A multidisciplinary healthcare delivery model for women with breast cancer: patient satisfaction and physical and psychosocial adjustment.

Purpose/objectives: To compare satisfaction with health and healthcare and physical and psychosocial adjustment of women who received their medical-oncology consultation in the hospital with that of women who received their consultation as part of a multidisciplinary outpatient clinic.

Design: Descriptive, correlational.

Setting: A large tertiary medical center in the Midwestern United States.

Sample: 55 of 66 women with newly diagnosed breast cancer who received their medical-oncology consult in the hospital and 66 of 102 women with newly diagnosed breast cancer who received their consult in the multidisciplinary outpatient clinic. Median participant age was 62 years in the hospital consultation group and 61 years in the outpatient group.

Methods: Participants completed the Cancer Rehabilitation Evaluation System-Short Form and a researcher-designed satisfaction questionnaire.

Main Research Variables: Satisfaction with care and physical and psychosocial adjustment.

Findings: Women in the multidisciplinary outpatient clinic group reported significantly higher levels of physical function (p = 0.003) and satisfaction with their health (p < 0.01), physician (p < 0.001), and nursing care (p = 0.004) than women in the hospital group.

Conclusions: This study demonstrated the positive benefits of a multidisciplinary team approach in which a concerted effort is placed on providing information and psychosocial support in the outpatient clinic setting.

Implications For Nursing Practice: These findings point to the benefits of establishing a multidisciplinary clinic in the outpatient setting.