What is your clinical background and current role at Wilson Medical Center (Wilson, North Carolina) team?
I am a clinically trained Pulmonary and Critical Care physician. I am trained and board-certified in Internal Medicine, Pulmonary Medicine and board eligible in Critical Care. I am currently covering both inpatient (medical ICU and Pulmonary consults) at Wilson Medical Center and the outpatient pulmonary clinic at Wilson Pulmonary associates.
What were your expectations joining the Wilson Medical Center team?
The expectations I set for myself when joining the Wilson team was to establish our facility as the lung cancer program of choice by instituting a successful outpatient pulmonary clinic and inpatient Pulmonary and Critical Care team. I also plan to bring services to Wilson Medical Center to include navigation and EBUS bronchoscopy, to assist with the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer.
What has been your most memorable learning moment since joining Wilson Medical Center?
There have been many, but I would have to say learning how much Duke LifePoint invests in and supports their providers so they can be successful.
What are your current goals for the LCS program/Nodule Clinic at Wilson Medical Center and how do you intend to accomplish them?
As previously mentioned, my current focus is bringing services to Wilson Medical Center that include navigation and EBUS bronchoscopy. This will be yet another tool in place to assist our team with the diagnosis and staging of lung cancer.
How do you see Eon as a benefit to your lung cancer screening program at Wilson?
I am still new to the team and am in the early phases of learning what Eon can do for our facility. There is a lot to learn about the software and an equal amount of opportunities to gain insight into our program here at Wilson.
What is your favorite Eon software feature so far?
I like that Eon is able to catch and direct pulmonary nodules appropriately to our oncology navigator. It ensures these nodules are tracked when they would have previously been missed otherwise.
Describe some of the changes you have made since joining Wilson Medical Center. How did those changes impact you/your program and how did you/your program adapt?
I am excited to bring EBUS and navigation bronchoscopy to Wilson. Our program was able to adapt our current workflow to incorporate these services. We are currently in the process of training and educating current and future staff to assist with these procedures.
What topic do you think is most important to cover when educating referring providers about the importance of lung cancer screening?
The most important piece is to educate primary care provider’s on which patients should be screened for lung cancer.
How are you currently educating PCPs in your area?
We are holding a lung cancer screening lecture series January 2020 directed at PCPs. This series will provide direction for PCPS on how and when to screen patients for lung cancer.
What advice would you give to a colleague that is considering starting a lung cancer screening program or nodule clinic at their facility?
Remember, it takes a team to build a lung cancer/nodule program so be patient.
