Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center

Serving over 32,000 inpatients, 97,000 adult and pediatric Emergency Department patients, and 300,000 outpatients annually, our goal 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 status in 2018.

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 111 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 institutions such as the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board. 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 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 eleven clinical specialists who provide additional support and serve as resources to pharmacy, nurses, physicians and patients. These clinical specialists practice in Ambulatory Care, Antimicrobial Stewardship, Critical Care, Emergency Medicine, Geriatrics, Perioperative Services and Renal Transplant, which has three focused specialists. In addition the department has two Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy - Rutgers University Faculty, who specialize in pediatrics and cardiology. Currently, 20 pharmacists have attained Specialty Board Certifications. The cardiology pharmacist has been selected by the Heart Failure Society of America to sit on the Advocacy Committee for the National Heart Failure Organization, named an Associate of the American College of Cardiology, and recognized as a Fellow of the Heart Failure Society of America. The pediatric pharmacist was also honored with a Presidential Citation from the Pediatric Pharmacy Advocacy Group and recognized by the Institute of Safe Medication Practice with the 2021 Cheers Award for on the KIDs List. 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 with a focus on ambulatory and transitions of care.

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 2021 pharmacy personnel contributed 8 published journal articles, 15 local education/poster presentations to nursing, physicians and pharmacists, 22 national/state level presentations/posters, 19 posters from more than 20 pharmacists at the 2rd CBMC Pharmacy Research week, 102 community outreach events and 4 staff members attended Global Health Outreach. Pharmacists involved in clinical research trials supported 20 open enrollment studies for MS, pediatrics, ED, COVID-19 and renal transplant and 39 for oncology.

Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center Pharmacy Leadership