Frequency and characteristics of interventions from interdisciplinary outpatient cancer rehabilitation monthly team meetings

Abstract

Ambulatory cancer rehabilitation programs vary widely in the types of services offered, and there is a lack of consistency with respect to the coordination of rehabilitation with oncologic treatment plans. There are no guidelines for outpatient interdisciplinary rehabilitation team meetings, and the types and characteristics of interventions that a physiatrist can provide during these meetings have not been reported. The aims are as follows: –identify the frequency and characteristics of interventions derived through monthly interdisciplinary outpatient cancer rehabilitation team meetings involving physiatrists, physical therapists, and occupational therapists; –compare the clinical characteristics of patients who did and did not receive interventions. This is a retrospective study of consecutive monthly outpatient interdisciplinary rehabilitation team meetings with physiatrists’ participation. Over a 7-month period, there were 57 potential patients to be discussed and 42 patients were discussed. Among the 42 patients, 12 of them did not receive any interventions and 30 did, which yields 71% of patient receiving at least one intervention. Some patients required repeated discussions in different months; thus, a total of 71 discussions occurred and resulted in 51 interventions. Of the 71 discussions, 41 (58%) resulted in interventions and the most common intervention was coordination of care (37%). Thirty discussions (42%) did not result in any interventions, with the most common reason being stable or having improved functional status. Regularly scheduled outpatient interdisciplinary cancer rehabilitation team meetings increase communication among rehabilitation specialists to identify outpatients experiencing barriers to therapy progress, provide interventions to address those barriers, and reassess rehabilitation goals previously established.