At the IOV, multidisciplinary clinics and multidisciplinary oncology groups (MOG) share the therapeutic decision making process and provide the patient with global and coordinated care throughout the entire care pathway. The MOG are comprised of different medical specialists and other health professionals and are specific for tumor type.
The objective of this approach is to guarantee:
- Patients state of the art and scientifically validated diagnostic and therapeutic skills and technologies, and their integration, so as to make the patient feel welcome, to relieve him or her of the burden of coordination of care during the different phases of the treatment plan and to encourage patients to take an active role in their care.
- General practitioners evidence of the highest levels of diagnostic and therapeutic excellence that the IOV offers and involve them in the management of their patient. The IOV makes all the relative medical information of the patient available to the GP at the time of discharge.
At regular meetings, the MOGs discuss the therapies to be adopted for each individual patient at each decisional step of the cancer care pathway, from the moment of the suspected diagnosis, throughout the course of cancer treatment, to follow up. This approach guarantees and defines the most appropriate therapeutic program. In the multidisciplinary clinics, the different medical and paramedical specialists meet with the patient to evaluate the clinical course in an ambulatory setting.
The integration of the different therapies that contribute to ensuring the best results is facilitated by the electronic oncology medical record, which allows the attending specialists to share information, to know in real time the care program progress for each individual patient, and to contribute information.
Each MOG member participates in Continuing Medical Education activities to update skills and competencies, as well as the main international congresses to keep abreast of emerging knowledge. The MOGs also share innovative treatment protocols to offer new treatment options and play an educational role for residents and physicians in training.