Going to the emergency room can be stressful enough, but for cancer patients an emergency room visit takes on a different set of issues.
For example, cancer patients with lowered immune systems may wait in emergency room lobbies near patients with infectious diseases such as the flu. In addition, given the complex nature of many cancer regimens and clinical trials, some emergency room staffers may be treating patients who are on unfamiliar medications.
To provide around-the-clock care for cancer patients in need of urgent care, the Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine will open a 24/7 Cancer Care Clinic inside Barnes-Jewish’s north campus March 2009.
“We’re trying to get oncology patients out of the emergency room because for cancer patients, being around sick people for eight hours can be deadly,” says Amy Determann, RN, manager of the 24/7 Cancer Care Clinic. “It’s a paradigm shift in care.”
The need for a 24/7 clinic was identified from records showing a number of Siteman Cancer Center patients in need of urgent care on a daily basis. Those patients, who most often need fluids or infusion, can now be treated in the 24/7 center in an outpatient setting rather than a lengthy emergency room visit or an admission to an area hospital. Nurse practitioners familiar with cancer treatments and clinical trials at the center will work with Washington University hospitalists in staffing the clinic.
Barnes-Jewish is spending $994,000 to build the clinic, which will be comprised of seven infusion chairs, three private treatment rooms and one negative pressure room. The Siteman bone marrow transplant weekend clinic will also relocate to the clinic.
The 24/7 Cancer Care Clinic is available only to cancer patients seen by Siteman Cancer Center physicians.
“Those patients may be on treatment regimens we are unfamiliar with and it’s important for those patients to work with their oncologist if they need urgent care,” says Determann.
Siteman patients with non-oncology acute problems like heart attack or stroke need to visit an emergency room.