Relocating Rheumatology Patients to a New Infusion Center at Duke

Abstract

This case study concerns relocating rheumatology patients at Duke University Medical Center to a new infusion center located in a physician based treatment setting. The case study follows the managerial decision-making process as it describes how the infusion center treatment site was chosen, how it was set up, how it functions, and what benefits to patient care it provides. A successful site-of-car relocation requires strong managers who are able to weigh objectively alternative courses of action. Moreover, the project champion must be able to distinguish key factors inside and outside the organization and chart the project's course accordingly.

Patient preferences and satisfaction in a multispecialty infusion center

“…Surprisingly, unlike prior assumptions reported by physicians and administrators,2,3 as well as our own original assumptions, non-HO patients were highly satisfied with infusion therapy at a primarily HO (but multidisciplinary) infusion unit. Our non-HO patients were content with the infusion space and with sharing care alongside HO patients, as provided by the infusion nurses.…”

“…Given financial and space considerations, multispecialty infusion centers are likely to continue to be commonplace in most communities 3. Almost 40% of infusions are performed at hospital-based centers, likely similar to ours 12.…”

“…Direct feedback from patients about preferred modes of medication administration has been sought increasingly by providers to develop care programs that best match patient goals 1. Given this information, it is surprising that some health care providers continue to direct medication selections, and that health care administrators still implement policy decisions while assuming patient preferences, without actually questioning the patients 2,3…”

“…Issues concerning disease-specific nursing expertise suggested to some of our physicians and nurses that non-HO patients could be better served in an infusion center dedicated to this population. Additionally, while it has been postulated that patients with rheumatic and other non-HO diseases might have personal reservations about being treated in a multidisciplinary infusion center (together with HO patients),3 there are no published reports that assess this common scenario by surveying these patients.…”

Creating genetics-based infusion centers: a case study of two models

“…[1][2][3] The WI group developed their center primarily for adult LSD patients, including uninsured patients and those with Medicare and Medicaid. The center projected that it would have eight initial infusion patients.…”