Outpatient Oncology Video Tour: Buerger Center

Outpatient Oncology Video Tour: Buerger Center

Max: Hi, welcome to the Buerger Center. The full name’s pretty long.

Mike: I hear you’re going to start coming here for your outpatient care. That means, you’ll visit just for the day to see your doctor or to get your medicine and then go home.

Max: My name’s Max and this is my dad.

Mike: I’m Mike.

Max: We’re going to show you around a little bit.

Mike: This is all new to you and it may be scary or confusing, but we’ve been through it and we’re here to help. After Max was diagnosed with cancer, we came to Buerger a lot. But, now, he’s back in school and doing great. If you have to get treated for cancer, this is the best place to come. Let’s head inside.

Max: Everybody here is friendly. Even the people at the Welcome Desk.

Mike: We stop here to get a visitor pass. There’s a café and snack shop with seats inside and outside. Kids and parents can wander around the garden.

Max: I love it here. The garden’s the best. Let’s take the elevator to the third floor, come on. Come on camera. First, you need to check in.

Mike: You can bring anything you want from home — toys, games, even homework. While you’re waiting, you can have fun on the wait, play, learn areas or hang out in the playroom. Parents can get work done.

Max: Boring!

Mike: You can bring food, and they have snacks and brown bag lunches here.

Max: They pretty much thought of everything.

Jen: Hey Max, hey dad

Max: Hey Jen

Jen: Are you ready to see how much you’ve grown since your last visit?

Max: Yeah

Jen: All right, let’s check your blood pressure and temperature too.

Max: OK

Mike: Then, you can hang out in the playroom till the next part of your visit here.

Max: We’re going to stay here and Jen’s going to take it away.

Jen: Hi, I’m Jen. I’m an oncology nurse and the patient-family education specialist. I help children and families transition from inpatient to outpatient care. You may be nervous to be going home from the Hospital for the first time. That’s normal. And we’re all here to help.

Every child’s visit is different. Some visits will be for an exam with the doctor or nurse practitioner. Other times, you might just need to have labs checked. If you have a central line, the nurse can draw labs and do any dressing changes in rooms called vascular access rooms. We also have a phlebotomy lab for kids who don’t have a central line or who choose to have labs drawn from a vein or a finger stick.

Depending on your visit, you might go to an exam room or to a room for procedures like a spinal tap. We also have a larger room where children receive general anesthesia or sleep medicine when needed for their procedures.

At this point, your visit might be finished and you would go to the red desk to schedule your next visit. Or, you might go to the Alex Scott Day Hospital if you need a blood or platelet transfusion, chemotherapy or if you’re not feeling well. That’s where you’ll go next to meet Dr. Rheingold.

Dr. Rheingold: Hi, I’m Dr. Susan Rheingold, the kids call me Dr. Sue. A lot of patients spend a good portion of their visit in the Day Hospital. CHOP designed the Day Hospital and this whole building with families and patients in mind. You’ll sit in one of these comfy reclining chairs in front of these big windows. Your family can sit right here with you. Child life specialists have all kinds of activities like art, games, and medical play to keep you busy. Your nurses are all right here, just a few steps away.

We have a playroom in the Day Hospital where you can hang out even when you’re hooked up to your IV pole. There’s a mural here that honors Alex Scott, who was a patient here and founded Alex’s Lemonade Stand. When your treatment is finished for the day, it’s very important that you stop at the blue checkout desk before you leave and make an appointment for your next visit.

Even when you’re not at CHOP, we’re still here for you. We have an oncology nurse on the phone every single day, including weekends and holidays to answer your questions and guide you at home. After 5 p.m., you can call our on-call oncology fellow. We certainly hope you are feeling your best at home. If you don’t feel well or have a fever, your caregiver needs to call us.

We know this is a stressful time for you. Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is one of the best hospitals in the world. So just know, you’re in the right place. We’re here for you and your family, every step of the way. We want you to know that we’re all in this together.