When you access the Sentara Thoracic Surgery Center, you'll talk with a patient care coordinator who will take all your information, both from you and your referring physician, including notes from your primary care physician, results from any scans or diagnostic tests, and other important information in order to determine how best to help you.
To contact the Sentara Thoracic Surgery Center at Sentara Heart Hospital call (757) 388-LUNG (5864) or toll free 1 (866) 448-LUNG (5864).
1. From the start, our patient care coordinator and our nurse practitioner (NP) will work with you and our thoracic physicians to determine what additional testing you may need in an expedited manner before your appointment.
2. The NP and patient care coordinator will work to schedule all the tests you need during times that are convenient for you; often these tests can be scheduled back-to-back at the same facility in one or two days to help make the experience as convenient and easy as possible.
3. Once the results of your tests come back, the patient care coordinator will then schedule a follow-up appointment for you to meet with the appropriate physician or surgeon, and consults with other specialists as appropriate.
4. Once youve seen the appropriate team of physicians, we will work with you to determine the best plan of treatment, at which point the patient care coordinator will schedule your treatment appointments.
Through this entire process, the NP will be communicating all your status updates back to your primary care physician.
How can you ensure I am seen quickly? We have protocols in place to provide a smooth appointment and treatment process. We have physicians from every specialty available to focus on managing and treating thoracic diseases and conditions.