Contribution of collegial support meetings (CSM) in the management of complex situations of patients with advanced cancer

Purpose Collegial support meetings (CSM) have been set up in the Gustave Roussy Cancer Center for inpatients whose complex care requires a multi-professional approach involving many participants: oncologists but also health-caregivers, a member of the palliative care team, an intensivist, and a psychologist. This study is aimed at describing the role of this newly multidisciplinary meeting implemented in a French Comprehensive Cancer Center. Methods Each week, the health-caregivers decide which situations should be examined, depending on the difficulty of a case. The discussion goes on to include the goal of treatment, the intensity of care, ethical and psychosocial issues, and the patient’s life plan. Finally, to obtain feedback from the teams, a survey has been distributed to assess the interest in the CSM. Results In 2020, 114 inpatients were involved, and 91% were in an advanced palliative situation. During the CSMs, 55% of the discussions focused on whether to continue specific cancer treatment—29% about whether to continue invasive medical care—50% about optimizing supportive care. We estimate that between 65 and 75% of CSMs influenced further decisions. Death occurred during the hospitalization for 35% of the patients that were discussed. The lapse of time between last chemotherapy and death was 24 days (IQR, 28.5). CSMs were well received, since 80% of the teams find these meetings useful. Conclusions CSMs reach conclusions for medical and nursing staff involved, in order to improve the management of inpatients with cancer in advanced palliative situation and to define the better goals of care.