In 2021, when BayCare’s Morton Plant Hospital opened its lung nodule clinic, the team saw 22 patients. In 2025, they saw 373 patients. That means more people getting screened for lung cancer, finding nodules earlier, receiving immediate treatment and beating cancer. The clinic is a model example of how BayCare strives for high-quality care for patients through an innovative approach that simplifies and fast-tracks access to specialists.
Patients like Joel Castor have benefitted from the lung nodule clinic after a visit with BayCare Medical Group primary care provider Dimitri Tsalickis, DO. Castor’s enrollment into the clinic was effortless on his part because of the processes set up by BayCare and powered by nurse navigators.
The clinic’s nurse navigators review all CT chest scans and other lung imaging from four BayCare outpatient imaging centers – Carlisle Imaging Center at Morton Plant Hospital and BayCare Outpatient Imaging at Bardmoor, Trinity and Countryside. If a lung nodule measures 6mm or greater, the patient can be seen at the clinic, and a navigator reaches out to the patient’s doctor about contacting the patient.
“We are here to remove barriers to diagnosis and treatment and to assist patients through the process,” said Ken Tardiff RN, one of the navigators who discussed Castor’s lung CT scan with Dr. Tsalickis.
Dr. Tsalickis ordered the CT scan after reviewing medical history during a new patient appointment. The nodule was visible on prior imaging reports ordered years prior for an unrelated condition, but was not addressed until Castor transitioned his primary care to Dr. Tsalickis. The new scan was scheduled at BayCare’s Outpatient Imaging Center in Trinity, initiating the comprehensive, patient-centered care offered by the lung nodule clinic. A navigator connected with Dr. Tsalickis and recommended Castor for care at the clinic. Dr. Tsalickis then told Castor about the clinic, followed by a conversation with Tardif.
Within a week, Castor met with a pulmonologist who discussed the findings of the imaging report and recommended he have a robotic-assisted bronchoscopy to fully evaluate his airways, pinpoint the nodule and biopsy it. The bronchoscopy and biopsy results indicated stage 1 cancer, totally contained in a single spot. Again, the lung nodule clinic’s navigator streamlined appointments for Castor to see a cardiothoracic surgeon for a surgical evaluation. The surgeon recommended a robotic-assisted removal of the upper lobe of the right lung, an outpatient procedure for Castor.
Only 40 days after Castor was first seen in the lung nodule clinic, he left Morton Plant Hospital a few hours after the surgery, cancer free.
“I didn’t need any additional treatment and after a few weeks, I am almost back to normal,” Castor said just five weeks after the surgery. “I can continue to live my life and do the things I love thanks to the outstanding care I received.”
BayCare also has lung cancer screening programs at St. Anthony’s Hospital in St. Petersburg and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa.
Learn more: Lung Cancer Screening Program
