They do great work in the chemo room at Shuswap Lake Hospital, but they could do more to improve comfort and efficiency.
This is the opinion of Dr. Chris Main, an internist with special training in oncology, who oversees the small chemotherapy room tucked away at the end of the Level 4 hall where there are offices for visiting specialists.
While every month differs, anywhere from eight to 12 cancer patients are added to the treatment schedule per month and somewhere between 30 and 55 patients attend for second or subsequent treatments.
Main has been in charge of cancer care in the hospital since 1998 and while he says some things have changed for the better – such as the addition of a unit clerk to organize the day – other improvements are crucial.
“Patients used to turn up and maybe wait for hours until they were seen because there was no organization,” he laments. Main never knows which office he’s going to set up in on any given day, nurses have to share desks with staff from other departments and Main uses a borrowed laptop.
“Our next objective is to find a permanent, private space for patients and clerical staff.”
All outpatient chemo treatments are available locally, but Main is critical of the fact patients do not get the privacy they need.
“It’s not a great space for patients to sit and wait,” he says of the fact they must wait in a general area. “The real key is to make it as comfortable and efficient as possible.”
Main would also like to see improvements to the small room that houses the three chemo chairs.
He says he is in an ongoing struggle with Interior Health for funding but describes hospital manager Mark Pugh’s attempts to find suitable space for oncology as “outstanding.”
“He’s doing everything he can, I can’t say enough good things about him,” Main says.
A favourite with patients, longtime oncology nurse Cheryl Bawtree will be away for several months.
Main says three nurses are being hired, some on a part-time basis, in an effort to make sure there is adequate coverage when someone is missing.
