Thompson Health and the University of Rochester Medical Center are collaborating to provide excellence in pulmonary and critical care services to patients, families and care teams at Thompson Hospital.
On Aug. 5, URMC pulmonologists began treating Thompson inpatients who have issues related to the lungs and respiratory system. Previously, many of the patients with these issues had to travel to other hospitals in order to receive pulmonary services during their hospitalizations.
In addition, pulmonary and critical care consultations from URMC are more readily available to Thompson professionals now.
The new services are a result of Thompson’s 2012 affiliation with URMC.
Senior Vice President of Medical Services Dr. Carlos R. Ortiz says with pulmonologists on-site on a regular basis, more bronchoscopies are expected to be performed at Thompson now. A bronchoscopy is an outpatient diagnostic procedure involving a thin fiber optic tube.
“This enhancement of services is a natural step in the affiliation and the evolution of improving local, in-hospital services, and it will benefit the community by allowing us to locally manage some of the more complicated medical cases,” Dr. Ortiz says, noting the goal is for further outpatient pulmonology services in 2014.