The Clinical Oncology Department - Outpatient Chemotherapy (OACh) is the largest department of the National Cancer Institute in Bratislava (NCI) and at the same time the largest department of its kind in the Slovak Republic.
In 2017, we recorded more than 70,000 patient visits at OACh, which is almost by 20,000 more than in 2012. In 2017, the OACh nurses performed more than 55,000 blood draws and administered more than 22,000 infusion treatments.
The ever-increasing number of patients and medical procedures naturally motivates us to modernize the system of functioning of the department.
We have an eminent interest in providing healthcare to oncology patients at the highest possible medical level and in the most modern premises possible. The OACh premises on the 2nd floor of the Main Building were renovated in 2014 and we are currently reconstructing the outpatient clinics located in Pavilion M.
In an effort to be the best and the most modern in the conditions of the Slovak Republic, we have introduced an electronic patient ordering system since 17 December 2018.
The information campaign that precedes the implementation of the system in practice includes an instructional video, an information leaflet for patients and the following set of questions and answers.
NEW PATIENTS at NCI
1. What should be done before the first examination at NCI?
Regardless of which outpatient clinic at NCI you will be examined or which NCI department you will be admitted to, you will need to be registered. The registration place is located in the Radiation Oncology Pavilion (see also patient registration - https://www.nou.sk/registracia-pacientov).
2. What do I need to register?
A health insurance card and an identity card are sufficient for registration.
In the hospital information system we mainly enter your name and surname, your insurance number (birth number), health insurance company number and your phone number, or the number of the person you designate.
Upon registration, you will receive a plastic patient card with your name, surname and a barcode.
3. What do you need my phone number for?
You will receive a text message from the electronic system stating the day of your next check up.
The text message will be sent to you as soon as the relevant healthcare professional enters the date of your check-up or an examination appointment into the electronic system.
4. Why do I need a plastic card with a barcode?
By scanning the barcode, you will be able to determine, for example, the order in which your blood collection will be performed at the OACh (see also below).
The use of seemingly meaningless barcodes and numbers will replace the use of your name and surname even when being called to the outpatient clinic of your physician.
5. What should I do if I forgot my patient card on the day of the examination?
If you forgot your patient's card on the day of your visit at OACh, visit our registration place, where our colleagues will issue a replacement patient paper card for you with your barcode.
6. What should I do if I have lost my patient card?
If you have lost your patient card, please visit our registration place, where you will be issued a new patient card by our colleagues.
7. Who will help me if I do not know where the outpatient clinic or the bed ward I am looking for is?
At the entrance of the Main Building of the NCI, there is an information desk with staff who will help you find the outpatient clinic or the department you are looking for, including OACh.
8. Is it true that any oncology patient can be treated in the NCI?
Of course, any oncology patient, regardless of gender, religion or belief, race, nationality or ethnic group, disability, age, sexual orientation, marital or family status, skin color, language, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, gender or other status can be treated in the NCI in full compliance with applicable law.
9. Does every oncology patient necessarily have to be treated in the NCI?
The NCI provides consiliary services for all oncology patients in the Slovak Republic, but really not every patient necessarily needs to be treated in the NCI.
In Slovakia, we have 120 outpatient clinics in all regional and in almost every district city, in which quality special care is provided by experienced specialists in the field of clinical oncology.
http://onkologia.sk/wp-content/uploads/Onkosiet-2018.pdf.
It is completely unnecessary to commute for chemotherapy, for example, from a city more than 100 kilometers distant from the NCI, provided that you can receive the same treatment at an oncology clinic located closer to or directly in your place of residence.
Being treated closer or directly in your place of residence means that you do not have to commute and it means being closer to the oncologist who knows best about your health condition in the event of complications of cancer or its treatment.
PATIENT OF THE OUTPATIENT CHEMOTHERAPY DEPARTMENT
1. What should I do first when I come for an examination in the morning?
It is necessary to make an appointment for an examination at OAch. If you have already made an appointment for an examination at one of the OACh outpatient clinics, then as soon as you arrive at the hospital, please scan the barcode on the patient card you received at registration.
2. Where are the scanners?
The scanners are located in several places in the NCI and are visibly marked with red arrows.
One scanner is located in front of the OACh entrance (2nd floor of the Main Building).
Another scanner is located in the Pavilion M, where outpatient clinics of the Clinical Oncology Department A are located (the corridor on the left from the entrance) and the outpatient clinics of the Clinical Oncology Department F - palliative care (the corridor on the right from the entrance).
You will also find scanners in front of the outpatient clinics of the Oncohematology Clinic on the 1st and 4th floors and in front of the outpatient clinics of the Clinical Oncology Department D and E on the 3rd floor in the Main Building.
To scan a barcode, place a plastic card with barcode on the scanner at the end of the arrow which is on the wall below the scanner.
Your code has been scanned correctly if an audible signal (loud beep) is emitted by the scanning device.
3. Can I use any scanner in the hospital?
You may use any of the scanners in the hospital, so there will be no need to wait in front of the OACh on the 2nd floor in the Main Building.
