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The Cancer Center is staffed by 11 physicians under the direction of Peter Tutschka, M.D. consisting of 8 hematologists and medical oncologists and three radiation oncologists.
The Cancer Center operates as an outpatient consultation and treatment center five days a week, 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Many patients stay throughout the day for their treatment and receive the comprehensive services of a modern day care hospital. Patients who require inpatient care are admitted to the inpatient oncology service, the 8-1 Oncology Unit in the main hospital. This unit has 21 beds and permits state-of-the art oncology care. It also has two hospice suites for hospice therapy. The unit is staffed by nurses, nursing assistants and unit secretaries. The unit has recently been completely renovated and now provides the most modern equipment and nursing support, yet is designed to generate a warm atmosphere and the utmost comfort for the patient. On weekends and holidays, when the Cancer Center is closed, outpatients are accommodated in a specially designed room on 8-1 for treatments such as transfusions and specialized drug injections. During 2002, the Cancer Center saw 46,500 patient visits, 17,500 of those were for radiation oncology and 29,000 visits for hematology and medical oncology. Our cancer physicians recorded 13,000 outpatient visits during this year and 6,000 anticoagulation visits. A total of 10,000 chemotherapy treatments were carried out. Since opening of the Cancer Center, there has been a 35 percent increase in patient numbers, and a 42 percent increase in patient visits. In 2002, 770 cancer patients were treated on the 8-1 inpatient unit with a mediqn length of stay of 7.04 days. The inpatient oncology unit has consistently received Press-Ganey Scores that are well above the average. Press-Ganey Scores are used to monitor patient satisfaction, and a score of 92.5 was achieved for “Overall Rating of Care Given.” Our institution has consistently shown superior outcome results for cancer treatments, when compared to the national norm using Oryx Mortality Data for Medical Oncology. During the past 43 months, the mortality statistics have been significantly better than the national norm in 36 of these months. This is illustrated in the graph below.
Because of the tremendous increase in the need for our cancer services, both the inpatient unit and the outpatient Cancer Center are initiating major expansion programs. The planned 12,000-square-foot addition to the Cancer Center will be built to accommodate new outpatient programs. Also, a second oncology inpatient unit is planned for high intensity inpatient services, such as stem-cell transplantation, high dose chemotherapy and immunotherapy programs.
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In 1993 the Saint Francis/Mount Sinai Regional Cancer Center was dedicated. It is a free-standing building that is connected to the main hospital by a walkway and bridge. It is an ultra modern, handsome two story-building, which has won many architectural awards. In its 33,000 square feet of clinical space it houses radiation oncology on the first floor and medical oncology and hematology on the second floor, together with all the support services such as phlebotomy, laboratories for hematology and coagulation service and the research office.
The first floor radiation oncology department is equipped with two new linear accelerators, a computer assisted tomography simulator, electron beam therapy and high dose rate brachytherapy. It boasts a 3-D external beam treatment planning computer, 3-D conformal external beam radiation treatment using the areas highest energy linear accelerator and the only equipment in central Connecticut for high dose rate technology. This floor also houses the physics department and the cast laboratory for custom immobilization. By early 2003, the Radiation Therapy Department will have acquired the novel Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy or IMRT Technology, multimillion dollar equipment that permits the most precise radiation therapy designed to minimize side effects for the patient. Radiation oncology support staff includes radiation therapists, a nurse, dosimetrists and physicists.
The second floor; Medical Oncology and Hematology, has 17,000 square feet of clinical space with seven examination rooms, three consultation rooms, and eight large treatment rooms for long-term chemotherapy administration and two large multipurpose treatment areas for short-term chemotherapy, transfusions and other treatments. It has a nursing station, its own pharmacy where chemotherapy is prepared directly on site, the clinical anticoagulation center, research office and physician and staff support rooms. The outpatient clinic support staff consists of nurses, pharmacists, social workers, laboratory technicians, research nurses and office staff personnel.
