Sandra L. Wong, MD, of the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, summarizes three abstracts for which she was the discussant. The topics were rates of surgical site infections, an online resource for hospital cancer surgery volumes, and barriers to oncology appointments at comprehensive cancer centers. (Abstracts 171, 172, 55)
Lawrence N. Shulman, MD, of the University of Pennsylvania, discusses his paper, which explores lessons learned from analyses of the National Cancer Data Base. (Abstract 173)
Randall F. Holcombe, MD, of the Icahn Mount Sinai School of Medicine, discusses the challenges of delivering quality care in an academic setting at a large hospital.
Kerin B. Adelson, MD, of the Yale Cancer Center, discusses an electronic decision support tool to capture staging data. This information allows automated reports for clinical trial screening, outcomes analysis, quality comparisons, and reporting. (Abstract 151)
Sarina Isenberg, PhD Candidate, of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, discusses the cost savings of a comprehensive hospital-based palliative care program. (Abstract 2)
Monika K. Krzyzanowska, MD, of Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, summarizes a session that she co-chaired on this key topic.
