{"id":129092,"date":"2024-04-02T23:16:23","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T03:16:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=129092"},"modified":"2024-04-02T23:26:31","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T03:26:31","slug":"st-lukes-achieves-center-of-excellence-designation-for-labor-and-delivery-ob-anesthesia-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=129092","title":{"rendered":"St. Luke\u2019s Achieves Center of Excellence Designation for Labor and Delivery, OB Anesthesia Programs"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo caption: Kristal Nemeroff, who suffers from \u201cbrittle bones disease,\u201d gave birth to her son, Christian, in March 2022, with help from a multidisciplinary team at St. Luke\u2019s. (photo provided by ST. LUKE\u2019S UNIVERSITY HEALTH NETWORK)
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The Labor and Delivery Unit and Obstetric Anesthesia Service at St. Luke\u2019s Anderson Campus have been designated as a Center of Excellence (COE) by the Society of Obstetric Anesthesia and Perinatology (SOAP), putting them in elite company with select, national organizations that provide the highest level of safe and effective anesthesia care for women and their babies.<\/p>\n

According to the SOAP website, the four-year COE designation recognizes institutions and programs that demonstrate excellence in obstetric anesthesia care and meet a benchmark of expected care to improve standards nationally and internationally, which focus on reducing mortality before, during and after childbirth. With this designation, St. Luke\u2019s becomes only the third health system in Pennsylvania to achieve this recognition, joining the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.<\/p>\n

Thomas Pfeiffer, MD, director of obstetric anesthesia for St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network (SLUHN), said this recognition confirms the strength of the organization\u2019s ongoing commitment to implementing best practices in providing pain relief and safe newborn delivery across the network, where nearly 5,000 babies are born annually.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur focus on continuous communication, education and collaboration with our high-risk patients and their multidisciplinary team of primary care, OB, maternal-fetal medicine and anesthesia physicians follows our rigorous policies, plans and practices in caring for our medically complex patients,\u201d Dr. Pfeiffer said. He is one of approximately 600 anesthesiologists in the nation who have completed a year-long fellowship in obstetric anesthesia, a subspecialty that is devoted to the comprehensive management of high-risk pregnancies. He also is SLUHN\u2019s co-director of anesthesia education.<\/p>\n

Kristal Nemeroff, of Effort, Pa., experienced this extraordinary level of specialized care at St. Luke\u2019s during her pregnancy and the birth of her second son, Christian. Born with a genetic condition known as osteogenesis imperfecta, or \u201cbrittle bones disease,\u201d Nemeroff\u2019s high-risk pregnancy and complex delivery received continuous, careful attention and planning from her entire team, resulting in a safe, uncomplicated birth via cesarean delivery on March 21, 2022. Possible complications, including bone fractures, hemorrhage or even death were avoided due to this preparation and teamwork\u2014with her at the center\u2014led by her MFM specialist Hannah Anastasio, MD.<\/p>\n

Dr. Anastasio initiated the cascade of specialists including MFM, obstetrics, physical therapy and Dr. Pfeiffer of obstetric anesthesiology to focus their attention on the safe delivery of their patient and her newborn. Several members of the Complex Mothers Team met with Nemeroff to address her concerns and minimize risk culminating in a multidisciplinary discussion to ensure everyone was coordinated on goals of care.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was amazed by the fantastic, compassionate and diligent care I received from the MFM team,\u201d said the 36-year-old mother of two. \u201cMine wasn\u2019t an average case, and all the doctors listened to me, knew the details of my condition and were prepared to deliver my baby. They all made me feel so comfortable, safe and understood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. Pfeiffer led the institution\u2019s efforts to achieve this COE designation, which required a rigorous, multifactorial review of St. Luke\u2019s Anderson Campus\u2019s staffing, protocols, training, quality reviews and technology by SOAP. A plaque bearing the COE designation will be presented formally to St. Luke\u2019s at SOAP\u2019s annual meeting in May. SOAP comprises anesthesiologists, obstetricians, pediatricians, and basic scientists from around the world who share an interest in the care of the pregnant patient and the newborn.<\/p>\n

