Team conferences in paediatric rehabilitation: organization, satisfaction and aspects eligible for improvement

To assess current satisfaction with paediatric team conferences in the Netherlands and identify aspects eligible for future improvement, an open-response questionnaire was sent to a representative of each paediatric rehabilitation setting in the Netherlands. Questions were asked regarding the organization and effectiveness of current team conferences and aspects eligible for improvement. Furthermore, rehabilitation professionals of these settings were asked to fill in a structured questionnaire on their satisfaction with the team conferences (the satisfaction measure, SM). Two types of team conferences are distinguished, namely (1) evaluative conferences and (2) urgent problem conferences. In the open-response questionnaire, all representatives (n = 20) indicated that they find the team conferences effective. Rehabilitation professionals (n = 165) are only moderately satisfied, as indicated by the scores on the SM (scores range from 2.99 to 3.78 on a scale from 1 (= very dissatisfied) to 5 (= very satisfied). All but one representative identified aspects of the conference that they would like to improve. Representatives recommended improvement of (1) the preparation of the conference by using a clear and uniform structured report form (n = 8), (2) the conference itself by concentrating on major discussion points and treatment goals (n = 10), and (3) the outcome of the conference by formulating interdisciplinary treatment goals (n = 7). Results indicate that there is a need and also possibilities for improvement of team conferences in paediatric rehabilitation.