About Your Appointments in MSK’s Cellular Immunotherapy Unit

This information describes what to expect during your appointments in MSK’s outpatient Cellular Immunotherapy Unit.

About the Cellular Immunotherapy Unit

This unit is where you’ll have appointments during your outpatient stem cell transplant or chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy. You may also have appointments in the Cellular Immunotherapy Unit before or after your stem cell transplant or CAR T cell therapy.

The Cellular Immunotherapy Unit care team includes:

• Doctors
• Advanced practice providers (APPs), such as nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs)
• Registered nurses
• Patient care technicians/medical assistants
• Care coordinators/medical coordinators
• Pharmacists
• Research Coordinators

Location

The Cellular Immunotherapy Unit is in MSK’s outpatient cellular immunotherapy infusion suite. The address is:

David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care
530 East 74^th Street
New York, NY 10021

Take the elevator to the 12th floor.

Contact information

The Cellular Immunotherapy Unit’s phone number is 646-608-3150. You can call this number and a member of the Cellular Immunotherapy team will answer. If a care team member is not available, your call will be directed to an after-hours telephone triage nurse.

If you think you need to see a doctor right away, go to MSK’s Urgent Care Center (UCC). For more information about when to call the Cellular Immunotherapy Unit or go right to the UCC, read the Outpatient Cellular Therapy Emergency Guide (Color).

The UCC is on the first floor of Memorial Hospital, MSK’s main hospital. The closest entrance is at 425 E. 67^th St. (between 1^st and York avenues). There’s also an entrance at 1275 York Ave. (between East 67^th and East 68^th streets). Both entrances are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Before your appointments

Scheduling your appointments

Your appointments will be scheduled 1 to 2 weeks before each appointment. A care coordinator will schedule your appointments in clinic or over the phone. Make sure we have the best phone number to reach you.

Your appointment times will be scheduled the day before each appointment. A care coordinator will call you with your appointment time. Your appointment time will also show on your MSK MyChart account the night before your appointment. Visit mskmychart.mskcc.org or use the MSK MyChart app to log in to your account.

Your appointment time may be different from day to day. We base the schedule on your medical needs, your treatment, and which rooms and healthcare providers are available. Please arrive at your scheduled appointment time.

Getting to and from your appointments

• If you stay at the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge, an MSK shuttle will bring you to and from the David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care at MSK.
• If you stay at MSK’s 75th Street Patient Residence, an MSK bus or van will bring you to and from the David H. Koch Center for Cancer Care at MSK.

A member of the Cellular Immunotherapy team will give you the shuttle schedule.

What to bring

Bring all your daily medicines. You may need to take them during your visit.

You may also want to bring:

• Your cell phone and charger
• Headphones or earbuds
• Something to read
• Snacks or drinks

Refilling your medicine

Check your medicine bottles to see if refills are available.

• If refills are available:
  Call MSK’s pharmacy at 646-608-1700. You can reach them Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. You can pick up your medicine from the pharmacy or have it delivered to the unit.
• If no refills are available:
  Tell a member of your care team. They will send a new prescription to the pharmacy. Once they do, call the pharmacy to see when you can pick up your medicine or have it delivered.

During your appointments

You will have a lab appointment followed by a treatment appointment at each of your visits.

Lab appointment

During your lab appointment, you will have a blood test. A nurse or patient care technician will check your weight and vital signs (blood pressure, temperature, and heart rate).

After that, you will wait in the waiting room. A care coordinator will bring you to a treatment room when it’s ready.

Treatment appointment

In the treatment room, your nurse will ask how you are feeling. Then you will get your scheduled treatment.

Other healthcare providers will also visit you in your treatment room, including:

• An APP.
• A doctor. If you want to know if your primary doctor will be seeing you, ask the care coordinator when you check in. You may see your doctor’s visits in MSK MyChart, but the scheduled times may not be right.
• A pharmacist. They will visit you during your first treatment to review your medicines. They may also visit you during some of your other appointments, if needed.

How long your visit lasts depends on your treatment.

Before you leave, check with a care coordinator to see if you have any more appointments for the day. You can also check your MSK MyChart account.

After your treatments

After you finish treatment in the Cellular Immunotherapy Unit, your follow-up visits will be in your doctor’s regular clinic. You will still see the same doctor, but you will not see the rest of the Cellular Immunotherapy team.

If you need to reach a care team member after you finish all your treatments, contact your doctor’s office.