The Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) has consolidated its endoscopy program into one brand new unit at the Chatham campus, meshing state-of-the-art equipment and space with a more patient-friendly experience.
CKHA staff opened the doors of the new unit Friday for a tour, with procedures beginning Monday morning. CKHA Chief Operating Officer Sarah Padfield; Chief of Surgery, Dr. Elizabeth Haddad and Surgery Program Director, Eleanor Groh, conducted the tour, showcasing how much better the experience will be for patients coming in for a gastroscope (esophagus, stomach) or colonoscopy (bowel).
A self-contained unit on the third floor, the new space allows patients to register, change, be prepped, scoped and recover all in one area with an easy flow from start to finish, with special attention given to making the experience easier, more comfortable and with better infection control procedures.
Padfield said patients can now be dropped off at the ambulatory care doors of the hospital with a short walk to the elevators that take them directly into the unit. It is another short walk from a bright and spacious waiting area to the prep room where nurses ready patients for intravenous sedation. Patients are put on a stretcher to the procedure room with new state-of-the-art imaging equipment, and after, stay on the same stretcher to go to recovery – a U-shaped journey designed to flow in a safe and efficient manner.
“Prep (for a scope) is not the most pleasant of experiences, and patients are often weak from not eating before,” Padfield said. “We tried to make the area more serene and relaxing with patient comfort a priority.”
The new unit also features a “dirty room” where scopes are cleaned and sterilized, then transferred to a closed off “clean room” where the scopes are stored.
“This is the latest standard for infectious diseases control with no risk of contamination,” Padfield said. “We weren’t able to meet that standard in our previous set up. This is a key piece of the design to meet and set the standard.”
With the new unit also comes the opportunity for teaching and learning opportunities within the CKHA, and the potential for research with the Schulich Medical School at Western University in London.
The endoscopy unit is a high volume and important service the CKHA provides, and is designated as a colorectal cancer diagnostic assessment program for the Erie St. Clair Regional Cancer Program.
According to Haddad, the CKHA performs more than 7,000 scopes per year, including 750 scopes per year for cancer colon screening in patients over 50 years of age and for people with a family history of colon cancer, or a positive result for microscopic blood in their stool.
“Through screening, we can increase the survival rate to 80 % to prevent (colon) cancer from developing by removing polyps during the scope, in a less invasive procedure,” Haddad said. “We have updated all the equipment and these scopes can see around corners a lot better; the accuracy is better and we will see a higher completion rate (from the start of the bowel to the end).”
She added that the rate of colorectal cancer in North Amercia is 5%. According to the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of death in Ontario and the third most common cancer diagnosed.
