Team conferences in paediatric rehabilitation: organization, satisfaction and aspects eligible for improvement

To assess current satisfaction with paediatric team conferences in the Neth erlands and identify aspects eligible for future improvement, an open-respo nse questionnaire was sent to a representative of each paediatric rehabilit ation setting in the Netherlands. Questions were asked regarding the organi zation and effectiveness of current team conferences and aspects eligible f or improvement. Furthermore, rehabilitation professionals of these settings were asked to fill in a structured questionnaire on their satisfaction wit h the team conferences (the satisfaction measure, SM). Two types of team conferences are distinguished, namely (1) evaluative conf erences and (2) urgent problem conferences. In the open-response questionna ire, all representatives (n = 20) indicated that they find the team confere nces effective. Rehabilitation professionals (n = 165) are only moderately satisfied, as indicated by the scores on the SM (scores range from 2.99 to 3.78 on a scale from 1 (= very dissatisfied) to 5 (= very satisfied). All b ut one representative identified aspects of the conference that they would like to improve. Representatives recommended improvement of (1) the prepara tion of the conference by using a clear and uniform structured report form (n = 8), (2) the conference itself by concentrating on major discussion poi nts and treatment goals (n = 10), and (3) the outcome of the conference by formulating interdisciplinary treatment goals (n = 7). Results indicate that there is a need and also possibilities for improvemen t of team conferences in paediatric rehabilitation.