Medical director earns fellow status
Dr. Lisa W. Barker, medical director for Gulfside Healthcare Services in Pasco County, has earned the designation of Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine. The academy is the professional organization for physicians who care for patients with serious illness.
Dr. Barker received her medical degree from the University of Kentucky and also trained in family medicine at the school.
Following her residency, she joined Ashland Family Medicine in Ashland, Kentucky, and later began working in the field of hospice, while still working as a family physician.
She became the medical director of community hospice, serving northeastern Kentucky and southern Ohio.
Dr. Barker moved to Florida in 2016 to practice hospice and palliative medicine full-time.
She is board certified in family medicine, and hospice and palliative medicine, and is a certified hospice medical director.
Dr. Barker will be presented with her designation during the closing plenary session at the annual Assembly of Hospice and Palliative Care in San Diego, California, in March.
The Fellow of the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine status is the highest honor that can be bestowed upon a physician member.
New trauma director
Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point has appointed Dr. Maryam Bita Tabrizi as the Level II Trauma Center’s trauma medical director.
Dr. Tabrizi received her medical degree from the University of Tennessee Memphis College of Medicine.
She completed her residency at the University of Florida-Jacksonville, and completed a fellowship in trauma/critical care at USCD College of Medicine.
Dr. Tabrizi has served as a clinical instructor at Harvard University, as a trauma/critical care general surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital, and trauma medical director at North Shore Medical Center, where she established the North Shore Acute Care Surgical Program.
She has also earned Level III Trauma Center verification.
AA book available to the deaf
The book, “Alcoholics Anonymous,” is now available in an updated abridged translation into American Sign Language, according to a release from Alcoholics Anonymous (AA).
Commonly referred to as “The Big Book,” this basic text of the worldwide fellowship that bears its name is now available on DVD to the deaf community, the hard-of-hearing community, and the hearing community, as well.
The AA organization has been committed to making its program of recovery available to anyone, anywhere who reaches out for help with a drinking problem.
This translation has been updated with current language and signing most familiar to today’s deaf community.
For information about AA resources for the deaf, call (212) 870-3344.
To order the translated book/DVD, visit AA.org, or stop by your local AA office to see if it available.
Equipment exchange program
Crescent Community Clinic, 5244 Commercial Way in Spring Hill, has a Durable Medical Exchange Program.
Equipment (for long-term or short-term), such as a walker, cane, wheelchair, shower chair, bedside commode, bed rails, CPAP/BPAP machine, or nebulizer, may be available.
The clinic offers these items for a donation to the clinic, to keep the program running.
Equipment availability depends on donated items received.
If you are in need, call the clinic at (352) 667-1462. Leave your name, phone number and the name of the item you need, and the clinic will contact you.
You can also call the clinic if you have items to donate.
Hospitals gets ‘A’ safety grade
The Medical Center of Trinity and Regional Medical Center Bayonet Point were awarded an A in the fall 2019 Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade, a national distinction recognizing the hospitals’ achievements protecting patients from harm and providing safer health care.
These are the only two hospitals in west Pasco to receive an A grade.
The safety grade is assigned to all general hospitals across the country based on performance in preventing medical errors, injuries, accidents, infections and other harms to patients in their care.
Poison Control enhances website
Florida’s Poison Control Centers has launched two new features to enhance its website.
The network has added multi-language capability by allowing the user to select a Spanish language translation while viewing all its related poison prevention information.
Users quickly will be able to choose “Espanol” from a dropdown at the top of the site to find all poison prevention information content translated by certified translators.
Additionally, the Poison Control Centers added a new data dashboard to its existing page that adds a novel approach to characterizing poisonings in Florida, handled by its three poison control centers.
The new dashboard allows users to obtain more detailed information about toxic exposures in their local area.
Visit FloridaPoisonControl.org.
Compliance deadline near
The new safety standard, USP 800, is being implemented with the intent to minimize the exposure to hazardous drugs from health care personnel, patients, and anyone else in contact with these drugs, as written by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to a news release.
The standard regulates the practice and quality standards of handling hazardous drugs (HDs) to promote patient safety, worker safety, and environmental protection.
Handling HDs includes, but is not limited to, the receipt, storage, compounding, dispensing, administration, and disposal of sterile and nonsterile products and preparations.
The deadline for compliance to the new safety standard, USP 800, is Dec. 1.
Non-compliance not only places a pharmacy’s staff and patients at risk of exposure to HDs, but a pharmacy and pharmacist-in-charge licenses also can be impacted if a breach of USP 800 is recognized.
Enforcement will come from the state board of pharmacy.
Oak Hill residents recognized
Oak Hill Hospital anesthesiology residents participated in the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), in Orlando.
Each year, the ASA hosts more than 14,000 anesthesiology professionals from around the world.
Four of Oak Hill’s graduate medical education anesthesiology residents not only participated, but their research was accepted for presentation and display.
