Gastroenterology
Elias Purow, M.D., Director
The Division of Gastroenterology offers a wide scope of services, both to the community and to the other departments within the hospital. The Gastroenterology division offers consultative services to all other departments of the hospital, including Surgery, Pulmonary, Pediatrics, Radiology and Rehabilitation. It is the goal of the Division of Gastroenterology to provide the best possible care in a timely and cost effective manner to all patients.
TYPES AND AGES OF PATIENTS SERVED: The Gastroenterology Division provides services and care to patients age 21 and over. Care is provided to patients with a wide range of gastrointestinal diagnosis through primary care and subspecialty physicians.
METHODS USED TO ASSESS AND MEET PATIENTS' CARE NEEDS:
The endoscopy unit contains five endoscopic suites which include an x-ray unit which allows the performance of upper and lower endoscopies, therapeutic endoscopies in the upper and lower GI tracts, as well as ERCP and therapeutic ERCP, liver biopsy, paracentesis, esophageal motility and pH studies. An endoscopic ultrasound system was begun in March 1997. The division of Gastroenterology also integrates with Social Service, Home Care, Hospice, the Nalitt Institute and the Medical Arts Pavilion.
Care is provided twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Timeliness of care is monitored by the patient's attending physician, the endoscopist, and the case management staff.
The Gastroenterology division has multiple on-going quality performance programs. Some of these include monitoring all ERCP procedures including complications and success rates. We monitor success rates of esophageal dilitation, and upper GI bleeding. As far as quality control, we are present actively monitoring all cancellations in the endoscopy unit and monitor disinfection results for our endoscopes. The division also monitors all gastenterologists for credentialing purposes, including success rates, complications and numbers of procedures performed.
Care is provided in accordance with the standards of the American Medical Association, the American Society of Gastroenterology, the ACGME, NYSDOH and other regulatory agencies, the standards of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations, and Staten Island University Hospital practice parameters which include Diverticular Disease, GI Hemorrhage (lower), and GI Obstruction.