Systematic review of quality improvement interventions directed at cancer specialists

Abstract

Purpose Summary evidence on the effectiveness of quality improvement interventions (QIIs) directed at cancer specialists is needed for two reasons. First, there are some innovations over which only cancer specialists have control (eg, surgical technique or chemotherapy regimen). Second, implementation of QIIs has opportunity costs; the time and money spent on an ineffective QII might be better spent on direct patient care. Methods Medical Subject Headings and text words for "quality improvement" were combined with those for "neoplasm" to search MEDLINE, PsycINFO, CINAHL, and EMBASE from January 1990 to August 2012 for studies of QIIs directed at cancer specialists (eg, medical/radiation onco..