Abstract
Children with brain tumors require multi-disciplinary subspecialty care. Unlike other childhood cancers, subspecialty care is needed both during survivorship and also during active treatment. Although most major pediatric neuro-oncology centers provide a multidisciplinary clinic, we describe our unique bi-monthly clinic as an example for other centers. We also present the nurse coordinator position in detail. In the prior 2 years, our clinic had 346 patient visits. We have 8 subspecialty providers (ophthalmology, endocrinology, neurosurgery, rehabilitation, radiation oncology, neuro-oncology, neuropsychology, social work, dietician) in order to support the complex care these children need. Anecdotal reports show patient satisfaction to receiving all care including follow up MRI in one day. The coordinator role for the clinic is combined between a nurse practitioner, nurse, and scheduler who meet bi-weekly to ensure the correct providers and scans are ordered for each patient. The nurse orders the follow up visit and scans and provides a patient summary handout as the patient leaves. The nurse practitioner combines all of the providers’ notes into a summary letter for the primary care provider. Successes and pitfalls will be presented to inform other multi-disciplinary clinic nurse coordinators.