Appointments and Office Visits

Our office is generally open for business between 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Appointment availability will vary, however, depending on the nature of your appointment and/or your particular oncologist's schedule. Every effort is made to accommodate you, the patient, whenever possible.

Each oncologist has a patient care coordinator who will be responsible for scheduling your doctor visits and lab appointments. Working alongside the patient care
coordinator(s) is a medical assistant. The patient care coordinator, medical assistant and oncologist make up the patient care area. Many areas also have a Nurse Practitioner, Physician's Assistant, or Nurse as part of their team.

Your patient care team will coordinate your care at Atlanta Cancer Care. If you will be receiving chemotherapy as part of your treatment, then the Infusion Staff will also become a part of your team. The infusion receptionist or patient care coordinator will generally coordinate your chemotherapy teachings and appointments in conjunction with your doctor and lab visits.

In between appointments, if you should have a question or need to cancel or change an appointment, please contact your patient care coordinator. For chemotherapy appointments, you may need to contact the infusion receptionist. For chemotherapy-related questions or side effects, a nurse may need to call you back after reviewing your chart.

Phone Calls, Questions, Lab Reports, Emergencies, etc.

In general, all questions about your care should be directed to your patient care area during office hours.

Questions related to your chemotherapy treatment will be directed to the nursing staff. Please call your patient care coordinator and leave your name, the nature of your call, and a phone number where you can be reached. The nurse will return your call as soon as possible. Please be patient. The nurse will give your call her full attention as quickly as she can. Emergency calls will, of course, be handled immediately.

If you have an emergency on weekends or outside of office hours, please call our after-hour number at (404) 609-0529, and the on-call physician will be paged.

For life-threatening emergencies, please call 911.

Chemotherapy

If you will be receiving chemotherapy as part of your cancer treatment, you will be scheduled for a teaching appointment prior to your initial treatment. During this teaching appointment, one of the infusion nurses will sit with you at length and thoroughly explain:

• What drug(s) you will be taking and how much for how long;
• The duration of each treatment session;
• Possible side effects and expectations; and
• What to do in case of emergencies or unexpected reactions.

You will receive your treatment in the infusion center. All Atlanta Cancer Care infusion centers offer reclining chairs for patients' comfort. Televisions and movies movies are also available in some locations for your comfort during treatment.

We encourage you to bring a family member or friend with you to your treatment for emotional support, but ask that you please limit your support to one person in the treatment area. The infusion area is limited in space, and several support persons can sometimes cause confusion and unnecessary congestion. For reasons of safety, children under 12 years of age are not allowed in the infusion area.

You are free to bring a lunch and/or snack with your if your treatment will last several hours. We have a refrigerator available to store your lunch if necessary. Hot and cold beverages are available to all patients and family members in the hospitality areas at no charge to you. Snack vending machines may be in the hospitality areas as well. Please ask a staff member to show you the hospitality areas.