History
In 1936 the original hospital of 70 beds was established. Since then the Rabin Medical Centre campus has grown to over 1,300 beds and includes a number of medical centres. Until 2004 the cancer services were provided in a make-shift medical ward, the cancer ward was then relocated to the Davidoff Centre which is a free-standing building on the Rabin campus and treats 15% of all cancer patients in Israel.
Profile
The Davidoff Centre has 2 inpatient wards (medical oncology and haemato-oncology) with a total of 50 beds; there is a Day Care Unit (day-ward) for outpatient chemotherapy and day procedures.
The Radiotherapy Centre has 4 Linear Accelerators (with On-Board Imaging facility), brachytherapy and a facility for radio-surgery.
Of all in-patient beds 50% are single rooms; in the Day Care Unit most are 2 and 4-bed rooms with dividers for privacy; each bed has a television.
There are approx. 40 full-time medical staff at Davidoff including trainees; and almost 80 nursing staff; 12 full-time social workers; 2 dieticians; one physiotherapist; 3 psychologists and 1 psychiatrist.
Provided free of charge for the patients are: undercover parking; cafeteria; hair-stylist and wig service; hot and cold snacks for chemotherapy Day Care Unit patients.
Specialities
The Medical Oncology service is divided into a number of Units based on disease origin: GI, Melanoma, Breast, Lung, Genito-urinary; Gynaecology; Sarcoma and Brain. The GI and Breast Units have dedicated clinical nurses.
The Haemato-oncology service is divided into different disease units: Bone-Marrow transplant, Myeloma, Leukaemia, Lymphoma and Benign Haematology.
There is a large and busy Integrated Medicine clinic in the Davidoff Centre run by a specialist physician which enables the patients to safely explore different therapies according to their symptoms and beliefs.
Palliative and Supportive Care
The Pain and Palliative Care Service is staffed by one full-time physician, a half-time nurse and a half-time social worker. It is a consultative service only, although patients can be admitted to the oncology ward for stabilization under the joint care of the Attending Oncologist and the Palliative Care Unit. Whilst most patients are seen at the Davidoff Centre, the Unit also reviews cancer patients in the General Medical and Surgical wards in the adjacent medical centre. We have an active Psycho-oncology service. Our philosophy is to be strong advocates for the patients and to guide them and their families through the illness pathway.
