MUSCMedical LinksCharleston LinksArchivesMedical EducatorSpeakers BureauSeminars and EventsResearch StudiesResearch GrantsGrantlandCommunity HappeningsCampus News

Return to Main Menu

Currents

To Medical Center employees:
Recently it was recommended that department leaders volunteer to give presentations at the communications meetings concerning services provided by their respective areas of responsibility. The idea is to promote understanding of the operations of the Medical Center and to gain appreciation for the important contributions all areas make toward fulfilling our mission.

At the Oct. 9 communications meeting, John Franklin, director of Support Services, gave an excellent overview of the wide array of services provided by the managers and employees within Support Services. While the summary of services as listed below is very impressive, it is difficult to capture into words the many challenges routinely faced by the concerned organizational units in meeting the fast-paced demands of the Medical Center. The management team and staff of Support Services are to be commended for their dedication and a job well done. 

In the months ahead we will ask department leaders to continue to volunteer to give presentations on the services provided. 

Thank you very much. 

W. Stuart Smith
Vice President for Clinical Operations and
Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center
 

Director gives overview of MUSC Support Services

At the Oct. 9 meeting, John Franklin, director of Support Services, gave an overview of the many dimensions of his division.  Support Services is comprised of Biomedical Engineering, Service Quality, Materials Management, Environmental Services, Dietetic Services and Purchasing Services.

Biomedical Engineering, under the management of Stan Trojanowski, is responsible for:

  • The support of general clinical and lab imaging equipment, which includes 180 cost centers, 10,357 pieces of equipment with a capital value of more than $75 million
  • The support of tube systems, nurse call systems, beds, stretchers, wheelchairs and televisions, which includes 454 general care electric beds, 71 ICU electric beds and 29 nurse call systems
  • Other programs such as the camp program, asset management and contract management
Service Quality, under the management of Billy Bloodsworth, manages quality assurance and customer satisfaction matters, handling an average of 393 complaints each year. Franklin indicated the most common complaints concern problems with employee attitudes, delays, delivery of care and communication. 

Quality assurance includes Dietary Services audits, Environmental Services audits and Support Services.

Materials Management, also under Bloodsworth, takes in Central Supply for the Medical Center and CMH, the Equipment Distribution Center, product evaluation and technology assessment. In particular:

  • Central Supply includes 84 PAR levels, 1,450 lines of supplies, the Pyxis upgrade (currently 14 units) and 20 inventory turns annually. According to Franklin, using the newly instituted Pyxis system, an automated medication and supply dispensing system, has saved the Medical Center $100,000 per month. “Pilferage is down,” he said.
  • Equipment Distribution Center distributes 24,000 pieces of equipment yearly, along with isolation carts, emergency supply cabinets for the Medical Center and addressographs.
  • Product evaluation administers group purchases, and the product evaluation and standardization process.
  • Technology assessment supports the annual capital equipment process, asset management interface and the surplus management program.
Environmental Services, under the management of Richard Jordon, takes care of:
  • 1.2 million square feet of cleanable space
  • 28,600 discharge cleanings annually
  • 12,100 transfer cleanings annually
  • Paint/Clean teams
  • Daily cleaning
  • Trash removal
  • 450 to 550 tons of recyclable cardboard removal annually
  • 16,000 red bin removal annually
  • 128 PAR levels
  • 2.9 million dirty pounds of laundry annually
  • Auto valet machines
Dietetic Services, under the management of Steve Hopkins, includes Meal Services, clinical dietitians, and Retail Services.
Meal Services serves:
  • 416,345 patient meals per year, a 9.9 percent increase from the previous year
  • 699,880 retail meals per year, which is a 30.6 percent increase from the previous year
  • 49,266 catered meals per year
Clinical dietitians provide:
  • 8,604 annualized MUSC inpatient nutrition service assessments and 10,284 follow-ups
  • 1,056 outpatient nutrition service assessments and 1,032 follow-ups
  • Nutrition risk services to 44 percent of all patients admitted
Retail Services include:
  • Cafeteria services such as Subway, Chick-fil-A, Hot Dog Construction Zone, A la Carte and Theme Cuisine
  • Gift shop
Purchasing Services, under the management of Chad Chadwick, includes Purchasing Services and Accounts Payable. The Medical Center Accounts Payable office was created in January 2001. The following purchasing activity is based on totals recorded from July 1, 2000 – June 30, 2001.
Purchasing Services includes:
  • 159 active purchasing cardholders in 60 departments
  • 26,000 purchasing transactions totaling $18.5 million
  • An average transaction amount of $721
  • 4,968 requisitions
  • 19,981 purchase orders totaling $228,575,411
  • A new vendor badge program with 2,600 registered representatives
Accounts Payable includes:
  • 61,655 invoices processed, totaling $154,650,000
  • 6,231 direct pay requisitions
  • 4,164 direct vouchers
Franklin said Accounts Payable successfully completed all monthly and year-end closeouts.

For information about Support Services, contact Franklin at 2-9526.

Updates, training given on use of SimonWeb Paging and Call Calendars
The management team was given instruction on the use of the upgraded SimonWeb Paging and Simon Call Calendar systems. Cinnamon (Clemmons) Buelk, an instructor with the Center for Computing and Information Technology (CCIT), gave a tutorial, the electronic version of which can be accessed by going to <http://www.musc.edu/ccit/> then clicking on the Help/Training link, then the Training option on the drop down menu. There is a PDF version of the SimonWeb Paging and SimonWeb Scheduling manuals available on this site and Hospital Communications can provide shortcut-direction cards to post on your PC if needed. 
 SimonWeb Paging <http://simonweb.musc.edu> allows Medical Center staff to quickly look up and send a text page to a Simon pager. 

The Simon Call Calendar <http://simonweb.musc.edu/callschedule> allows users to quickly look up who is on call for a certain service and quickly send them a text page.  Learning the call calendar ID numbers, which are always listed next to the call calendar description, is the most convenient and expedient way to search for a person on call.  For instance, if you needed to page the resident on call for MICU you could easily do so by using the calendar ID# 20362.  Call calendar ID#s can be paged via telephone system, alphamates or web paging. The advantage of knowing the calendar ID# for a service, of course, is not having to look up who the specific person on call for that service—the calendar ID# does this automatically. 

For more information, contact CCIT at 792-9700.

Postpartum unit returning to fifth floor
As of Oct. 18, the antepartum unit will return to its home unit on five west, according to June Stovall, nurse manager. The postpartum unit and the newborn nursery will return to five east and five east nursery on the evening of Oct. 22. 

For more information, contact June Stovall at 792-0581 or Debra Jones at 792-3351.