The Foundation of Cancer Treatment Care: A Look at the New Via Christi Cancer Institute
Thursday, November 03, 2011
The changes ushered in with the July opening of the Via Christi Cancer Institute are much more than cosmetic. They’re designed to transform the way cancer care is provided and, in doing so, improve the patient and family experience.
Photo: L-R: Bassam Mattar, M.D., FACP; Claudio Ferraro, Executive Leader of Oncology Services for Via Christi Wichita hospitals; Jeff Korsmo, Via Christi CEO; and Sherry Hausmann, President of Via Christi Hospital on St. Francis, discuss the institute’s bone marrow transplant program.
Information gleaned from focus groups with clinical staff, patients and their families was incorporated in virtually every aspect of the Via Christi Cancer Institute, located in completely renovated space on the seventh floor of Via Christi Hospital on St. Francis.
Enlisting the firms GLMV Architecture and Hutton Construction, the space was gutted and completely reconstructed to provide a patient- and family-centered physical environment and the best, most efficient clinical care.
The project was the logical next step for the Wichita hospital, having already established a foundation of clinical excellence and personal compassion in cancer care. Via Christi was the first, and continues to be the only, cancer center in the region accredited by the American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer. It also was the first and is the only facility in Kansas accredited by the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy for stem cell transplant.
Compassionate Design
Oncology is a highly specialized medical practice and often comes with negative or fearful connotations for patients and their families. Understanding this, the team at Via Christi set out to design a space that went beyond reflecting Via Christi’s reputation as the region’s most technologically advanced cancer treatment center, opting for a design that would allow patients to feel confident in a calm, healing space.
“We set out to create an environment of healing for patients and their families as well as an efficient and effective place for physicians and clinical staff to provide their care,” says Claudio Ferraro, Executive Leader of Oncology Services for Via Christi’s Wichita hospitals. “This facility is in line with that goal.”
The new facility, which spans the north side of the seventh floor and encompasses 40,700 square feet, incorporates a warm palette, nature-inspired décor and residential design elements to create a stress-reducing environment.
“The result is an environment that is calming and relaxing and promotes healing of the mind, body and spirit,” says Patti Moser, Administrative Nursing Director for Oncology Services at Via Christi Hospital on St. Francis.
The institute was developed, in part, using feedback from oncologists and focus groups with cancer patients and their families, with elements that incorporate the comfort of the patient with enhanced clinical usability.
Design features — such as increased use of natural light, larger rooms and convertible sleepers to accommodate family members, sound-diffused workspaces, and integrated technologies for remotely operating beds, lights, window shades and communication — were all purposeful, patient-driven inclusions.
“There are many features and accommodations that make a patient’s stay feel more inclusive and therefore less isolated. For example, patients can even order their meals from a room service menu, and their food will be delivered to them in 45 minutes or less, and family members can have a guest tray delivered to the room as well for a $10 fee,” Moser says.
Bassam Mattar, M.D., FACP, Medical Director of Via Christi’s Bone Marrow Transplant Program, agrees.
“Patients can come from whatever distance and have the support of an excellent staff, state-of-the-art rooms and equipment, a beautiful hotel atmosphere, along with all the amenities needed for family visits, such as family rooms and a laundry facility,” he says. “So patients can fight the fight supported by loved ones.”
The new design also features an integrative therapy center with yoga, art, music and massage therapy rooms and a media room where patients and their families can enjoy movies together.
Relationships Play Central Role
Cancer treatment should consider much more than purely clinical aspects, and the strong belief in the value of incorporating emotional support is central to the cancer institute’s new design.
“Via Christi recognized the value of peer and family support, as well as the need for privacy. The new cancer institute meets both these needs through considerate designs, such as an ambulatory infusion center with four private and three community treatment bays,” explains Moser. “This affords patients the opportunity to build relationships with others receiving treatment and gain emotional support in a natural, nonthreatening way, creating a positive atmosphere of solidarity that goes well beyond the treatment process.”
“We also believe in the power of spiritual support in healing,” continues Moser. “Our spiritual reflection room offers patients quiet space to cope with their situations. Patients and family can also share in our Spiritual Strengths Cancer Care program, which was designed to help people discover their inner strengths in a time of need.”
Progressive Strategies
Cancer treatment is among the most rapidly advancing technologies in modern health care, and the Via Christi Cancer Institute was designed to embrace and evolve with this technology and create greater collaboration among staff members.
“From a patient perspective, there is an enormous amount of medical equipment associated with treatment, all of which can induce a significant amount of stress,” Moser says. “Warm colors make the cancer institute more inviting, and with nonessential equipment tucked away, the space is much less intimidating for the patient and much more efficient for the cancer treatment team.”
A large conference room and multidisciplinary work areas promoting greater collaboration among cancer physician specialists, nurses and other members of the cancer treatment team are highlights of the clinical features.
“The cancer institute is completely state of the art and is almost what amounts to an independent hospital. When we rebuilt the space, we constructed certain rooms in a way that made them capable of being an ICU in the future. We have always provided excellent care, and under the excellent leadership of Dr. Shaker Dakhil, and with the support of our incredible staff, we now have the dedicated space patients deserve,” says Mattar.
Unified Space
A monumental difference the Via Christi Cancer Institute brings to care is the ability to care for all medical and surgical oncology patients in one dedicated unit.
“This not only enhances clinical collaboration, but patient comfort and administrative efficiency as well,” Moser says. “Patients can bypass admissions and be admitted directly to the unit, a familiar space staffed by those who understand every aspect of their personal, emotional and clinical concerns.”
“This is the most ideal arrangement for our patients, and we are privileged to have the opportunity to make it happen,” she says.
A Legacy of Progress
The opening of the cancer institute is just one of many in Via Christi’s ongoing efforts to make leading-edge cancer care available close to home, which started in 1983 with the establishment of the Wichita Clinical Community Oncology Program, which has had more than 12,000 patient participants to date.
In 1989, Via Christi established the Blood and Marrow Transplant Center, followed by the addition of advanced treatment and technologies, such as CyberKnife and da Vinci Robotic Surgery. Currently, Via Christi is the only facility in the region offering CyberKnife.
“Via Christi has always been dedicated to quality cancer care,” says Shaker Dakhil, M.D., President of Cancer Center of Kansas and Medical Director for Via Christi Oncology Services. “They have the best physicians and the best nursing staff, and now they have the best facilities in the region for caring for patients with cancer.”
The opening of the cancer institute begins a new era of a comprehensive continuum of cancer services — including outreach, prevention, diagnosis, treatment and support — as well as the spirit of compassion that continues to be the cornerstone of care at Via Christi Health’s Wichita hospitals.
Via Christi Cancer Institute
MD News October/November 2011, Greater Kansas