Division of Pulmonology and Critical Care Medicine

The Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine is part of the Department of Medicine of the University of South Carolina School of Medicine. The division was established in line with the objectives of the department for EDUCATION, PATIENT CARE, SERVICE and RESEARCH.

EDUCATION: The department is composed of trained specialists in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine who all hold faculty appointments at the USC School of Medicine. Faculty members are actively involved in the teaching of the residents at Palmetto Health Richland and the Dorn VA Medical Center. Additionally, they are also involved in teaching the pulmonary Pathophysiology course for the second year medical students. The division faculty members also hold regular courses of the Fundamentals of Critical Care Support (FCCS) for the healthcare providers in and around Richland County. Eventually, the division aims to have a fully accredited pulmonary (and critical care) fellowship to train aspiring pulmonologists and intensivists.

PATIENT CARE: The members of the division offer outpatient consultative services for patients afflicted with different kinds of lung diseases. Specifically, the division holds regular clinics seeing adult patients with cystic fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension, lung nodules, various sleep disorders, COPD and emphysema, asthma and airway diseases, lung cancer, pulmonary fibrosis and interstitial lung diseases. They also have an outpatient continuity pulmonary clinic at the Dorn VA Medical Center. They also attend and supervise the housestaff at the medical intensive care unit of the Palmetto Health Richland and Dorn VA Medical Center. They also have an active consultation service at Palmetto Health Richland, seeing patients in the other intensive care units of the hospital, medical and surgical floor units; heart hospital open-heart critical care and cardiac care units; and Dorn VA Medical Center.

SERVICE: The division aims to serve the Richland County community and provide care to its citizens. Members of the division are actively involved in the various committees of the Palmetto Health Richland such as the critical care committee, quality committees for ventilator associated pneumonia prevention and line sepsis prevention and deep vein thrombosis prevention. The division members routinely perform diagnostic and therapeutic procedures at Palmetto Health Richland including bronchoscopies, thoracenteses, pleural biopsies, pulmonary function studies, cardiopulmonary exercise studies, sleep studies. Additionally, the division members direct the Palmetto Health Richland Sleep Diagnostics Center, the Outpatient Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program, Respiratory Care Department, and Pulmonary Function Laboratory.

RESEARCH: The division is actively involved in clinical research. It works closely with the research unit of the Department of Internal Medicine and the Clinical Trials Unit of the Palmetto Health Richland. The division is actively involved in clinical trials. Some examples include trials in the field of sepsis, ventilator associated pneumonia, emphysema, deep vein thrombosis, sleep disorders.