The Mount Sinai Medical Center Asthma Program was launched in the mid-1990s to provide the highest quality of asthma care using a multidisciplinary team approach. This team includes pulmonologists, allergists, internists, respiratory therapists, nurse practitioners, and social workers who meet on a monthly basis to coordinate the activities of the Program. The Program encompasses a continuum of care beginning with the emergency room and hospital stay and extending to the home and outpatient clinical setting. Important foci of the Program is patient education and skills building in order to foster improved self management.
Patients learn to monitor their lung function and to use their medications properly.
Home care evaluation of these self-care skills and assessment of environmental triggers are available. Monthly support meetings allow patients to share their concerns and to achieve a better understanding of their disease. The Sleep Center is a comprehensive program involved in the diagnosis and treatment of all aspects of sleep pathology including breathing related sleep disorders, periodic limb movements in sleep, and narcolepsy. The Unit has extensive expertise in weaning protocols and functions as a referral site for ventilator-dependent patients. Both rigid and fiberoptic bronchoscopes are employed in diagnosing and treating patients with endobronchial and pulmonary parenchymal disease.