Article

Regular multidisciplinary team meetings are the main way that teams
operate, yet our earlier research found they can sometimes be suboptimal. We
developed a model to structure multidisciplinary team meetings and assessed the
feasibility, acceptability and impact of its implementation on meeting quality
and patient outcomes. DESIGN: Longitudinal cohort design with non-participant
observation of multidisciplinary team meetings before and after implementation of
the intervention. SETTING: Inpatient stroke rehabilitation units. SUBJECTS:
Members of the multidisciplinary inpatient stroke rehabilitation teams.
INTERVENTION: A model to structure multidisciplinary team meetings. MAIN
MEASURES: Quality of multidisciplinary team meetings (using a predefined
checklist); change in independence (Barthel Index) during admission; length of
stay; meeting duration and the number of patients discussed. RESULTS: At
baseline, meeting quality was generally low. Following implementation, all
aspects of meeting quality improved by 5%-58%. This was achieved without loss of
staff productivity or additional resources: The mean number of patients treated
during the observation periods was 36 (SD 17.6), which was unchanged after
implementation. Nor were there any significant changes in the length of meetings
(mean = 76 minutes), time spent discussing each patient (5.4 vs. 7 minutes) or
length of stay (26.7 vs. 30.3 days), but there was a greater increase in Barthel
Index score after implementation (3.8 vs. 4.7) indicating greater functional
recovery. CONCLUSIONS:
A feasible and acceptable model to structure
multidisciplinary stroke team meetings has been developed and implemented. This
increased meeting quality without increase in resources and may increase patient recovery.
CI - (c) The Author(s) 2014.

Langue : ANGLAIS