcomes.

Source: Community Oncology

DOI: 10.12788/j.cmonc.0064