History
The Erasmus MC is the referral centre for the South-Western part of the Netherlands. Besides the tertiary referral role, the hospital has maintained its role as a public hospital. Activities are focused on treatment, research and teaching. In 2013, all cancer care was brought together in the Cancer Institute, and since 2018, all clinical locations came together in one new hospital building.
Profile
The Erasmus University Medical Center (MC) has 1,125 inpatients beds. The Erasmus MC Cancer Institute contains all specialties in oncology, including medical oncology, haematology, surgery, radiotherapy, paediatric oncology, neuro-oncology, urology, gynaecology, orthopaedics, head and neck oncology, family counselling clinic.
The Erasmus MC Cancer Institute includes:
- Multidisciplinary Tumour Boards for the various cancer types: including the Tumour Board on Cancer Pain and Palliative Care.
- Imaging services.
- Inpatient Consultation Team for Pain and Palliative Care.
- Intramural Unit for Palliative Care and Symptom Control.
- Unit for Psychosocial Care and Consultative Psychiatry: consisting of social workers, psychologists, chaplains, and nursing consultant psychiatry to support psychosocial care for all patients who are in need.
- Pain Clinic.
- AYA lounge.
Erasmus MC participates in the Palliative Care Network Rotterdam and has contacts with all networks in the South-Western part of the Netherlands.
The Cancer Institute has:
- 135 medical specialists and 35 nurse practitioners, are involved in the care for our cancer patients,
- 40 inpatient beds for medical oncology of which 10 dedicated inpatient beds for Palliative Care and Symptom Control,
- 2 nurse practitioners palliative care, 2 physician assistants pain, 3 clinical nurse specialists palliative care, and 2 clinical nurse specialists head and neck cancer & PC outpatient departments with day care unit.
- Palliative care service at our outpatient clinic,
- Clinic for palliative radiotherapy with 4 specialised radiotherapists & 3 cancer nurses.
- The responsibility for coordinating palliative care within the hospital.
Specialities
In the Erasmus MC Cancer Institute, we treat all solid tumours and haemato-oncological malignancies. The department of Medical Oncology focuses its research mainly on translational pharmacology; translational cancer genomics and proteomics; and palliative and supportive care. The research programmes interact extensively, both in the clinic and in our research laboratories.
Palliative and Supportive Care
The Palliative Care Center is intended for patients and their loved ones who are dealing with a life-threatening conditions. By preventing and alleviating suffering, we want to improve the quality of life of these patients and their loved ones.
We want to achieve this by providing specialist palliative care to patients who need it, both in the outpatient clinic and for hospitalised patients. Admission is possible at the Medical Oncology Clinic. In addition, we also have a pain and palliative team, in which specialists from various departments participate, such as an anaesthesiologist (registered as a pain specialist), medical-oncologist, neurologist, psychiatrist, oncology nurses, CNS, social worker and other disciplines as indicated. Our research is embedded in the Expertise Centre of Palliative Care focusing on three research themes: symptom management, care for the dying and medical decisions around the end of life.
Last update: August 2024
