Heart & Vascular News

Barnes-Jewish Hospital’s cardiothoracic intensive care unit (56ICU) has received the prestigious Beacon Award from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses (AACN).

With temperatures nationwide dropping well below freezing -- and snow on the way in the St. Louis area  -- doctors say people should be wary of their heart in such conditions.

Cardiac Surgeon Dr. Jennifer Lawton at Barnes Jewish Hospital is a proponent of the off pump method and says it works for her patients: 'There's a lower blood transfusion rate with off-pump surgery, and the patients are discharged approximately one day sooner."

The cardiology team at Barnes-Jewish Hospital celebrated another recognition, days after U.S. News & World Report ranked “Heart and Heart Services” at Barnes-Jewish #12 nationally and the hospital #9 overall.

More than 350 physicians at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have been named to The Best Doctors In America for 2009.