Saint Barnabas Medical Center

Serving over 32,000 inpatients, 97,000 adult and pediatric Emergency Department patients, and 300,000 outpatients annually, our mission is to provide compassionate care, health care excellence, and superior service to our patients and their families. Saint Barnabas Medical Center (SBMC), by virtue of business and clinical excellence, received the Mid-Atlantic Alliance for Performance Excellence (MAAPE) state level Baldrige award in 2017. SBMC also achieved Magnet status in 2018 and has been assigned an A grade by the Leapfrog Group, based on safety performance and outcomes, for the 18th consecutive time. This places the Medical Center in elite company with only 29 other hospitals nationwide who have achieved this milestone.

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 82 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 ten 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, Transitions of Care, Emergency Medicine 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, critical care, and cardiology. Currently, 15 pharmacists have attained Specialty Board Certifications. Pharmacists have 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, recognized as a Fellow of the Heart Failure Society of America and also honored with a Presidential Citation from the Pediatric Pharmacy Advocacy Group. 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 Pre-Candidate status 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 2020 pharmacy personnel contributed 4 published journal articles, 25 local education/poster presentations to nursing, physicians and pharmacists, 15 national/state level presentations, 11 posters were submitted to the local Quality Fair, 27 community outreach events and 3 staff members attended Global Health Outreach. Pharmacists involved in clinical research trials supported 8 open enrollment studies for MS, pediatrics, ED, COVID 19 and renal transplant and 21 for oncology.

Saint Barnabas Medical Center Pharmacy Leadership