Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center

Serving over 33,000 inpatients, 95,000 adult and pediatric Emergency Department patients, and 349,000 outpatients annually, our mission is to provide compassionate care, health care excellence, and superior service to our patients and their families. Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center (CBMC), by virtue of business and clinical excellence, received the Mid-Atlantic Alliance for Performance Excellence (MAAPE) state level Baldrige award in 2017. CBMC also achieved Magnet reaccreditation in 2023. In 2023, NJDOH awarded CBMC the Gold Award Recognition for Antimicrobial Stewardship.

Working in conjunction with our teaching and medical staff of more than 1,700 physicians and dentists, our vision is to advance the health and quality of life in our community. We demonstrate our values of exceptional communication, outstanding teamwork, professional integrity, and accountability while serving our patients, community, and each other.

The pharmacy department consists of 115 employees and 85 FTEs providing decentralized pharmacy services. The decentralized model is supported by computerized prescriber order entry (CPOE), automated dispensing cabinets (ADC) on the units, and bed-side barcode medication administration. Decentralized clinical-staff pharmacists, in areas of perioperative, neonatal intensive care, outpatient oncology, and all other inpatient care areas, perform order verification from the area they are assigned to, provide direct patient education and also participate in multidisciplinary patient rounds. Pharmacist activities are supported by Board of Pharmacy registered pharmacy technicians, all holding additional certifications from the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB). There are some technicians who also hold additional certification in Sterile Compounding through PTCB. In the central pharmacy, the technicians assist pharmacists by answering phones, filling labels, compounding sterile and non-sterile medications, and performing deliveries. Medication admission reconciliation technicians work in the Emergency Department and Same Day Surgery where they interact directly with patients, families, retail pharmacies and other health care facilities to ensure medication histories are accurate and up-to-date.

The pharmacy has 12 clinical specialists who provide additional support and serve as resources to pharmacy, nurses, physicians and patients. These clinical specialists practice in Antimicrobial Stewardship, Critical Care, Diabetes Stewardship, Emergency Medicine, Geriatrics, Perioperative Services and Renal Transplant, which has three focused specialists. In addition, the department has three Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy – Rutgers University Faculty, who specialize in pediatrics, cardiology, and internal medicine. Currently, 28 pharmacists have attained one Specialty Board Certification and 5 of those pharmacists have attained two certifications. The cardiology pharmacist runs the Rutgers Teaching and Learning certificate statewide program and recognized as a Fellow of the Heart Failure Society of America. The pediatric pharmacist has been named to the American Society of Health-System Pharmacist (ASHP) Standardize 4 Safety Advisory Pediatric Expert Panel, in addition to being the Chair of the ASHP Pediatrics Section Advisory Group and a reviewer for the Institution for Safe Medication Practices. Between faculty and clinical staff pharmacists, the department precepts over 70 students per year and serves as a Rutgers Knight Scholar site. In addition to the clinical specialists, the department has an ASHP-accredited pharmacy residency program with four PGY1 pharmacy practice residents and one PGY2 ASHP-accredited Geriatric pharmacy residency program.

Other hospital services supported by the pharmacy department include pediatrics, neonatal, critical care, gynecology/maternity, NJ’s only certified burn intensive care unit and step down, renal transplant, emergency medicine, general medicine, cardiology, neurology, neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, general surgery, geriatrics, wound care, cyber knife and oncology.

As education and research are continually in focus, in 2023 pharmacy personnel contributed 12 published journal articles, 3 book chapters, 15 local education/poster presentations to nursing, physicians and pharmacists, 5 national/state level CE presentations, 22 national/state level presentations/posters, and 50 community outreach events. Pharmacists involved in clinical research trials supported 5 open enrollment studies for MS, and renal transplant and 30 for oncology.

Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center Pharmacy Leadership