Past patient named operating room director at Banner Heart Hospital
MESA, Ariz. (January 2008) – Banner Heart Hospital, the East Valley’s premier heart care services provider, announces the appointment of John Rajczyk as cardiovascular operating room director.
A longtime Banner Health employee and former Banner Heart Hospital heart surgery patient, Rajczyk brings firsthand knowledge of the patient experience to his role as operating room director. Having undergone heart surgery in August 2006, he is all too familiar with patients’ fears and anxieties.
Working alongside some of the very individuals who cared for him, Rajczyk is responsible for all aspects of the hospital’s operating room protocols. From managing personnel and the relations between physicians, nurses and operating room staff to overseeing budgets and capital expenditures and maintaining compliance with Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations standards, he works to ensure the operating room is equipped and ready to deliver medical excellence.
Rajczyk’s health care career began as a patient transporter in 1974. He worked his way up the operating room ranks. He most recently served as assistant director of cardiovascular surgery at Banner Desert Medical Center in Mesa. With more than 30 years experience in health care, including a host of operating room positions, he has a comprehensive understanding of operating room protocol.
“I had an excellent patient experience here,” said Rajczyk when asked about his 2006 operation. “I enjoy being in the heart program because I can relate to the patients. I make a point of talking to them prior to surgery, answering their questions and helping them relax.”
Rajczyk joined Banner Heart Hospital in January 2008, and he has embraced his role as operating room director. He already has begun instituting new protocols and procedures, and is playing an active role in the hospital’s expansion planning process – including plans to add more operating room suites in the next few years.
Banner Heart Hospital provides an array of cardiovascular surgical procedures related to both congenital and acquired heart defects. From such specialty services as advanced heart failure and arrhythmia to treatments using investigational drugs/device protocols and pacemakers, Banner Heart Hospital provides state-of-the-art heart care services.
About Banner Heart Hospital
Banner Heart Hospital is one of the largest free-standing heart hospitals in the nation, and is among Thomson Healthcare’s Top 100 hospitals for cardiovascular care. A 111-bed facility, the hospital offers a wide variety of cardiac services including advanced capabilities in cardiac catheterization, electrophysiology, non-invasive cardiology, surgery, robotic surgery and vascular care. Banner Heart Hospital is situated on the same campus as Banner Baywood Medical Center, a 332-bed acute care medical center, which recently added a seven story, 123-bed tower. Both facilities are part of Banner Health, Arizona’s largest health care provider and second largest private employer.
