Abstract
Our Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery has held a joint conference with the Department of Radiology and Department of Plastic Surgery since 2001 for the diagnosis and treatment of patients. This study examined whether this therapeutic system (team practice) contributed to improvement of the survival rate, quality of life (QOL), and medical costs. We examined a total of 38 patients who underwent reconstructive surgery at our department for head and neck cancer before and after the introduction of team practice. The therapeutic factors assessed were intraoperative blood loss, duration of surgery, perioperative complication(s), and survival rate. The QOL factors included the time to the start of oral ingestion, final food form, time to the start of walking, and mean number of days of hospitalization, as well as medical costs.
The results showed that team practice significantly improved the duration of surgery, cervical infection rate, time to the start of walking, mean number of days of hospitalization, and medical costs. It also improved the other items examined, but not significantly. These results showed that team practice was an excellent therapeutic system.
