Clinical Setting and Electronic Medical Record
This study was conducted at the University of California San Diego and
Rady Children’s Hospital San Diego. Rady Children’s Hospital is a large
tertiary academic institution. Pediatric cancer care is provided at the
Peckham
Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, the largest pediatric cancer
care facility in San Diego, Riverside and Imperial counties, providing
care for children and adolescents with blood disorders and cancer
diagnoses in a region that includes around one million children.
Approximately 260 new cases of pediatric cancer are diagnosed annually
at our institution. Most patients require treatment with chemotherapy,
radiation, immunotherapy, stem-cell transplant, or a combination of
these modalities.
During clinic visits and hospital admissions, patients with cancer are
seen either by advance practice providers, resident and fellow
physicians with a supervising pediatric hematology/oncology attending
physician acting as the preceptor, or solely by an attending physician.
All clinical documentation is completed electronically in a commercial
electronic medical record (EMR) [Epic® Systems
Corporation, Verona, Wisconsin], which was implemented six years prior
to the beginning of our QI initiative.