\u201cDr. Pfeiffer, through his ACGME (Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education) fellowship at Columbia University and extensive experience, adds an extra layer of expertise to our OB anesthesia program that results in the achievement of benchmark clinical safety outcomes and patient satisfaction scores in the 99th percentile on our labor and delivery units throughout our network,\u201d said Aldo Carmona, MD, chairman of anesthesia for St. Luke\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder Dr. Pfeiffer\u2019s leadership, our multidisciplinary teams are hyper-focused on providing the highest level of anesthesia care possible to our patients, with the mission of continuously reducing mortality and morbidity in expectant and new mothers and their newborns.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would not be possible without the support and involvement of our OBGYN physicians, certified registered nurse anesthetists, labor and delivery nurses and support staff working as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photo caption: Kristal Nemeroff, who suffers from \u201cbrittle bones disease,\u201d gave birth to her son, Christian, in March 2022, with help from a multidisciplinary team at St. Luke\u2019s.<\/p>\n

About St. Luke\u2019s<\/strong><\/p>\n

Founded in 1872,\u00a0St. Luke\u2019s University Health Network<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0(SLUHN) is a fully integrated, regional, non-profit network of more than 20,000 employees providing services at 15 campuses and 300+ outpatient sites.\u00a0 With annual net revenue of $3.4 billion, the Network\u2019s service area includes 11 counties in two states: Lehigh, Northampton, Berks, Bucks, Carbon, Montgomery, Monroe, Schuylkill and Luzerne counties in Pennsylvania and Warren and Hunterdon counties in New Jersey. St. Luke\u2019s hospitals operate the largest network of trauma centers in Pennsylvania, with the Bethlehem Campus being home to St. Luke\u2019s Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n

Dedicated to advancing medical education, St. Luke\u2019s is the preeminent teaching hospital in central-eastern Pennsylvania.\u00a0 In partnership with Temple University, the Network established the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only four-year medical school campus.\u00a0 It also operates the nation\u2019s longest continuously operating School of Nursing, established in 1884, and 45 fully accredited graduate medical educational programs with more than 400 residents and fellows. In 2022, St. Luke\u2019s, a member of the Children\u2019s Hospital Association, opened the Lehigh Valley\u2019s first and only free-standing facility dedicated entirely to kids.<\/p>\n

SLUHN is the only Lehigh Valley-based health care system to earn Medicare\u2019s\u00a0five-star<\/em>\u00a0ratings (the highest) for quality, efficiency and patient satisfaction.\u00a0 It is both a Leapfrog Group and Healthgrades\u00a0Top Hospital<\/em>\u00a0and a Newsweek World\u2019s\u00a0Best Hospital<\/em>.\u00a0 The Network\u2019s flagship University Hospital has earned the\u00a0100 Top Major Teaching Hospital<\/em>\u00a0designation from Fortune\/PINC AI 11 times total and eight years in a row, including in 2023 when it was identified as THE #4 TEACHING HOSPITAL IN THE COUNTRY.\u00a0 In 2021, St. Luke\u2019s was identified as one of the\u00a015 Top Health Systems<\/em>\u00a0nationally.\u00a0 Utilizing the Epic electronic medical record (EMR) system for both inpatient and outpatient services, the Network is a multi-year recipient of the\u00a0Most Wired<\/em>\u00a0award recognizing the breadth of the SLUHN\u2019s information technology applications such as telehealth, online scheduling and online pricing information. \u00a0The Network is also recognized as one of the state\u2019s lowest cost providers.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Information provided to TVL by:
\nSam Kennedy<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo caption: Kristal Nemeroff, who suffers from \u201cbrittle bones disease,\u201d gave birth to her son, Christian, in March 2022, with help from a multidisciplinary team at St. Luke\u2019s. (photo provided … Continue reading St. Luke\u2019s Achieves Center of Excellence Designation for Labor and Delivery, OB Anesthesia Programs<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129093,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Kristal-Nemeroff.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129092"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=129092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/129093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=129092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=129092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=129092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}