Our Approach
Multidisciplinary, Patient Centered Care, Close to Home
At Baptist Health Deaconess Cancer Services, we approach cancer care as a collaborative effort between physicians, nurse practitioners, nurses, social workers, nutrition services, and others — all working together with patients and their families. This is called multidisciplinary care - a comprehensive process that treats the disease and cares for the person.
How does multidisciplinary care work?
This level of integrated care means that multiple cancer experts work together, sharing their expertise and opinions to provide high quality, precision treatment options and management of the individual patient’s needs.
This is achieved through multidisciplinary care conferences that include:
- A team approach involving core disciplines, integral to providing quality care
- Communication among team members and patients to stay connected regarding treatment planning
- Access to the full spectrum of treatments and therapies for all patients, helping to ensure quality and comprehensive care
- Involvement of patients throughout the process
- A highly skilled group reviews a patient's diagnosis and other test results together with a focus on forming a comprehensive treatment plan
This multidisciplinary approach provides patients with a comprehensive plan to get the best treatment for their diagnosis.
Cancer Program Accreditation
The Cancer Program at Baptist Health Deaconess is proud to be one of the longest standing Commission on Cancer accredited programs in Kentucky, providing quality cancer care since 1953, and accredited by the American College of Surgeons since 1976.
The Commission on Cancer (CoC) recognizes cancer care programs for their commitment to providing comprehensive, high-quality, and multidisciplinary patient-centered care.
To achieve and maintain CoC accreditation, the Cancer Committee at Baptist Health Deaconess must ensure we meet the requirements of 9 standards that include 39 elements of performance. Standard requirements include:
- Institutional Administrative Commitment
- Program Scope and Governance
- Facilities and Equipment Resources
- Personnel and Services Resources
- Patient Care: Expectations and Protocols
- Data Surveillance and Systems
- Quality Improvement
- Education: Professional and Community Outreach
- Research
Achieving accreditation by the CoC means our patients receive:
- Comprehensive, patient-centered care through a multidisciplinary team-approach
- Access to information on clinical and new treatment options
- Ongoing monitoring of care and lifelong patient follow-up
- Psychosocial support and survivorship care
- Continuous quality improvements in care
Surgical Quality Partner
As an accredited cancer program, we have also earned distinction as an American College of Surgeons, Surgical Quality Partner. This recognition shows our commitment and dedication to surgical quality.