Inside Duke Medicine

A quick-reference guide to the need for a cancer facility

First and foremost, the new Cancer Center facility supports our mission to deliver exceptional care to patients – while respecting the needs of the human spirit – by providing innovative, integrated clinical care, research and education.

Need for the new facility

• As one of the country’s premier cancer treatment and research institutions, our patients deserve a state-of-the-art facility that matches our recognized clinical excellence.
• The demand for Duke cancer services is growing rapidly with more than 600 patients being seen daily in our cancer clinics, infusion center or in radiation therapy.
• New cancer cases in North Carolina are projected to increase by 16.5 percent, and by 23 percent in the greater Triangle region over the next five years.
• In addition to forecasts of increased incidence of cancer locally and statewide, the greater Triangle population is projected to increase from 2.16 million in 2010 to 2.41 million by 2015 – an increase of 11.5 percent.
• Despite the expansion of some other local and regional cancer facilities, there is a growing and specific need for specialty cancer services and programs at Duke.
• It’s important for our facility to support caring for the whole patient – clinically, spiritually, emotionally and psychosocially.

Enhancing the patient and family experience

• Almost all clinical cancer services will be located in the new facility, which will support multidisciplinary care and greater patient convenience.
• Patients will benefit from having physicians, nurses, clinical trials team members, pharmacists, counselors, social workers and dieticians all working side-by-side to provide comprehensive care.
• Greater synergy between cancer treatment and clinical trial opportunities will be achieved through the co-location of services and faculty.
• Among many unique features, the facility will provide a quiet room for personal reflection, a shop offering cancer care products and services, a café with healthy food options, and a rooftop garden area in which patients can receive their chemotherapy outdoors overlooking the green space and healing garden.
• The new spaces and unique features in the facility were designed with input and suggestions from patients and their caregivers, as well as by staff and faculty.
• The creation of needed and adequate space will accommodate patient and family privacy in a comfortable environment.
   

Cancer Center at a glance

Floors: 7

Square footage: 267,000 square feet

Estimated project cost: $220 million

Construction initiated: 2009

Projected construction completion: February 2012

Key components:
123 clinical exam rooms
73 infusion stations
Radiation oncology, 3 new linear accelerators
Radiology services
Mammography suite

Patient and family amenities:
Cancer patient shop
Outdoor, garden terrace with infusion area for patients
Retail pharmacy
Patient resource center
Café
Quiet room

Sustainability features:
LEED Silver status targeted
 

Floor by floor

Level 00 – Radiation Oncology
Featuring the addition of three new linear accelerators and a connecting renovation of the current Radiation Oncology Clinic (connection scheduled to open late 2012)

Level 0 – Lobby and Main Floor
Featuring a fireplace with seating area, five-story atrium, quiet room for personal reflection, patient and family resource center, shop, café, retail pharmacy, conference room for support groups and other patient use, patient registration and labs

Level 1 – Radiology

Level 2 – Breast and Gynecology Clinics
Featuring a mammography suite

Level 3 – GI, Thoracic, Melanoma and Sarcoma, Head and Neck and Brain Tumor Clinics

Level 4 – Infusion
Featuring an outdoor garden terrace

Level 5 – Genitourinary and Hematologic Malignancies Clinics

Read other articles from the special issue of Inside Duke Medicine on the Cancer Center facility.