April 25, 2008 — Schneider Regional Medical Center has won a national award for respiratory care for the fourth year.
The Quality Respiratory Care Recognition is part of a program designed to help patients and families make informed decisions about the quality of respiratory care services available in hospitals, according to a news release from the hospital. The award is made only to hospitals meeting the standards of the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC).
"This year, only 700 U.S. hospitals, or approximately 15 percent, qualified for the recognition," the release said.
The AARC requires documentation that a hospital's respiratory therapists are properly certified, legally recognized as competent by the government, supervised by a doctor of medicine or osteopathy, available for patient care 24 hours a day, and that there are written procedures and adequate supervision of other personnel qualified to perform specific respiratory procedures. Schneider Regional Medical Center again has met all the criteria, according to the release.
Respiratory therapists are specially trained health-care professionals who, working under a physician's supervision, provide breathing treatments and other services to people suffering from lung-related conditions, including asthma, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis and AIDS. They often are required to assist in the treatment of premature babies and patients requiring emergency medical attention.
Schneider's medical director, Dr. Thelma Ruth Watson, recently announced an improvement in emergency room response to patients with asthma-related complications. Respiratory therapists are being assigned to the ER, primarily to counsel patients and their families on proper use of medications, and to educate them about how to identify an approaching crisis.
The involvement of respiratory therapists at this level will reduce the probability of future asthma-related emergencies involving the same patients, said Watson, who is board certified in both internal and emergency medicine.
Schneider Regional Medical Center is listed on the website of the American Association for Respiratory Care, along with other hospitals recognized for quality respiratory care. AARC's national program of recognition is designed to promote those hospitals meeting its high standards of patient care and safety, and assuring the general public of the quality of that service.
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