Services Provided
Outpatient Pulmonary Rehabilitation
The Outpatient Pulmonary rehabilitation program is designed to help people with pulmonary diseases including:
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)
- Chronic Bronchitis
- Pulmonary Emphysema
- Pulmonary Fibrosis (Interstitial Lung Disease)
- Pulmonary Sarcoidosis
- Other Pulmonary Disease
This program is designed to achieve a maximum level of functional independence. By combining education, exercise and individual therapy the Outpatient Pulmonary Rehabilitation program includes:
- Decreasing respiratory symptoms
- Relieving anxiety and depression
- Increasing a patient's ability to perform the tasks of daily living
- Increasing capacity of exercise and endurance
- Improving a patient's ability to return to work
The Outpatient Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program provides a full range of services, including:
- Individual evaluations
- Educational information
- Individually designed, monitored and unmonitored exercise
- Mutual Goal Setting
- Therapeutic Counseling
- Referrals for specialized services
- Post-program activity maintenance
- Home exercise prescription
Pulmonary Laboratory Diagnostic Services
Our Pulmonary Laboratory performs diagnostic examinations for the detection of pulmonary abnormalities and ventilatory efficiency, including:
- Spirometry (flow volume loop pre and post bronchodilator)
- Spirometry and lung volumes
- Complete pulmonary function, including spirometry, lung volumes, DLCOsb and ABGs
- Diffusing capacity single breath
- Diffusing capacity steady state, dead space and gas exchange
- Pulse oximetry, single resting and exercise
- Methacholine challenge test
- Pulmonary stress test
- Arterial blood gas analysis
- Carboxy hemoglobin with blood saturation
Respiratory Care
Respiratory Care, a division of Patient Care Services, functions under the medical direction of the chief of pulmonary/critical care medicine and the administrative direction of the director of patient care services. We are a centralized department in the hospital, available 24 hours a day, whose primary concentration of coverage is in the adult and neonatal intensive care units, intermediate care areas, the emergency response team and medical/surgical nursing floors.
The Respiratory Care Department:
- Employs over 40 licensed therapists
- Therapists actively participate in the multi-disciplinary health care team approach to quality patient care
- Our scope of practice encompasses patients of all ages with both acute and chronic pulmonary dysfunction or disease
- The respiratory care practitioner’s expertise is emergency response, ventilation management, evaluation and assessment, therapeutic treatment and diagnostic testing
- Emphasize and provide education to patients and their families, focusing on health promotion and health maintenance, designed to optimize each individual’s quality of life