Keyserling Cancer Center

Duke Affiliation

Why partner with Duke?

Duke is internationally known as a leading academic medical center. Consistently ranked among the top cancer and heart treatment centers by U.S. News & World Report, Duke is the top rated center for both services in the Southeast.

Duke has extensive research and educational capabilities, which provide Beaufort clinicians with access to new procedures and protocols. Duke also has a long history of partnering with community hospitals with the expectation that such affiliations result in more patients receiving their care at home, rather than traveling out of their communities.

Duke acknowledges that affiliations such as this provide them with experience with a broader base of patients, physicians and medical practices, all of which improves their ability to stay at the forefront of medical knowledge.

Beaufort Memorial Hospital represents Duke’s only affiliation in South Carolina and the second outside the state of North Carolina.

How will Duke work with my local doctor?

The affiliation with Beaufort Memorial Hospital and its medical staff is based on collaboration, not competition. Doctors on Beaufort Memorial’s medical staff have access to Duke’s specialized cancer and heart services to offer more sophisticated options here in Beaufort, but are in no way required to use these services.

What is the goal for the Cancer Center?
Through the affiliation with Duke, Beaufort Memorial's goal is to have the Keyserling Cancer Center designated a Community Hospital Cancer Program by the American College of Surgeons. This goal takes a few years to accomplish and is expected to be accomplished by 2010.

In a designated Community Hospital Cancer Program, everything from cancer prevention, education, diagnosis, treatment options, rehabilitation, and follow-up are provided. Treatment options might include surgery, medical oncology, radiation oncology, pain management, or physical therapy, such as lymphedema therapy. Other related services include case management, clinical trials, nutritional counseling, psychosocial support, and a patient/family education library within the center.

Community Hospital Cancer Programs are also involved in research, which makes the Duke affiliation an important component.

How does this affiliation make my local hospital better?

By partnering with a major academic medical center, Beaufort Memorial Hospital can give local access to clinical trials and research programs sponsored through Duke. As part of the affiliation agreement, Beaufort Memorial must adopt protocols and maintain standards of care required by Duke. This provides our community with further assurances that the excellent quality of care provided at Beaufort Memorial Hospital will be maintained and further enhanced.

The affiliation also provides continuing education and special training opportunities for BMH physicians, nurses, technicians, pharmacists and other disciplines, helping to keep our healthcare services among the best imaginable for a community hospital.

For more information

If you would like to learn more about cancer services at Beaufort Memorial Hospital, contact Oncology Program Administrator Connie Duke, R.N., O.C.N., at (843) 522-7925.

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