Continuously improving the quality of research, assistance, and care is one of the chief points of the Institute’s mission. To bring these improvement efforts to life, IEO has developed multi-year plans with objectives in line with international standards of excellence.

The first phase of this process (2002-2005) started with accreditation by Joint Commission International, the world’s most authoritative body for determining healthcare safety and quality standards. The evaluations made after accreditation inspections certify that the Institute has achieved top-level performance in patient care. Since 2003, this “structural” phase has been supported by ISO 9001:2008 certification of different organizational, clinical and scientific procedures.

The second phase (2006-2010) was oriented towards developing and carrying out various specific projects, which included:

• improving patient safety through the institution of the Risk Management Service
• creating IEO 2, a building dedicated to prevention and to day and outpatient care
• better educating patients and their families, and improving how they are provided with information, thanks to the publication of a series of healthcare guides also available in digital format
• getting patients more involved in the care and assistance plan, through the creation of “care itineraries” and “care diaries” in which patients log their experiences, supplementing the clinical/healthcare path
• improving pain assessment and therapy
• preventing accidental falls.

The third phase (2011-2014) aimed at consolidating the practises developed in the previous phases, along with developing new projects for innovating new healthcare technologies and improving the delivered services based on our patients’ suggestions. In June 2014, IEO, Italy’s leading cancer hospital, achieved prestigious OECI (Organization of European Cancer Institutes) accreditation, demonstrating that it possesses the features to be designated a Comprehensive Cancer Centre.

Under the new IEO improvement plan (2015 -2018), IEO is to make project and economic investments to improve certain points that were raised by the patients:

1. modernizing technology through the acquisition of a new Nuclear Magnetic Resonance machineusing new and increasingly accurate methods for early diagnosis
2. continuity of care for patients who have undergone surgery, through the institution of a 24-hour Oncological Emergency Room with a dedicated nursing staff and with dedicated equipment and facilities;
3. creating and developing the International Office in order to be able to better accommodate patients arriving from abroad;
4. continuing the struggle against smoking through the renewal of the “Anti-Smoking Centre” where Psychologists, Lung Specialists, and Cardiologists will strive to help those who wish to quit smoking. For 10 years, IEO has been a smoke-free hospital;
5. a service dedicated to handling the problems of acute postoperative pain through an APS – Acute Pain Service – managed by the Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Division, guaranteed for all patients hospitalized after surgery. The APS, in compliance with the application of law no. 38 of 2010, sees the optimal management of pain reporting and care, also through the application of such cutting-edge techniques as epidural anaesthesia and PCA;
6. intensifying the fight against hospital-acquired infections through the promotion of the “Hospital Infections” project. An extensive hand-washing campaign is underway with healthcare workers, patients, relatives, and visitors, to prevent what is considered the main source of hospital-acquired infections.