VASGBI Project Grant
The successful applicant for the VASGBI Project Grant was:
Dr Simon Howell
University of Leeds
Title
The Role of Preoperative Assessment in Effective Vascular Multidisciplinary Team Decision Making
Amount
£35,592
Scientific Abstract
Multi-disciplinary team (MDT) meetings of surgeons, anaesthetists and radiologists are key to decision making in major vascular surgery and have yielded a substantial improvement in outcomes. There remain challenges in the decision making process. Studies in cancer suggest that up to 15% of MDT decisions cannot be implemented, frequently for clinical reasons. It seems likely that a similar issue exists for vascular surgery MDTs. The block to the planned treatment is often co-morbidities identified at preoperative and anaesthetic assessment but not known to clinicians at the time of the MDT discussion. We will conduct a retrospective of study of a multicentre vascular MDT and identify the extent and causes of discordance between planned and actual treatment. We will identify cases where important medical information has not reached the MDT. We will undertake a formal process and decision mapping exercise to identify ways to improve preoperative investigation and information flow that can be generalised to all vascular centres. We will conduct a prospective study to examine the effect of these changes on MDT process measures and concordance between planned and actual treatment. We will undertake this work and disseminate the results with the support of the regional Academic Health Science Network.
