Extreme A&E, a British-produced TV documentary, gives an up close and personnel look at the trauma center at St. Barnabas Hospital.

The documentary follows Dr. Kevin Fong, a popular British TV host, as he visits busy trauma centers in the Bronx and in other cities around the world as he aims to show trauma medicine through the eyes of a doctor.  The title stands for the Accident and Emergency Ward, which is how an emergency department is referred to in the United Kingdom.

The St. Barnabas Hospital segment highlights Dr. Ernest Patti, a senior attending physician of emergency medicine, as he and the emergency/trauma staff work to save the lives of patients being treated for an assortment of medical issues, ranging from stabbings and gunshot wounds to alcohol abuse.   A British production crew spent a week at the hospital shadowing Dr. Patti and his team.

“It’s really a no-holds barred, often raw look at life and death in a big city emergency department,” said Dr. Patti.  “We gave Dr. Fong and the production team unlimited access to our ED and staff, with the permission of patients and their families.  The documentary offers great insight into what our doctors, nurses and technicians live every day and night.”

This is not the first time St. Barnabas Hospital has been featured in a documentary on trauma care.  In 2008, the hospital and staff appeared in 911 The Bronx by The Discovery Channel.