Title

Improving discussion of surgical treatment options for patients with breast cancer: local medical opinion leaders versus audit and performance feedback.

UMMS Affiliation

Meyers Primary Care Institute; Department of Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine

Publication Date

2000-05-01

Document Type

Article

Subjects

Adult; Aged; Cancer Care Facilities; Communication; Feedback; Female; General Surgery; Hospital Bed Capacity; Hospitals, University; Hospitals, Urban; Humans; Informed Consent; Mastectomy; Mastectomy, Segmental; Medical Audit; Middle Aged; Minnesota; Patient Education as Topic; Peer Group; Physician-Patient Relations; Task Performance and Analysis; Truth Disclosure

Disciplines

Health Services Research | Medicine and Health Sciences

Abstract

We studied whether a hospital intervention utilizing medical opinion leaders and performance feedback reduced the proportion of women who reported that surgeons did not discuss options prior to surgery for early stage breast cancer. Opinion leaders provided clinical education to their peers using a variety of strategies and were selected for their ability to influence their peers. Performance feedback involved distributing performance reports that contained data on the outcomes of interest as well as on other treatment patterns. Twenty-eight hospitals in Minnesota were randomized to the intervention or to a control group that received performance feedback only. The proportion of patients at intervention hospitals who said that their surgeon did not discuss options decreased significantly (p < 0.001) from 33% to 17%, but a similar decrease was observed among control hospitals. Using medical opinion leaders to intervene in hospitals appeared as effective as performance feedback.

Source

Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2000 May;61(2):171-5.

Journal/Book/Conference Title

Breast cancer research and treatment

Related Resources

Link to article in PubMed

PubMed ID

10942103

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