|
Saint Barnabas Medical Center Earns National Quality Respiratory Care Recognition Livingston, N.J. -- Saint Barnabas Medical Center has earned Quality Respiratory Care Recognition (QRCR) under a national program aimed at helping patients and families make informed decision about the quality of the respiratory care services available in hospitals. About 700 hospitals or approximately 15 percent of hospitals in the Unite States have applied for and received this award. Saint Barnabas is one of only eight hospitals in New Jersey to currently maintain this designation and has been a recipient since 2007. “We are extremely pleased to be named a Quality Respiratory Care Provider. It recognizes our commitment to providing the highest quality care to our patients with care and compassion,” says John F. Bonamo, M.D., M.S., Executive Director of Saint Barnabas Medical Center. The QRCR program was started by the American Associate for Respiratory Care (AARC) in 2003 to help consumers identify those facilities using qualified respiratory therapists to provide respiratory care. Hospitals earning QRCR designation meet strict safety and quality standards related to the provision of respiratory care services by qualified respiratory therapists. “Our state-of the art technology, high level of specialized care and extensive support services distinguish our Respiratory Care Department,” says Kenneth T. DeFusco, M.D., Medical Director of Respiratory Care at Saint Barnabas Medical Center. Respiratory Therapists at Saint Barnabas work throughout the hospital and are vital in highly specialized patient care areas such as the Open Heart Surgery Program; The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, one of 12 hospitals in the world selected as a model by The Vermont Oxford Network; and The Burn Center at Saint Barnabas, the state’s only certified burn treatment facility. Saint Barnabas also offers a comprehensive approach to respiratory care, including an inpatient smoking cessation program which serves as The New Jersey Medical Society’s template for hospitals across the state; pulmonary rehabilitation for patients following lung surgery; and national and international research concerning respiratory care in premature infants and sleep disorders in adults. In addition, the Respiratory Care Department partners with The Center for Sleep Disorders at Saint Barnabas, accredited by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, to provide a full range of services used in the evaluation, diagnosis and management of sleep-related disorders in adults and children. To qualify for the recognition, Saint Barnabas Medical Center had to meet the following rigorous set of criteria:
Respiratory Therapists are specially trained health care professionals who work under physician’s orders to provide a wide range of breathing treatments and other services to people with asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, lung cancer, AIDS, and other lung or lung-related condition. They also care for premature infants and are key members of lifesaving response teams charged with handling medical emergencies. The AARC is a membership organization representing more that 39,000 healthy professionals involved in respiratory care nationwide. Date: July 9, 2010 Contact: Samantha Anton
[ top ] [ back to news index ] |
|
||||||||
