Clinical Review
Expediting Lung Nodule Evaluations: Experience from the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System
Fed Pract. 2009 March;26(3):14
Author and Disclosure Information
Mary C. Van Buskirk, APRN, BC, CCRN, MSN and Charles W. Atwood, Jr., MD
Ms. Van Buskirk is an acute care nurse practitioner and the coordinator for the Lung Nodule Evaluation Program (LNEP) and Dr. Atwood is a staff pulmonologist and a physician member of the LNEP team, both at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, PA. In addition, Dr. Atwood is an associate professor of medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA and a fellow of the American College of Chest Physicians.
This VA facility dramatically reduced the average interval between nodule detection and lung cancer diagnosis by establishing an algorithm-based program that is coordinated by a nurse practitioner and administered by a multidisciplinary team outside of the traditional clinic setting.