Inside Duke Medicine

Enhanced work environment furthers staff’s ability to care for our patients, families

By bringing natural light into work areas, creating more space for care providers and allowing multidisciplinary caregivers to work as teams in shared spaces, the new Cancer Center facility’s focus on the patient experience will also significantly enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of our care teams.

“A big part of improving the patient experience is creating an environment that enhances our faculty and staff’s ability to care for and treat patients,” said Kevin Sowers, MSN, RN, FAAN, president of Duke University Hospital. “That means it’s essential to create a space, as the new facility does, that inspires teamwork.”

In addition to its focus on patients, the environment in the new facility will foster doctors’, nurses’ and team members’ ability to further work together and care for their patients.

“The new facility creates space that will allow the primary nurse who works with us and our patients as part of the primary nursing model to be in the work room with us,” said nurse practitioner Sarah Yenser, RN, MSN. “Being able to fully implement this model once we are in the new building is going to improve workflow, triage and the patient experience.”

Also, greater synergy between cancer treatment and clinical trial opportunities will be achieved through the co-location of all the different cancer care services. Clinical trials are an important care option for many patients and the clinical trial enrollment process will improve in the new building.

Currently, when a patient who might benefit from a trial is identified, the team member has to locate a space for the initial conversation, or use the exam room – keeping another patient from being seen in the room. In the new building, dedicated consultation rooms will be available for important conversations about possible clinical trial options, making the process easier, more private and complementary to the multidisciplinary approach while enhancing the efficiency of the clinic exam rooms.

Shawna Savage, RN, BSN, a clinical trials nurse manager who works on phase one trials with solid tumor patients, said the dedicated space will decrease anxiety for the patients and clinical trial nurses.

“In order for us to provide the most comprehensive and effective care possible for our patients, we must work as a team. That can be challenging when we are all spread out in different spaces and buildings,” Savage said. “To have a whole facility that is just focused on our patients and cancer care – that’s terrific.”

Joseph Moore, M.D., a medical oncologist with the Duke Cancer Institute, said his group is going to benefit from having pathology service nearby.

“Efficiency should improve,” Moore said. “For example, looking at actual pathologic material and being able to make a decision in real time while the patient is still in the clinic should minimize follow-up appointments that are sometimes required. This can also help ease patient anxiety, as answers and next steps may be identified before they leave the building rather than having to wait anxiously for critical information and decisions.”

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