• The Medical Oncology department comprises of the Modernized Centrally air-conditioned DAYCARE centre, Outpatient and Indoor admission facilities.
• The DAYCARE centre deals with patients who are discharged on the same day after completion of chemotherapy. The DAYCARE centre is equipped to perform emergency procedures like ascitic fluid and pleural fluid drainage. An average of 70 patients is seen daily, 6 days a week. The patient pool comprises of new patients, patients currently undergoing chemotherapy and patients on follow up. Medical Oncology team decides what chemotherapy is to be given, the schedule and the number of cycles. The line of management is decided by Multidisciplinary Tumour Board.
• Extending day care hours has made it possible to administer some very long and intense protocols (> 5 hours) on a single day. However the charges have been kept nominal. This has led to a greater availability of Indoor beds for surgical and emergency patients and is immensely saving time of the attendants and caregivers who accompany the patients for chemotherapy.
• Overall the comfort level of the patients has definitely improved. It is now a centrally air-conditioned unit with overhead Televisions & soft relaxing music running in the background. Recently a small library has been installed within the day-care centre to keep patients engaged during chemotherapy. Books on improving patient awareness and care during treatment of cancer, written in very simple language are readily available.
• Thanks to the free counseling offered by Group called “Hitaishini” for breast cancer affected patients. There are numerous breast cancer survivors who have health-related issues. All these are addressed by Hitaishini, The Dept of Psychology offers counseling for patients of all categories. The anxieties related to adverse effects of chemotherapy are effectively dealt with. This really has boosted the spirit and determination of patients.
• Regular dietary counseling for patients on chemotherapy has been initiated. Nutrition is an important part of treatment which oncologists tend to ignore. Additional nutritional advice has definitely improved the body weight and physical well being of some of the patients.
• The Medical Oncology dept works in a very coordinated fashion with the Dept of Pain & Palliative Care for quick symptom relief even if the patients are in early stage.
• Hand-held printouts depicting the DO’s and DONT’s for patients undergoing chemotherapy are being distributed to every single patient from the Day Care. This has taken care of most of the queries from patients and caregivers.
• Every single patient undergoing chemotherapy is provided with emergency helpline numbers to resolve issues pertaining to chemotherapy. This saves time and travelling.
• The department designs protocols for adult patients having solid tumours and a few pediatric patients with refractory non-hematological malignancies.
• Periodically the department has been involved in “Train the Sisters” program. The sisters are taught basics of anticancer drugs, how to improve chemotherapy administering skills and combat spillage of toxic drugs.
• Apart from chemotherapy – Biologics, targeted agents and iron infusion are also being given from the DAYCARE facility.
• Use of chemoport devices. This device is mainly used for patients who need long infusions and long term chemotherapy.
• Once monthly departmental meetings are conducted to improve quality of service and better evidence based management. Case based discussions and short Oncology presentations are carried out every month.
• The department has access to continuous supply of latest edition of Peer Reviewed Journals. Common journals being Annals of Oncology, Lancet and Journal of Clinical Oncology.