Flexibility in tumor board formats

In the commercial sector, institutions have business continuity plans. These provisions, to be enacted in any number of disasters, aim to ensure professionals and their customers can maintain their relationships and proceed with the activity that links them to one another. 

Most oncologists do not have continuity plans. So when traditional delivery of care encountered the risk of a new infectious disease spreading across the world, oncologists had concerns that multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings would take a hiatus. 

“Our original disaster plan called for a cancellation of all tumor boards, and that never happened,” says University of Missouri (MU) Health Care pathologist Richard Hammer, MD. 

Not only did MDTs at MU immediately enact virtual tumor boards; they used the same digital workflow tool they use at in-person meetings. The data integration capabilities of NAVIFY Tumor Board and its inclusion of clinical decision support (CDS) apps for real-time reference of clinical practice guidelines, available relevant clinical trials and the latest published research relayed up-to-date information, including that related to the pandemic. 

Fortunately, preparation for the virtual tumor board meetings took no more time than patient case collation for in-person meetings. It did require, however, use of a digital conferencing platform, confirmation that members had audio and video functions on their computers and a bit of a learning curve. 

It turns out clinicians and patients embrace virtual delivery of healthcare — specialists through remote, online collaboration and patients through telehealth. In fact, expectations have changed. Patients do not want to wait for care, and MDTs recognize the necessity of inclusion of legacy and novel or emerging data sources. 

As specialists and their support staff return to clinical settings, some MDT conferences will take place in person but with new logistics such as generous physical distance among participants in the room, inclusion of remote team members in real-time or through asynchronous contributions. NAVIFY Tumor Board with Guidelines*, Clinical Trial Match** and Publication Search** clinical decision support apps can accommodate any hybrid approach institutions create to ensure continuity of care.

“We anticipate a future where we would see increased patient involvement in treatment decisions,” concludes Thomas Jefferson University radiation oncologist Adam Paul Dicker, MD PhD.