The importance of weekly Radiology-General Surgery Multi-Disciplinary Meetings (MDMs) in the management of Emergency General Surgery (EGS) patients

Abstract

Abstract Aims Most patients in Emergency-General-Surgery (EGS) require radiological investigations as part of their management plan. However, unlike cancer services where structured multi-disciplinary-meetings (MDMs) form an integral part of patient management, MDMs are not commonly practised in EGS. Having a weekly Radiology-General Surgery-MDM leads to better outcome in management of EGS-patients, & also improves learning of surgeons & junior-doctors. Methods A prospective study of weekly 1-hour Radiology-GeneralSurgery-MDMs over 10-weeks during May2023-September2023 was performed. These MDMs were led by a consultant radiologist who discussed the scans with consultant surgeons & other junior-doctors. Factors taken into consideration were clinical presentation, original scan report, any missed findings not mentioned in original scan report, any changes recommended in management plan that would lead to better patient outcome. The scans were also discussed with junior-doctors to improve their knowledge of interpretation of scans. Results A total of 70 cases were discussed during the study period, 25 (35.71%) initially reported by the out-of-hours reporting system. Few had missed findings that were noted as result of Radiology-GeneralSurgery-MDM, & 27(38.57%) had change in management plan. The informal feedback collected after these MDMs noted over 85% junior-doctors agreed that these MDMs had significant impact on their understanding of interpretation of radiological-scans in EGS. Conclusion Weekly Radiology-GeneralSurgery-MDMs for EGS-admissions has been seen to improve patient outcome as a result of having an expert 2nd-opinion, & also recommending change in management plan in significant proportion of patients. It also had an impact on learning the clinical correlation of radiological-scans by junior-doctors who regularly attended these meetings.