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Currents To MUSC Employees: Every two weeks I have the pleasure of speaking to our new hires at general orientation. Among other things, I share with the new employees the Medical Center’s values (accountability, respect, excellence and adaptability) and our commitment to communicate.  The irony is, my routine presentation to new hires probably does as much or more good for me than it does for the new hires who are bombarded with two days of information.  Why am I making this point? Because I believe that we must all continually keep our values and commitment to communicate in mind as we go about our important jobs of patient care and support.  Frequently our president and administrators receive letters regarding the outstanding care and compassion observed.  Occasionally, however, we receive letters of concern. For example, a former patient recently complained that he was told someone would let his wife (who was registering the patient) know the location of his examination room . . . but this never happened. He stated that later he asked to be told the results of a test . . . but the information was not forthcoming. He asked a number of individuals when he would be going home, and reportedly each promised to get back with him, but he got no followup. The former patient offered other examples of communication breakdown which I will not go into. While I am confident that this situation was unusual, it underscores to me that we all must work together to ensure good accountability and communication . . . with patients, families, visitors and with all staff and physicians. Thank you very much. W. Stuart Smith Vice President for Clinical Operations and  Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center   Administrator updates building, renovation projects The Medical University Hospital Authority has 21 major construction or building renovation projects under way, according to Hal Currey, administrator for facilities and capital improvements, who gave the update during the Feb. 27 communications meeting. Costs for nine of the projects are greater than $1 million; six are slightly under $100,000 and six are between $100,000 and $1 million. Currey gave updates on several projects in progress, including: Children’s Hospital waterproofing—Design documents were received in January and are being reviewed now with costs projected to be slightly in excess of expectations. “We’ll work around that as best we can,” Currey said. Children’s Hospital HVAC—The heating, cooling and ventilation systems will be upgraded and repaired. The $3.3 million budgeted cost has been approved. Construction began in January and is “progressing well,” Currey said. The project is expected to take a year to complete. Clinical Science Building renovation— This $9.37 million two-phase plan includes renovation of bronchoscopy, human resources, dialysis, electronic medical records, digestive disease office space, general clinical research center and common space. Currey said the project recently received the benefit of an unexpected $1 million contribution from an individual donor, which will alter the schedule for the GCRC component. Electrophysiology—The $1.32 million construction work on a lab for both pediatric and adult cases “should be done by next the next board meeting,” Currey said. Emergency Department expansion and renovation—The 6,855-square-foot project will begin in the middle of March and will include interior remodeling to allow for additional exam rooms and more efficient operations. The project is expected to cost $2.3 million.  A contractor has been selected and the Notice to Proceed has been issued. Medical Center flooring—The $2.3 million project involves removing existing flooring, preparing and installing new flooring on floors 5 through 8 of the main hospital. The west wing of the hospital will begin in the next four weeks, Currey said. Operating Room, fourth floor—This 35,000-square-foot project includes the renovation of surgery and the ICU waiting area, PACU and holding, renovation of five existing ORs, construction of six new ORs and replacement flooring in the public fourth floor area. Cost of project is $10.25 million. The project management team has selected a new scheduler to help with the coordination of work in the project. Morgue Renovation—The work on the morgue should be completed in late May, according to Currey. Medical University Heart and Vascular Center—The $9.6 million, 24,000-square-foot project includes the renovation of more than half of the fifth floor of the Children’s Hospital to create a consolidated center for cath labs and interventional radiology. Currey said demolition of the fifth floor will commence between May 15 and June 15. Since Rutledge Tower opened in August of 1998, a clinical space planning committee, sometimes called the Backfill Committee, has been working on the space issues within the Medical Center, College of Medicine and the UMA. Among other tasks, the committee has worked extensively with faculty and staff to develop a plan to clear space on the fifth floor of Children's Hospital for the Heart and Vascular Center project. Six clinical operations on the fifth floor are moving to new locations: Pediatric Hematology/Oncology to Rutledge Tower fourth floor Pediatric Otolaryngology to Rutledge Tower second floor Pediatric Cardiology to Children's Hospital sixth floor Pediatric ECHO to Children's Hospital sixth floor Pediatric Dentistry to McClennan-Banks first floor Pharmacy to Children's Hospital sixth floor  In addition to various divisions of the Department of Pediatrics, faculty will be moving to Rutledge Tower, Zone C. “The effort to make all this happen has been incredible,” Currey said. “Major credit goes to the physicians, dentists, hospital staff and UMA staff to make this happen. People have been very cooperative and we are very grateful for their help and spirit of good will.” MUSC adopts new patient-centered nursing care delivery system MUSC is adopting a new nursing care delivery model called Nursing Partnerships designed to: Ensure individual care Promote interdisciplinary relationships Improve communication Enhance coordination of care, consistency and accountability Emphasize collaboration with others on the health care team Marilyn Schaffner, interim administrator for Clinical Services, who presented the new model during the communications meeting, outlined the new system and its benefits. The model is patient and family-centered and is designed to: Ensure the nurse is at the center of planning care Formulate consistent nursing roles and expectations Provide coordinated and consistent approach to care Strengthen the position of nursing in the organization Foster an environment that will attract and retain nurses This staff-driven process requires: Documentation; Communication; Continuity of care; Standardization; Values education; Support and recognition; Audits and delegation The new model improves promotion and career advancement for bedside nursing. The transition from the CAP to Nursing Partnerships will occur in March. DeMedici glitches being ironed out  Problems in deMedici, the web-based, interactive health care education tool available to MUSC employees, are being ironed out, according to Carol McDougal, coordinator for clinical and patient education; Mary Allen, coordinator department of safety, security and volunteer services and Neil Black, CCIT. The problems have mostly impacted clinical services and are being resolved, but Carol McDougal recommends that if you’re having program or documentation problems to contact Kathie Faulkner at 792-2409 or Mary Allen at 792-5176. If it's a technical problem, call the CCIT help desk at 792-9700.   “Our goal is in the next two weeks to resolve the glitches,” said McDougall.