Chilton Hospital Nurse is First in Area to Receive Department of Transportation Certification

By 2014, all truck drivers will need to receive a physical exam by a U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) nationally certified medical examiner in order to maintain his or her commercial driver’s licenses (CDL). The purpose of this new rule is to increase safety on the roads.

Nurse Practitioner Theresa Rattazzi, RN, of Chilton Hospital’s Chilton Occupation Health center, is the first nurse at Chilton to receive certification from the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT). She is also the first nurse in Morris County to be certified by the DOT.

The certification enables Rattazzi to be one of the first select health care professionals in the nation to perform physicals for truck drivers. She examines drivers for diabetes, high blood pressure and other health issues to reduce the risk of accidents.  

“By receiving my certification before the new law is mandated in 2014, my goal is to spread the word to truck drivers that they can come to Chilton Occupational Health and get ahead of the game,” Rattazzi said. “We’d also like to make the message clear to the public that if you are a truck driver who gets pulled over and you don’t have paperwork stating that you were examined by someone certified by the DOT, you will lose your CDL.”

All certified medical examiners’ names are posted on the National Registry of Certified Medical Examiners’ website at http://nrcme.fmcsa.dot.gov

Chilton Hospital is a fully accredited, 260-bed, acute-care, community hospital. It is the first hospital in New Jersey to received Pathway to Excellence designation from the American Nurses Credentialing Center. Chilton recently embarked on a $24 million modernization project, which includes the Cardiovascular Interventional Lab, The Breast Center and the Total Joint Center. It is also a four-time recipient of the HealthGrades Specialty Excellence Award in Stroke, and Five-Star Rated for Stroke Care, the highest possible, for six years in a row. In addition, Chilton is also Five-Star Rated for Joint Replacement and Total Knee Replacement for 2012. Chilton’s many services include a state-of-the-art Emergency Department, the Sleep Health Institute, the Comprehensive Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Center, the Chilton Cancer Center, the MotherBaby Center a weight loss surgery program and minimally invasive and robot-assisted surgery. The hospital is located at 97 West Parkway in Pompton Plains, NJ 07444. For more information about Chilton's facilities and services, or to find a doctor by name, specialty, or location, please visit www.chiltonhealth.org or call 1-888-CHILTON.