Breast center accreditation at Sherman Hospital more than just a recognition

Elgin, Ill.: It was the goal from the beginning - create a nationally accredited breast center that offered the highest level of quality care.

The Center for Breast Care at Elgin-based Advocate Sherman Hospital earned the National Accreditation Program for Breast Centers (NAPBC) recognition after a more than two-year-long process that started when the center was established in 2009. This year, the center was re-approved for another three years.

"It guarantees that all the patients are getting state-of-the-art care," says Dr. Rachel Baer, medical director of the center at Sherman Hospital. "It tells patients, if you go to an accredited center, it doesn't matter if you are a small hospital, regional medical center or university research center, you are going to get the same high quality, evidence-based care."

Accreditation is only given to centers that voluntarily undergo and pass a rigorous evaluation process and review of their performance to meet NAPBC standards. The end result, a breast care center that treats women who are diagnosed with the full spectrum of breast disease.

The process

Staff immediately began the process for earning accreditation following the creation of the Center for Breast Care in 2009.

That started with a gap analysis in order to determine what needed to be done to obtain the recognition, and once completed, a Breast Program Leadership Committee was formed and the application process began.

The NAPBC standards include proficiency in the areas of center leadership, clinical management, research, community outreach, professional education, and quality improvement.

"A lot of blood, sweat and tears went into this process," says Karen Greetis, nurse navigator at the Cancer Care Center at Sherman Hospital. "We needed everyone's collaboration to make this thing work."

After creating the leadership committee, the group held an Interdisciplinary Breast Cancer Conference where physicians reviewed and discussed newly diagnosed breast cancer cases. Interdisciplinary Patient Management was then determined to make sure the right staff was in place. All three are requirements for accreditation.

Two years of preparation and paperwork culminated with visit from an assigned NAPBC surveyor, who evaluated the center. That process included a two-hour question-and-answer session with team members.

"I remember I had prepared myself to answer any question the surveyor may have had," says Baer. But, I found as I sat there, each member of the team immediately stepped up and had a great answer in their area of expertise. I knew then we had succeeded, and we didn't even know the final outcome yet."

The center is now one of four Advocate Health Care facilities to earn the accreditation.

What it means

The accreditation ensures many things to the patient and the team members.

That includes access to comprehensive care and a full range of state-of-the-art services; a multidisciplinary team approach to coordinate the best treatment options; information about ongoing clinical trials and new treatment options; and quality breast care close to home.

"It's a great feeling to know we've evaluated our center and can tell the community we have an amazing interdisciplinary team that can treat breast cancer," says Michelle Popadiuk, oncology program and cancer data coordinator at Sherman Hospital. "We exceed standards, and to be able to show patients that is amazing."

Experts at the center meet biweekly to discuss newly diagnosed breast cancer patients to determine the best possible care for each individual patient.

The center itself offers screenings and diagnostic exams; an on-site, board-certified radiologist; same-day results for diagnostic exams; outpatient stereotactic and core biopsy procedures; digital mammograms; breast ultrasound; and breast MRI, among other services.

The team also is current on the latest technology, offering the advanced CT simulator and the Pivotal Prone Breast Care system.

"The accreditation requires us to stay current," says Popadiuk. "The whole team has to be able to further their knowledge of breast cancer each year so they are able to understand what is going on at the forefront of their area to bring it back and contribute to best practices."

For more information about the Center for Breast Care, visit www.advocatehealth.com/sherman.