Keys to a successful cleft lip and palate team.
The severity and complexity of the defects in patients with cleft lip and/or palate (CLP) require a complex and long-term programme of care, aiming primarily at the best aesthetic and functional outcome, with a minimum of procedures and optimal cost-effectiveness. This delivery of comprehensive and coordinated health care to patients with CLP is optimally provided through collaboration in a specialised CLP team. There is international consensus about the fundamental elements of CLP treatment: multidisciplinary teamwork, centralisation, high-volume care, team continuity, long-term treatment planning from birth to adulthood, standardised protocols, documentation, evaluation, follow-up studies, research, training and quality assurance.
Wellens
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Cleft Lip and Palate Team, University Hospitals Leuven, Leuven, Belgium. Willy.wellens@uz.kuleuven.ac.be
Vander Poorten
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V
D002971:Cleft Lip / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*; D002972:Cleft Palate / Q000534:rehabilitation / Q000601:surgery / Q000628:therapy*; D002985:Clinical Protocols; D003191:Comprehensive Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D003376:Counseling; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated; D004282:Documentation; D004954:Esthetics; D006801:Humans; D010347:Patient Care Planning; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D016896:Treatment Outcome