An educational intervention to improve hospital tumor conferences

Hospital tumor conferences exist to improve patient care through the application of a multidisciplinary approach to cancer management decisions and to provide continuing medical education for physicians and other health professionals who participate in cancer care. Based on educational needs identified by means of direct observation of conference sessions, this study implemented an experimental intervention designed to increase the educational benefits associated with participation in these conferences. Participating hospitals were randomly assigned either to a study group that received an "educational case" intervention (emphasizing progressive disclosure of cases, an active leadership style, and use of educational principles such as stating objectives at the beginning of sessions) or to a control group receiving no intervention. Each of the nine experimental and nine control group hospitals had multiple tumor sessions and case presentations with sessions observed and coded before and after intervention. Results showed significant differences in the specific educational procedures emphasized in the educational case intervention, such as use of the progressive disclosure method of presentation, and quality of session leadership. No difference, however, was found in other factors such as participation rates by major categories of specialists. The study has thus shown that educational interventions of this type can have a significant impact on the clinical and educational effectiveness of ongoing hospital conferences.