Pulmonary rehabilitation is available to patients treated in The Jacqueline Maritz Lung Center. Candidates for lung transplant and lung volume reduction surgery and patients with cystic fibrosis often are referred to the program for evaluation.Patients are first evaluated during a six-minute walk in which they wear on oximeter on their finger. Their endurance, in preparation for surgery, is tested in their ability to climb stairs.
For patients living in the St. Louis area, pulmonary rehabilitation programs are available in the main exercise area of Barnes-Jewish Hospital South. The facility also serves as a satellite center, placing patients in pulmonary rehabilitation programs in facilities close to their homes. More than 200 patients from across the country and overseas have been placed in pulmonary rehabilitation programs.
In existence for more than 30 years, the Washington University pulmonary rehabilitation program has set the standard of care for patients with lung disease, with a special emphasis on patients with emphysema. Individualized patient programs are designed by the program's registered nurses and respiratory therapists to build patients' strength and endurance so that they will be able do more without getting short of breath.