Measures and Methods to Advance the Science of Teaming and Coordination in Cancer Care (Overview)

Overview

For more information about the event, including the agenda, recordings, and meeting materials, please visit the Measures and Methods to Advance the Science of Teaming and Coordination in Cancer Care archive page at https://healthcaredelivery.cancer.gov/media/measures-and-methods.html.

The National Cancer Institute’s Healthcare Delivery Research Program is hosting the virtual workshop, Measures and Methods to Advance the Science of Teaming and Coordination in Cancer Care on November 16, 2023. This event brings together cancer control, healthcare delivery, organizational behavior, and teamwork scientists to discuss measurement and methodological approaches that can strengthen the rigor and reproducibility of care delivery research on teamwork and care coordination across the cancer care continuum.

Workshop Background

High-functioning care teams are associated with better care delivery and patient outcomes. However, the field lacks consensus on how to best measure cancer care team functioning, particularly when teamwork and coordination occurs across care settings, facilities, and health system boundaries. Most existing measures of care team functioning were developed and validated for smaller, co-located, procedure driven teams with shorter durations, such as surgical, rapid response, or intensive care unit (ICU) teams. As a result, there is a pressing need for measures specifically designed or adapted to assess clinical teamwork and coordination in the context of larger, more complex cancer care teams. Additionally, it is crucial to develop measures that account for the unique challenges and opportunities posed by increasing adoption of telehealth and other digital health tools. Addressing these measurement gaps will strengthen the rigor and reproducibility of care delivery research across the cancer care continuum, enable cancer care teams to better understand and enhance team functioning, and ultimate improve patient outcomes.

Workshop Goals

Workshop goals are to:

  1. Summarize existing healthcare teamwork and coordination measurement tools and evaluate their strengths and limitations in the context of cancer care delivery research.
  2. Discuss unique challenges and opportunities of measuring care team functioning across care settings, facilities, and health system boundaries.
  3. Discuss gaps, adaptation of existing measures, and opportunities for novel measures and methods better suited to understand the functioning of large, complex, and often distributed cancer care teams that could enhance research on teaming and coordination in cancer care
  4. Identify potentially promising common data elements, instruments, or approaches for assessing cancer care team functioning and the best methods for implementing these measures in practice.
  5. Identify other opportunities to strengthen the rigor and reproducibility of care delivery research on teamwork and cancer care coordination to ultimately strengthen clinical practice, reduce burnout, and improve outcomes across the cancer continuum.

Meeting Contacts

Sallie Weaver, PhD, MHS, sallie.weaver@nih.gov

Veronica Chollette, RN, MS, cholletv@mail.nih.gov

Accessibility

If you require special arrangements or accommodations to fully participate in this virtual meeting, please contact ICF at denise.gnipp@icfnext.com at least 7 business days before the meeting to discuss your needs.