Multi-disciplinary team（MDT） is a best model to provide the optimal diagnosis and treatment strategy for difficult and complex diseases. It is of great significance to promote the MDT diagnosis and treatment mode for improving the quality of outpatient medical service. This paper briefly introduces the origin, concept and application of MDT at home and abroad, and puts forward the directions that should be paid attention to and solved according to the problems existing in China, including promoting MDT vigorously and creating a good MDT culture. At the same time, we should continue to improve the outpatient MDT management system, develop suitable management plan, management system, workflow, quality control system, performance evaluation system for the hospital, build multi-disciplinary network information platform and establish monitoring mechanisms.
Objective To assess the operational and quality management status of outpatient multi-disciplinarytreatment (MDT) services in tertiary hospitals nationwide, identify core quality indicators and key influencing factors for their development. Methods A multicenter cross-sectional survey was conducted from November to December 2024 among tertiary medical institutions nationwide that had implemented outpatient MDT services. The entropy weight method was employed to calculate the weights of outpatient MDT quality indicators, objectively determining their importance ranking. Meanwhile, a 10-point Likert scale was used to systematically evaluate internal and external factors influencing the development of outpatient MDT services. Results A total of 521 hospitals were surveyed. Among them, there were 458 tertiary hospitals (87.9%) and 63 tertiary hospitals (12.1%). Gaps remain in key aspects of outpatient MDT quality management: 295 institutions (56.6%) lacked clear inclusion criteria for MDT case discussions; 159 (30.5%) had not implemented an electronic medical record system for outpatient MDT; and 130 (25.0%) had not established an assessment mechanism for outpatient MDT. Objective weighting via the entropy weight method revealed the top three indicators by weight: “whether outpatient MDT regulations have been formulated” (27.287%), “whether a standard approval process exists for establishing an MDT” (19.079%), and “whether a team secretary is assigned” (15.433%). Analysis of influencing factors showed that among external factors, “medical insurance policies” had the most significant impact, while among internal factors, “departmental emphasis/physician awareness” was most prominent. Conclusions The core indicators of outpatient MDT quality management were screened by entropy weighting method and the key influencing factors were explored using Liszt scoring method. This provides an objective basis for healthcare administration to standardize outpatient MDT services and enhance operational quality and efficiency.