The Advanced Center for Interventional Pulmonary and Gastrointestinal Services is now open at Northside Hospital Gwinnett.
The center opened to patients May 20 and is located on the main level of Northside Gwinnett at 1000 Medical Center Blvd., Lawrenceville.
“It is another exciting day for the Gwinnett community and surrounding counties as Northside Gwinnett unveils the new Advanced Center for Interventional Pulmonary and Gastrointestinal Services, enabling patients to travel less and be seen sooner in our new pulmonary and gastroenterology suites,” Lisa Norton, the director of operations for Northside Gwinnett, said.
“Endoscopy services, especially pulmonary/GI services, continue to be in high demand, and having additional facilities to address patients’ needs for these services timely is one of the many initiatives we are doing here at Northside Hospital Gwinnett.”
The opening of the suites is part of a multiphase expansion plan and investment by Northside Hospital.
Eve Burton, the clinical manager for Advanced Endoscopy Services at Northside Gwinnett, said it took more than eight months to renovate procedure rooms, the pre- and postoperation suites, staff areas and waiting areas. There are now 15 preprocedure and recovery bays and five procedure rooms, with the space to add two more.
The interventional pulmonary room includes an Ion bronchoscopy robot with the integrated Siemens Cios Spin, a mobile 3D conebeam computerized tomography, or CT, allowing for more precise accuracy for lung cancer detection with shorter procedure duration.
The interventional gastroenterology room includes a affixed Omega fluoroscopy system and ERBEJET. These additions provide efficiency and better precision to the latest advanced GI techniques offered at Northside Gwinnett such as third-space procedures known as endoscopic submucosal dissection (ESD) and peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM), which treat such conditions as GI cancers, gastroparesis and achalasia.
In the decontamination and reprocessing room, endoscopes are thoroughly cleaned, inspected, disinfected at a high level and dried — a process that can take more than two hours. The room now includes the latest technology, drying the inside of the endoscope faster than traditional methods and giving staff more time to spend with patients.
The new equipment supports an efficient workflow which helps reduce human error, reduces the risk of recontamination and ensures safe, patient-ready endoscopes for every procedure. Automated cabinets extend storage time, which will decrease unnecessary reprocessing and related costs.
“On behalf of Northside Hospital Gwinnett leadership, I want to personally thank all those who had a hand in making this vision a reality,” Burton said. “The infrastructure team has worked closely with our clinicians in the design and delivery of the space to ensure they have access to the best facility and equipment.
“Additionally, we will be able to schedule and accommodate our physicians in a way that better fits their working schedules and increase the number of patients they see on any given day.”
Take a tour of the new endoscopy unit at Northside Gwinnett:
Learn more about lung cancer care at Northside.
