Welcome to the Temple Lung Center
Temple University Hospital
has been ranked again
as one of the nation's top hospitals
for respiratory disorders
by U.S.News & World Report
The Temple Lung Center is committed to delivering the most advanced and effective treatments to patients with the most challenging respiratory disorders and pulmonary diseases. We evaluate and treat patients with all stages of pulmonary disease, even those with long-standing respiratory problems. Our goal is to improve and extend the lives of all patients with respiratory illnesses.
Our pulmonologists, critical care physicians, and surgeons are experts in diagnosing and treating all types of lung problems, from the most basic to the most complex and severe.
Patients with serious respiratory problems need every edge they can get. The Temple Lung Center combines excellence, innovation, and thoughtful patient-centered care to provide this extra edge—and to help patients breathe easier, live longer, and enjoy a better quality of life.
A National Leader in Patient Care, Research, and Education
The Temple Research Edge
Documented Superior Outcomes
Customized Care for Every Patient
A National Leader in Patient Care, Research, and Education
"Temple is a thriving center of excellence in respiratory care."
We are one of the nation’s largest referral centers for lung disease. We see over 9,000 patients every year. In addition to seeing more than 2,000 outpatients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) annually, we recently admitted more COPD inpatients than any other single hospital in the state and managed more cases of respiratory failure than any other hospital in Eastern or Central Pennsylvania1. Over the past five years, we handled more cases of complicated bronchitis and asthma than any other Pennsylvania hospital1.
Seeing so many patients at all stages of disease helps our doctors and surgeons hone a clinical expertise—a very specialized knowledge built on years of experience—that gives all our patients the absolute best chance for getting the treatment and care that helps them feel better and live longer.
The Temple Research Edge
"We are always looking for better ways to help our patients."
Temple has one of the most active pulmonary research programs in the country. We have participated in over 50 COPD trials over the past decade. We have led investigations into the root causes of chronic diseases including emphysema, alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, asthma, pulmonary hypertension, sarcoidosis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, and sleep apnea and we have also led the search for safer and more effective therapies for these conditions. Our team has published hundreds of articles on all types of lung diseases. Every year, Temple physicians present dozens of research papers at national pulmonary society meetings. Engaging in clinical trials helps the Temple staff stay keenly aware of the newest therapies. Importantly, this continual contact with research also allows our clinicians and surgeons to find the best new ideas and opportunities for their patients who are not improving on standard therapy.
Our patients benefit from research. Some patients gain access to important new therapeutic interventions. This is, for example, how many of our seriously ill emphysema patients not eligible for lung transplantation have gained much-needed symptom relief from lung volume reduction surgery (LVRS), which we were the first to study in a prospective randomized fashion2, or from even less invasive bronchoscopic lung volume reduction (BLVR) procedures that we were first in the region to offer. Entry into Temple clinical trials also offers our patients practical benefits in terms of exhaustive examinations; extra support with standard therapies such as drugs, oxygen, and rehabilitation; extra advice from an even larger team of specialists. Most importantly patients derive a personal satisfaction knowing the results could help others who have a health problem, and they gain a more optimistic attitude about their lives and the future.
Documented Superior Outcomes
"The Temple Lung Center excels in helping seriously ill patients."
Our results speak for themselves. The Temple Lung Center continues to be rated by U.S.News & World Report as one of the top programs in the nation for pulmonary disorders3. It also received the HealthGrades Pulmonary Care Excellence Award4. Such awards are based on ratings of specialists and also on documented excellent outcomes. Here are just a few highlights of our strengths and accomplishments (others are detailed in the descriptions of specific Programs):
- Temple’s high-volume ventilator rehabilitation unit is one of a kind (selected by Medicare as a test site for outcomes) and is nationally recognized for offering patients with advanced lung disease and respiratory failure the greatest hope of being weaned off a ventilator.
- In three of the past five years, Temple’s mortality rate for pneumonia—one of the most common reasons for hospital admission—was significantly lower than the expected rate; Temple was the only hospital in Philadelphia (and one of only two in the state) to achieve this lower-than-expected rate in more than two of five years1.
- Mortality rates for seriously ill COPD patients at Temple have been consistently low and well within the expected ranges based on patient characteristics (e.g., a rate of 0.2% over the past two years compared to an expected rate based on patient risk of 0.7%)1.
- In recent years, Temple’s programs in lung transplantation, lung volume reduction surgery,
and other major lung operations have also garnered national recognition as being among the most active and innovative in the country. The Lung Volume Reduction Surgery Program received the Joint Commission’s certification of distinction5.
Customized Care for Every Patient
"We have extensive training in caring for patients exactly like you, and it shows."
Growing recognition of the Temple Lung Center’s quality care has prompted more patients to come to Temple over the past decade. To meet this growing demand, Temple has expanded its staff and moved into a spacious new facility. The new facility was designed with close attention to the unique needs of our patients—for example, with oxygen hookups throughout the facility, with carpet-free flooring for easy wheelchair access, with an on-site rehabilitation center, and with flat-screen-TV/video stations for patient and family education and comfort. The spacious facility allows our patients to get all their care in one convenient spot.
At the Temple Lung Center, we take pride in our growth because it is a reflection of our success in helping patients battle some of the most complex and life-threatening lung diseases. We take pride in our new home because it is a physical manifestation of the patient-centered philosophy that drives the entire Lung Center staff.
This philosophy starts with a simple premise: Every patient coming to Temple will be seen by a board-certified pulmonologist who, based on a comprehensive patient evaluation and diagnosis, will clearly explain the best treatment options and then coordinate the whole treatment plan. From the initial visit through follow-up, the staff here is committed to getting to know each patient’s concerns and then creating an appropriately individualized and comprehensive care plan. We are committed to giving all our patients comfort, answers, options, and results.
Sources
1 Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council (PHC4) 2006 Hospital Performance Report (2007)
2 Criner GJ et al. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 1999;160:2018-2027
3 U.S.News & World Report, Best Hospitals survey, 2006 & 2008
4 HealthGrades Hospital Quality Report: Temple University Hospital, Pulmonary Care Excellence Award 2006, 2007 report, 10/29/2007
5 The Joint Commission Certification Programs: Lung Volume Reduction Surgery, 7/18/2006
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