PHILOSOPHY

Welcome! The Department of Family Practice is dedicated to providing our patients with the highest quality medical care. Every decision and every action by our staff is directed toward this ultimate goal. Our department strives to produce outstanding physicians that can serve the healthcare needs of our community. We also take great pride in the fact that we

demand the highest quality of care from our staff while serving a medically underserved population.

We believe that our patients are our most important assets. Without them we would have no purpose. We place great importance on remembering our patients' names and on treating them with courtesy, fairness, and respect they deserve.

We believe that our diverse staff is the heart of our department. The quality of care, which they convey to our patients, has the far greatest impact on the patients perception of our physicians and department.

We believe that patients and staff flourish in an environment in which the relationship is based on mutual respect, trust and compassion. The ability to remain committed to these goals under difficult conditions is equally important as attaining the maximum technical skill.

We strive at all times to be gracious and accommodating, both to our patients and to our fellow employees, staff, and colleagues. Our philosophic goal is to create a truly “ family” environment at our outpatient center and throughout our department.

It is our desire to have staff members who will work together with a sincere spirit of cooperation, professionalism, dedication, and teamwork. We believe these are key ingredients not only in the success of our department but in promoting a pleasant and rewarding work environment for our staff, residents, and patients as well.

We consider our department to be at the forefront of our profession and have committed great resources to the development and operation of our residency program. Our staff are passionate in their dedication to turning out the best family physicians in our profession. We want to look back with pride in our efforts and provide our residents with all the rewarding experiences of having completed a quality program. Our attending staff is committed to the learning and development of our residents and medical students.We are entirely devoted to the philosophy of Community Oriented Primary Care and the Biopsychosocial model of medicine and expect these concepts to be applied in every preceptor session between residents and attending physicians. They will be expected to manage a wide variety of patients with multiple complex medical problems and treat patients who have experienced many barriers to care including cultural, compliance, educational, language, mental health related, socioeconomic, Our residents routinely have seen pathology that is frequently relegated to the final paragraphs on rare diseases in medical textbooks. Our patient population is very challenging and it is our firm conviction that comfort in managing such complexity creates uniquely gifted physicians who are capable and up to the task of providing healthcare in the 21st century of the new millennium. Our program develops holistic Osteopathic Principles that emphasizes our uniqueness in the health care system. All this accomplished in a department with a uniquely family environment and with the ultimate goal of fostering the qualities required for excellent patient care.

STAFF QUALIFICATIONS

The physicians in this department are specialists in Family Practice. They have spent 4 years in college earning a baccalaureate degree and 4 years in medical school earning either their DO or MD degrees. Their (DO or MD) degrees allow them to practice medicine and surgery of any type in the state of New York. Another 3 years were spent in a Family Practice residency program where their training was concentrated on the broad aspects of Primary Care Medicine to prepare them to handle the vast medical needs of children, adults, and womens health. They have sat for an examination given by the American Osteopathic Board of Family Physicians or the American Board of Family Practice. These exams certify them as Primary Care Specialists. We are very proud of the fact that all members of our department are board certified in their specialty, and have met the requirements of medical staff membership of St. Barnabas Hospital as outlined in the Medical Staff Bylaws. Our staff holds a variety of additional credentials in the areas of Emergency Medicine, Geriatric Medicine, Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine, Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Hyperbaric medicine, and Hospital Administration, and Biostatistics and Research Methods. Members of our staff also hold high-level administrative positions at Saint Barnabas Hospital.

CONTINUING EDUCATION

In order to be a valued member of the department it is important to continually learn. The Hospital and department offer a variety of opportunities for continuing education.

• We learn from fellow staff. The exchange of ideas and views through dialogue between colleagues promotes and broadens an understanding of varying perspectives on a problem.
• Patient information material prepared by outside organizations, such as The American College of Osteopathic Family Physicians and The American Academy Of Family Physicians are available.
• A comprehensive Departmental and Hospital Intranet and Internet website offer enormous resources to Residents and Attending physicians.
• An extensive collection of medical publications, including books, journals, reference books, and computers are available in the hospital library.
• It is expected that staff will take advantage of our highly technical and “wired” Department as we have Computer workstations in every patient room and in all offices with a large offering of databases and educational materials. These include electronic digital access capabilities in medical records, laboratory, radiology, and EKG along with the educational databases including Ovid, Up-to-Date, Imedicine, Clinical Pharmacology.
• Meetings are held in the Family Practice center regularly for educational and departmental updates.
• Medical lectures by the physicians in the hospital, Family Practice department and elsewhere in the community are open to the staff. These are frequently conducted using LCD projection technology in a new state of the art lecture hall facility.
• The Department pays staff dues for some professional organizations and promotes staff development through meetings and conference/course attendance throughout the year.

SCOPE OF SERVICE 

Currently we provide comprehensive services in reference to the complete care of patients and families including preventive, diagnostic, and acute medical care. Continuity of care is valued by placing a great emphasis on the doctor-patient relationship.

The official definition of Family Practice as adopted by the American Board of Family Practice is as follows:

"Family Practice is the medical specialty which is concerned with the total health care of the individual and the family. It is the specialty in breadth, which integrates the biological, clinical, and behavioral sciences. The scope of family practice is not limited by age, sex, organ system, or disease entity."

Among the services provided are routine physical examinations, sports exams, electrocardiograms, x-rays, immunizations and diagnosis and treatment of many diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, pneumonia, arthritis and diseases involving all parts of the human body. The physicians give talks and write papers on medical topics for professional and lay organizations and publications. Our department also provides minor surgical procedures.

GOALS 

The mission of the St. Barnabas Family Practice Department is to promote excellence in health care by:

• Providing the highest professional standards of care.
• Collaborating in a constructive manner with other departments within the hospital for the diagnosis of and therapy for patients.
• Training the finest family doctors for the future.
• Caring for each individual and family with respect and sensitivity.
• Encouraging the philosophy and practice of family medicine through a healthier  lifestyle that fosters preventionand through research.

QUALITY OF CARE

• Quality patient care is the most important objective of the entire staff at the department of Family Practice. Under no circumstances is patient care to be compromised, whether we are dealing with a patient in person, on the phone, or clinically.
• The department is fully recognized by the medical staff bylaws and actively participates in the hospital quality assurance and utilization management committees.
• The quality assurance activities adopted by the department helps ensure patients receive appropriate, cost-effective and quality care.
• The department structures and provides guidance for the overall curriculum of the residency. To this end, St. Barnabas directs the program, oversees its quality and accreditation status through the American Osteopathic Association (AOA). 
• Treatment and services rendered by the staff must meet generally accepted standards of medical care.