What is multidisciplinary medicine? It is the collaboration of various specialists to use collective knowledge and expertise to determine the best plan of treatment for each patient, usually cancer patients. Some of you may be aware of or participate in tumor boards or other multidisciplinary conferences. Some tumor boards are broad and cover patients with various types of cancer; while others are more specific, addressing patients with specific forms of cancer. Common attendees are Radiologists, Radiation Oncologists, Medical Oncologists, Surgeons, Organ Specialists, Physician Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, Pathologists, and Coordinators. One critical component to these important conferences is the ability to show medical images efficiently.
The multidisciplinary approach to cancer care is crucial for the following reasons:
- Rapid advances in specialization
- Increasing complexity of cancer care
- It addresses diagnosis, initial staging, treatment, and palliation
- Having all the “players” at the table helps to best treat the patient, as each patient is different, as is each tumor; it also allows for knowledge of newest procedures and clinical trials
- Allows tracking for trials and statistics
Some of the challenges facing multidisciplinary medicine are:
- Outside Images- it is painful and sometimes impossible to get the data
- Need for patient history to be available along with the images
- IT infrastructure
- Need for an effective data and image exchange
- Need data management tools to support an RT workflow
If you find yourself facing any of these issues, Mirada has solutions. Check us out at Mirada-medical.com, and keep an eye out for our blog on our Casemeeting product. Better yet, drop by our booth (8722) at the RSNA to check out how we can improve your workflow and address challenges you currently face with multidisciplinary medicine.
About the Author
Jennifer Miller is the US Support Manager at Mirada Medical Ltd. Jenn is a registered nuclear medicine technologist with 8 years of clinical experience in various settings, and 7 years of industry experience.
About Mirada Medical
Mirada Medical is an internationally recognised brand in advanced medical imaging. The company develops high value clinical software applications, which are used across diagnostic radiology, nuclear medicine, radiation oncology, tumour board and elsewhere.
The opinions expressed in this blog represent the views of the author and not necessarily those of Mirada Medical Limited.
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