It is 11:30 on a Tuesday morning when Moore Regional Hospital‘s Chest Center team gathers for its weekly meeting after having seen patients since early morning. Andy Kiser, M.D., the center’s medical director, opens the meeting by calling the team’s attention to a set of CT scans illuminated on the light board.
After he identifies the patient, Dr. Kiser gives the diagnosis and his suggested course of treatment. Then he asks, “I’d like input from Radiology. What do we do here? If I operate, the patient will lose some ribs.”
Radiology is not the only service represented at this meeting. With its multidisciplinary approach to care, the Chest Center brings together physicians from several different specialties, including radiation oncology, medical oncology and pulmonology. Nursing is also a part of the team.
Dr. Kiser’s question is typical of what takes place throughout the team’s meeting. Over the course of the next hour, the team will review the diagnosis and treatment for each of a dozen patients who are receiving Chest Center care.
While many of the patients have been diagnosed with cancer, there is no onesize-fits-all treatment. Each case is discussed individually, and each team member contributes his or her thoughts regarding the best way to care for the patient.
Conversation is lively, but the objective of each team member is clear: How do we track a patient’s progress and provide him or her with the best treatment?
Physicians do not agree with every initial diagnosis, but that is to be expected in this highly collaborative atmosphere. The team is dedicated to excellence in patient care, and that commitment occasionally expresses itself in differing views about a patient’s condition.
When the physicians differ, each one explains how he or she interprets the CT or lab results. The physician supports the interpretation with a recommendation for additional testing to confirm the diagnosis. The team arrives at a consensus, and the next steps of the patient’s care plan are outlined.
Calling the team’s attention to the next patient, Dr. Kiser points to a PET scan. He reviews the patient’s medical history, age and recommendations for treatment.
“I treated that patient for another form of cancer three years ago,” says medical oncologist Ellen Willard, M.D. She discusses the medications used to treat the patient previously, and reviews how that may affect the patient’s response to the cancer treatments now under consideration.
Once again, the physicians discuss the patient’s prognosis. They take a comprehensive, holistic approach to patient care. Their goal is to identify the best way to help a patient, without creating additional, unnecessary medical complications.
The team completes its review of the patients on its list, and adjourns at 12:40 p.m. Members of the team ate lunch during their meeting, and they are ready to return to their offices to see patients—and to implement the plans developed for their patients’ care.
It is 11:30 on a Tuesday morning when Moore Regional Hospital‘s Chest Center team gathers for its weekly meeting after having seen patients since early morning. Andy Kiser, M.D., the center’s medical director, opens the meeting by calling the team’s attention to a set of CT scans illuminated on the light board.
After he identifies the patient, Dr. Kiser gives the diagnosis and his suggested course of treatment. Then he asks, “I’d like input from Radiology. What do we do here? If I operate, the patient will lose some ribs.”
Radiology is not the only service represented at this meeting. With its multidisciplinary approach to care, the Chest Center brings together physicians from several different specialties, including radiation oncology, medical oncology and pulmonology. Nursing is also a part of the team.
Dr. Kiser’s question is typical of what takes place throughout the team’s meeting. Over the course of the next hour, the team will review the diagnosis and treatment for each of a dozen patients who are receiving Chest Center care.
While many of the patients have been diagnosed with cancer, there is no onesize-fits-all treatment. Each case is discussed individually, and each team member contributes his or her thoughts regarding the best way to care for the patient.
Conversation is lively, but the objective of each team member is clear: How do we track a patient’s progress and provide him or her with the best treatment?
Physicians do not agree with every initial diagnosis, but that is to be expected in this highly collaborative atmosphere. The team is dedicated to excellence in patient care, and that commitment occasionally expresses itself in differing views about a patient’s condition.
When the physicians differ, each one explains how he or she interprets the CT or lab results. The physician supports the interpretation with a recommendation for additional testing to confirm the diagnosis. The team arrives at a consensus, and the next steps of the patient’s care plan are outlined.
Calling the team’s attention to the next patient, Dr. Kiser points to a PET scan. He reviews the patient’s medical history, age and recommendations for treatment.
“I treated that patient for another form of cancer three years ago,” says medical oncologist Ellen Willard, M.D. She discusses the medications used to treat the patient previously, and reviews how that may affect the patient’s response to the cancer treatments now under consideration.
Once again, the physicians discuss the patient’s prognosis. They take a comprehensive, holistic approach to patient care. Their goal is to identify the best way to help a patient, without creating additional, unnecessary medical complications.
The team completes its review of the patients on its list, and adjourns at 12:40 p.m. Members of the team ate lunch during their meeting, and they are ready to return to their offices to see patients—and to implement the plans developed for their patients’ care.
To contact the Chest Center of the Carolinas, call (866) 263-3229. |
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