After scanning the code, the electronic system will register you as a patient scheduled for an examination on a given day.
4. What if I do not appear in the electronic ordering system?
It is necessary to make an appointment for an OACh examination. By this, it is ensured that the patient will be entered in the electronic ordering system on the day of the OACh visit. If you do not appear in the electronic ordering system on the day of the OACh examination, you will have two options:
a) If you regularly visit one of the OACh outpatient clinics, then a nurse in the relevant outpatient clinic will enter you into the electronic system.
Alternatively, you can be entered into the electronic system by one of the receptionists located at the entrance to the OACh on the 2nd floor of the Main Building.
b) If you have come to the OACh for the first time and you do not know which outpatient clinic to visit or you do not know where the relevant outpatient clinic is located, please contact our receptionists, who can then enter you into the electronic ordering system.
5. What should I do after scanning the barcode?
After scanning the barcode, go to your oncologist's outpatient clinic (working hours start from 7:30 a.m.), where the nurses will hand in to you the requests for blood collection.
6. What should I do with the blood collection requests?
After you have received the blood collection requests, please go to the entrance area of the OACh (2nd floor of the Main Building), where there is a screen (on the right from the entrance), which displays the codes of all the patients waiting for the blood collection, in the order in which they scanned their barcode upon arrival at the hospital.
The electronic system will invite you in such order to the blood collection room. When it is your turn, your number will increase in size on the screen and at the same time you will hear a relatively loud sound signal.
You will be able to follow your number on several smaller screens located in the lobby and adjacent OACh areas at the same time, so it is not necessary for all patients to wait in front of the same screen.
7. What happens if I do not make it to the blood collection room on time after the electronic system prompts me to enter?
You do not have to hurry to the blood collection room at all.
If you do not arrive on time, the electronic system will automatically move your position after next ten patients.
If you do not arrive on time even after your position has been moved for the first time, the electronic system will proceed in the same manner until you arrive in the blood collection room.
In fact, you will never lose the order, only your position will be moved so that you can arrive at the blood collection room according to your abilities and possibilities.
8. From what time do you take blood samples?
The working hours of the nurses at the OACh start at 7:30 a.m., which is when we start taking blood samples.
We complete the blood collection after managing the last patient, usually no later than 10:00 a.m.
9. What happens to the blood samples after they are taken?
Even during the blood collection time, our sanitarists continuously hand over the blood tubes to the relevant departments, where the necessary examinations are carried out.
Of course, each laboratory test takes some time.
In order for your physician to decide on the administration of chemotherapy, we need to know your current results.
This is one of the reasons you will have to wait a bit.
10. What should I do if I do not like waiting and I want to come for an examination and / or chemotherapy the next day or on another day?
There is no reason why you cannot agree with your oncologist that you come for the examination or have the chemotherapy administered on the next day or any other day after the blood collection.
Alternatively, you can have your blood drawn at you General Practicioner and you can come to us directly with the results of the required laboratory tests.
11. What should I do after I had my blood drawn?
If you want to have the blood test, examination and chemotherapy administered at the OACh during the same day, then the next step would be the examination by an oncologist in an outpatient clinic.
In front of each group of outpatient clinics (usually two to three) there is a screen, which displays the numbers of doors of the outpatient clinics and the names of the oncologists present on a given day.
These are followed by patient numbers - including yours.
The order is determined by:
(a) order of scanning your barcode in the morning upon your arrival at the hospital; and
(b) time of completion of the test results in each laboratory.
12. On the basis of what criteria do you invite patients to the outpatient clinic?
The basic criterion is the patient's condition.
If the patient has acute problems, he will of course be preferred.
Second in order are the patients who are scheduled for infusion treatment / chemotherapy on the same day.
Third in order are patients who receive chemotherapy or other treatment in pills.
Fourth in order are patients who have been cured of cancer and come for a check-up (observation).
In the case of consiliary examinations (especially with new patients, but also with patients who want to verify the correctness of their oncologist's treatment), we also distinguish between patients with acute difficulties and those who do not have acute difficulties.
13. Who ultimately decides on the order of patients examined in the outpatient clinic?
It is principally the oncologist who practices in a given outpatient clinic.
14. When can I enter the outpatient clinic?
You will be able to enter the outpatient clinic when your number is shown on the relevant screen and you hear a loud beep at the same time.
15. What should I do if my oncologist has examined me and has sent me for chemotherapy administration?
If your oncologist sends you to receive chemotherapy, you are given requests on which your treatment is outlined. Please put these in the box located on the left side before entering the application room (at the end of the OACh) and then wait until the cytostatic dilution room prepares your treatment.
16. What happens when my treatment is diluted?
As soon as your treatment is diluted, the employee at the dispensary will mark the treatment as exeuted in the electronic system and your infusions will be transferred from the dispensary to the application room.
As soon as there is a free bed in the application room (we have 39 beds available), the electronic system will prompt you to enter the application room.