This is similar to Thompson's (22) notion of a “mediating” coordination structure as the best strategy to use when faced with complicated “reciprocal” technologies (tasks that require feedback and communication between all performers). Virtual teams are those in which team members do not meet face-to-face, or do so only infrequently. Using a virtual team strategy, the MDC would operate similarly to either a tumor conference (meeting only once) or the traditional pattern in which patients are seen in a sequence of separate appointments with multiple physicians over a short period of time. Virtual teams are similar to the concept of “teams without colocation” described by Hinds and Bailey (23).