Cardiology Chief Wants to Lead Innovation and Improvement at St. Luke’s Raymond A. Durkin, MD, has been chief of cardiology for St. Luke’s Hospital & Health Network since 2008. He came here as chief after 14 years of experience in a large Lehigh Valley private cardiology practice, something that amounts to “a career change” for a physician, he says. The perspective of those years and the current atmosphere in which he works lead him to observe that cardiology, a relatively new medical specialty, continues to change rapidly. Cardiology came into its own as a specialty in the 1960s with the advent of coronary angiography and coronary bypass surgery. In the 1970s, the first angioplasties were performed, and in the 1980s it was confirmed that thrombosis, or clots, were the cause of myocardial infarction. Throughout this period, there was vigorous development of various pharmacologic therapies and interventional techniques and tools to open vessels. In 1995, about the time Dr. Durkin was entering practice, cardiologists first were using
stents to keep vessels open. And, in the early 2000s, drugs were applied to stents and used along with intervention techniques to keep vessels open. General cardiologists see people for a broad range of heart disease in both hospital and office settings. Many specialize in non-invasive testing and disease prevention. Electrophysiologists focus on the heart’s electrical stimuli and controls and work with Pacemakers and similar devices. “They are the electricians,” Dr. Durkin explains. Then there are interventional cardiologists, “the plumbers.” Interventionists concentrate on opening clogged vessels, a passion and specialty of Dr. Durkin’s. Dr. Durkin says that during rotations in medical school (Hahnemann University School of Medicine), “cardiology found me.” He said he believes the specialty is attractive to competitive, “Type A” people like himself. “I want to make an impact on people’s lives.”
At St. Luke’s, the cardiology team tries to meet a high standard: The vessels are opened within 90 minutes of heart attack. “And, it is a team, not just cardiologists, but includes the emergency department staff, nurses, nurse-practitioners and physician assistants,” Dr. Durkin says Dr. Durkin is proud of innovations in cardiology and heart care at St. Luke’s. For instance, the congestive heart failure program now uses innovative ultra-filtration equipment that removes excess fluids from a patient’s blood. A medical director, Prasanna Sugathan, MD, was hired last year, and plans are in place to open an out-patient clinic for people to receive ultra-filtration therapy without being admitted to the hospital. “This is important because it improves the quality of life, it extends life, and it reduces costs (by enabling people to avoid re-admission to the hospital). I want our program to be in the forefront. I want to do education. Other hospitals already are coming here to see what we are doing,” Dr. Sugathan says. Away from work, Dr. Durkin’s time centers around his children, sons Ray and Matt, and daughter Olivia. His family follows the boys’ sports activities and Dr. Durkin helped to coach their football teams when they were younger. His daughter’s passion is horseback riding, and she participates in jumping events at horse shows. Together, the family enjoys downhill skiing, and each year they pick a different destination to ski in the western United States. “The boys are snowboarders, and I’ve tried that, but I think I’ll stick to skis,” he says. Readership Survey Suggestion
E-zine cont. and background about that department, . its services and related material. We also will create online photo and video galleries, so you will be able to see more of your colleagues and coworkers.” To encourage people to sign up for the E-zine version, the Marketing Department will put the names of the first 100 e-mail addresses submitted into a drawing. The prizes are 10 gift cards for the Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley, worth $50 each.
Network Pulse is following the model of most print publications — newspapers and magazines — to provide content both in print and electronically. Starting with the MarchApril issue of Pulse, a number of copies still will be printed for distribution, but the hope is that eventually, most people will get the E-zine version of Pulse. “We know that one challenge is that employees’ families enjoy reading Pulse at home, so we also will send the E-zine to the e-mail addresses of family members that are submitted,” Ken says.
Another advantage to moving to the electronic version is that it will save the costs of printing and postage. “That means more money for other, important projects,” Ken explains. While the printed Pulse has been appearing about four times per year, the plan is for six E-zine issues plus special editions, making the new Pulse more of a monthly publication.
Visit www.pulsenews.org to sign up for the E-zine and register to win a $50 gift card to the Promenade! 10
February 2011