title: The organization of multidisciplinary care teams: modeling internal and external influences on cancer care quality.
abstract: Quality cancer treatment depends upon careful coordination between multiple treatments and treatment providers, the exchange of technical information, and regular communication between all providers and physician disciplines involved in treatment. This article will examine a particular type of organizational structure purported to regularize and streamline the communication between multiple specialists and support services involved in cancer treatment: the multidisciplinary treatment care (MDC) team. We present a targeted review of what is known about various types of MDC team structures and their impact on the quality of treatment care, and we outline a conceptual model of the connections between team context, structure, process, and performance and their subsequent effects on cancer treatment care processes and patient outcomes. Finally, we will discuss future research directions to understand how MDC teams improve patient outcomes and how characteristics of team structure, culture, leadership, and context (organizational setting and local environment) contribute to optimal multidisciplinary cancer care.
authors.affiliation: Department of Sociology, Brown University, Box 1916, Providence, RI 02912, USA. mary_fennell@brown.edu
authors.forename: Mary L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Fennell
authors.forename: Irene Prabhu
authors.initials: IP
authors.lastname: Das
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Clauser
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Petrelli
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Salner
mesh_terms: D002173:Cancer Care Facilities / Q000458:organization & administration; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D005544:Forecasting; D006126:Group Processes; D006302:Health Services Research; D006801:Humans; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration*; D018802:Patient-Centered Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D011787:Quality of Health Care
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