Thank you for referring your clients and patients to PennVet's Comprehensive Cancer Care service! We understand how important your patients are, and we appreciate your trust in our care.
We believe that primary care veterinarians play a vital role in the treatment process, and we strive to keep all referring veterinarians updated throughout.
Referring a Case to Our Service
If you are referring a patient to our Comprehensive Cancer Care service, please do the following:
About Referral Letters and Discharges
Referral letters and a copy of the discharges are sent within 24 hours of your patient's visit, and we often reach out to you by phone following the initial consultation. Please contact us at 215-898-4805 or the appropriate service email address with any questions or concerns about a particular patient, or to discuss a referral.
About Monitoring Labwork
Many of our patients require ongoing labwork as part of their treatment plans, such as recheck nadir CBCs for chemotherapy patients. Often, owners prefer to have this labwork done closer to home for convenience. Below are some tips to facilitate labwork at your clinic in order to most efficiently provide results for owners:
- All labwork plans can be found in the last discharge, under "Recommendations and Follow up." If you have any questions about what test to order, please do not hesitate to call us.
- CBC nadirs are most commonly drawn at 7 or 14 days after chemotherapy treatment, but this may vary by patient and the specific chemotherapy drug given.
- It is very helpful to record a TPR and weight for each patient at the time of their visit.
- Automated CBC counts are sufficient in most cases. We recommend saving a blood smear for further evaluation of cytopenias, if necessary. For patients with a history of anemia, performing a manual PCV/solids can be very helpful.
- Please fax all test results to the CCC service at 215-573-6049. It is also helpful to inform clients about the test results directly, so that they can be sure to follow up with the CCC service.
- Please note that faxes are only received Monday-Friday from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm. For patients with significant abnormalities that need immediate attention outside of these hours, especially on weekends, please call the Emergency line and ask to speak to the doctor on call.
- The most common abnormality for chemotherapy patients is neutropenia. Patients should be started on broad-spectrum antibiotics if neutrophils are < 1000 or if the patient is febrile. Neutropenic patients who are sick may be referred to the PennVet Emergency Service for hospitalized care at any time.