Institution-Wide Retreats Foster Organizational Learning and Action at a Comprehensive Cancer Center

TL;DR

Annual retreats at a cancer center helped improve care for sexual and gender minority patients by fostering collaboration and identifying key initiatives.

Contribution

The paper introduces institution-wide retreats as a novel strategy to promote organizational learning and action for SGM cancer care.

Findings

Retreats engaged 104 attendees from diverse departments and roles, with high satisfaction reported.

The first retreat led to funding for a Quality Improvement pilot on SOGI data collection and staff training.

The second retreat facilitated updates on institutional efforts and alignment with national best practices for SGM care.

Abstract

Providing safe and informed healthcare for sexual and gender minority (SGM) individuals with cancer is stymied by the lack of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) data reliably available in health records and by insufficient training for staff. Approaches that support institutional learning, especially around sensitive topics, are essential for hospitals seeking to improve practices impacting patient safety and research. We engineered annual institutional retreats to identify and unify stakeholders, promote awareness of gaps and needs, identify initiatives, minimize redundant projects, and coordinate efforts that promote improvements in SGM cancer care, education, and research. The 2022 and 2023 retreats employed a 4-h hybrid format allowing virtual and in-person engagement. Retreat organizers facilitated small-group discussions for brainstorming among participants. We performed descriptive statistics from retreat evaluations. The retreats engaged 104 attendees from distinct departments and roles. Participants expressed robust satisfaction, commending the retreat organization and content quality. Notably, the first retreat yielded leadership endorsement and funding for a Quality Improvement pilot to standardize SOGI data collection and clinical staff training. The second retreat provided a platform for updates on focused efforts across the institution and for receiving direction regarding national best practices for SGM care and research. We report the processes and outcomes of institution-wide retreats, which served as a platform for identifying gaps in organizational healthcare practices and research for SGM individuals with cancer. The strategies described herein may be readily scaled at other cancer hospitals seeking to learn and enact system-wide practice changes that support the needs of SGM patients and families.

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