Community Clinical Oncology Program

Rosenbluth, Richard

Abstract

The Bergen Passaic Community Hospital Oncology Program forms the foundation of the Bergen-Passaic Community Clinical Oncology Program. This consortium of three hospitals has already developed a solid core of cancer control programs in a community hospital setting. In addition, we have access to high quality equipment and staff that assure a strong base on which to build a CCOP. In Section II of our proposal we have outlined the specific aims and emphasized three basic components: structure and management, clinical research, and evaluation. We specifically cite (a) maintenance of a structural base which supports physician involvement, (b) maintenance of physician support for the total cancer program, (c) expansion of BP-CCOP physician involvement in protocol formulation and patient accrual, (d) establishment of standards of excellence, (e) participation in quality control measures, (f) provisions of extensive data to the NCI for evaluation, and (g) establishment of an integrated data collection system. We have paid special attention, in our Methodology Section, to the development of an appropriate system for patient identification, data collection, quality control and pharmacy procedures. These systems were developed with the idea that they were appropriate for our CCOP and would produce the highest quality clinical research.