Organizing and implementing a multidisciplinary fast track oncology clinic.

Quality Problem: Patients with gastrointestinal malignancies often need multiple appointments with different medical specialists, causing waiting times to accrue.

Initial Assessment: In our hospital, care is organized in a sequential manner, causing long waiting times. To reduce this, a fast track outpatient clinic (FTC) was implemented.

The Value of Multidisciplinary Team Meetings for Patients with Gastrointestinal Malignancies: A Systematic Review.

Introduction: The incidence of gastrointestinal (GI) cancer is rising and most patients with GI malignancies are discussed by a multidisciplinary team (MDT). We performed a systematic review to assess whether MDTs for patients with GI malignancies can correctly change diagnosis, tumor stage and subsequent treatment plan, and whether the treatment plan was implemented.

Methods: We performed a systematic review according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines.

Waiting time at a fast-track diagnostic clinic.

Purpose - Guidelines stating maximum waiting times fail to take cancer patients' expectations into account. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to assess patients' expectations and experiences with their waiting time at a fast-track clinic. Design/methodology/approach - Patients were selected using a purposeful sampling strategy and were interviewed four times: before the visit; one day after; two weeks after the visit; and one week after starting treatment.

Is there a Benefit of Multidisciplinary Cancer Team Meetings for Patients with Gastrointestinal Malignancies?

Background: Multidisciplinary cancer team meetings are intended to optimize the diagnosis of a patient with a malignancy. The aim of this study was to assess the number of correct diagnoses formulated by the multidisciplinary team (MDT) and whether MDT decisions were implemented.

Methods: In a prospective study, data of consecutive patients discussed at gastrointestinal oncology MDT meetings were studied, and MDT diagnoses were validated with pathology or follow-up.

Decreasing the dispatch time of medical reports sent from hospital to primary care with Lean Six Sigma.

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: Timely communication is important to ensure high-quality health care. To facilitate this, the Gastro Intestinal Oncology Center Amsterdam (GIOCA) stipulated to dispatch medical reports on the day of the patient's visit. However, with the increasing number of patients, administrative processes at GIOCA were under pressure, and this standard was not met for the majority of patients.