Improving Craniofacial Team Collaboration: A Multicenter Interview Study of Effective Team Meetings

Area of Science:

• Multidisciplinary healthcare team functioning
• Craniofacial anomaly management

Background:

• American Cleft Palate Association-Craniofacial Association (ACPA-CPF) guidelines emphasize multidisciplinary care for craniofacial patients.
• Regular team meetings are crucial for coordinated patient care planning.

Purpose of the Study:

• Identify factors contributing to optimal functioning in craniofacial team meetings.
• Evaluate the impact of virtual meeting formats on team effectiveness.

Main Methods:

• Conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 craniofacial team members from three major US centers.
• Interviews focused on current and ideal team meeting experiences.
• Utilized thematic analysis of transcribed interviews to identify key themes.

Main Results:

• Identified three core categories for successful meetings: content, processes, and team dynamics.
• Key optimizing factors include relevant content, patient perspective integration, collaborative treatment sequencing, effective leadership, absence management, and team diversity.
• Virtual meetings presented challenges such as reduced engagement and communication difficulties.

Conclusions:

• Craniofacial team members identified critical factors for optimizing multidisciplinary meetings.
• These factors can inform the development of a self-evaluation tool for meeting quality improvement.
• Further research is needed to assess the impact of implementing these factors on patient care outcomes.