Results of a survey study on health professionals’ perceptions of tumor boards in Brazil

Abstract

Background: Tumor boards (TB) are synonymous with quality of care but have been occasionally misunderstood and underutilized. This survey aimed to evaluate health professionals’ perceptions of TBs in Brazil. Materials & methods: The survey was sent electronically. Results: Of 206 respondents, 67.8% attended TBs at least once and 82.4% dedicated at least 1 h weekly to them; 64.2% preferred a more &educational’ model over case discussions only; 63.1% had institutional leadership capable of promoting multidisciplinarity; 21.1 and 32.7% of the physicians and nonphysicians, respectively, felt intimidated to express their opinions; 91.6% believed that TBs improve cancer outcomes. Postpandemic, 52.7% preferred a hybrid (virtual/face-to-face) model. Conclusion: This study provides a glimpse of the reality of TBs in Brazil, with potential implications for clinical practice.

Tweetable abstract

This survey study of 206 oncology healthcare professionals addressed their perceptions of tumor boards in Brazil. It produced results that have potential implications for the practice of multidisciplinary oncology.

Keywords::

• cancer treatment
• heath professionals
• multidisciplinarity
• multidisciplinary team meetings
• tumor boards

Author contributions

Conceiving, developing, writing and reviewing the article: TU Menezes, MS Mano; statistical analysis: MMP Serra. Developing, writing and reviewing the article: all authors.

Acknowledgments

We thank all the participants of the survey for their valuable contribution.

Financial competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. In addition, for investigations involving human subjects, informed consent has been obtained from the participants involved.