March 29, 2024
Annapolis, US 46 F

AAMC wins award for cancer center

aamcnewcampusAnne Arundel Medical Center’s (AAMC) Geaton and JoAnn DeCesaris Cancer Institute (DCI) received a 2014 AACC Innovator Award from the Association of Community Cancer Centers. Only six cancer program nationwide received this honor.  AAMC’s DCI was selected for its innovative symptom management clinic.

The clinic was inspired by participation with the ONS Foundation/Joint Commission in a pilot of the Breast Cancer Care and Breast Cancer Survivorship Quality Measures project started in 2010. The three-year pilot project focused on three prospective oncology nursing interventions: examining quality measures for fatigue, distress, and sleep-wake disturbance.

Using the lessons learned from this pilot, the AAMC’s DCI developed an advanced, nurse practitioner-led, symptom management clinic that provides rapid access and coordination of care with the oncologists and infusion team. The clinic is embedded within the medical oncology practice.

Results:

  • fewer oncology patient readmissions,
  • fewer emergency room visits and
  • increased patient satisfaction.

Future enhancements include use of AAMC’s electronic medical records to not only track outcomes, but to provide patients with a portal to document their symptoms, and ask questions of the oncology team. This will further support an enhanced communications tool that patients and providers can use throughout the complex, multidisciplinary, continuum of care.

This is the second time that the DeCesaris Cancer Institute has received an Innovator Award from the Association of Community Cancer Centers. The first time was in 2012 when was selected for its Rapid Access Chest and Lung Assessment Program, an innovative coordinated, multidisciplinary approach for patients with abnormal chest findings, which leads to expedited referrals and better management.

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