Sydney Adventist Hospital Launches Cancer “War Room”
July 30, 2017: A recently completed AUD 220 million (approx. USD 176 million) Integrated Cancer Center at Sydney Adventist Hospital has been fitted with a cancer “war room” full of state of the art equipment to battle the disease.
Australia’s Daily Telegraph reports that the “war room” is a multidisciplinary room allowing specialists from different fields to collaborate to defeat the disease in patients.
Gavin Marx, a medical oncologist and director of Cancer Services at the hospital calls the new cancer center “the best facility in Australia.”
“Cancer care is complex and one of the ways we can optimise our patients’ outcomes is to use a multidisciplinary approach,” he said.
He pointed to the fact that the center’s one-stop shop approach to cancer care simplified treatment for patients.
In addition, Marx said that the multidisciplinary approach allowed for input from more than just a patient’s individual doctor.
Cancer surgeon Michael Hughes said doctors agree that interdisciplinary collaboration “helps increase survival outcomes.”
“Clinical information is being presented simultaneously,” said Hughes.
“We are also getting imaging and pathology up on the screen in a seamless manner and clinicians can log in on their own computers as well.”
Barbara McKenzie, information manager for the hospital says that she refers to the multidisciplinary space as a war room because physician experts needed “a miniature crisis management room where they could collaborate digitally.”