Authors: A Gagliardi F C Wright M L Quan D McCready
Publish Date: 2006/11/01
Volume: 103, Issue: 2, Pages: 131-148
Abstract
A modified Delphi approach was employed involving a 15member multidisciplinary panel of health professionals and two rounds of rating followed by deliberation to develop evidence and consensusbased performance measures A literature search for Canadian health services research in breast cancer was conducted based on the indicator topics Eligible articles were identified in indexed databases of medical literature and funded research from 1995 to 2006The multidisciplinary panel selected 34 indicators spanning access to services patient outcomes diagnosis and staging surgery adjuvant therapy pathology and followup care A total of 78 articles 66 quantitative 12 exploratory on these topics were reviewed Apart from two aspects of care communication of treatment options supportive care the yield of Canadian breast cancer health services research did not increase subsequent to a review conducted 10 years ago which recommended greater efforts in this areaResearch involving quantitative and qualitative methods is needed to increase our understanding about the organization and delivery of services for breast cancer diagnosis treatment and followup care Since it is unclear how to balance competing research demands innovative strategies are required to assemble resources for health services research on breast cancer This could include the promotion of partnerships between researchers and policymakers across jurisdictions and the pooling of resources between organizations regions or networks
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