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Currents, Nov. 20

To Medical Center Employees:
On Dec. 5, our management team, including nearly all medical center supervisors with responsibility for hiring and performance evaluation, will take part in our eighth Leadership Development Institute (LDI). We will limit the upcoming LDI to one day instead of the usual two days due to the need for many members of the management team to prepare for our move into the new Ashley River Tower facility in early February.
 
This upcoming LDI will be devoted to “selecting talent” and will provide attendees with specific skills in behavioral interviewing, peer interviewing and increasing retention. The March LDI also will be devoted to training for this key MUSC Excellence “must have.”
 
During February, we will also train and certify about 25 Selecting Talent trainers. The Selecting Talent trainers will then train about 400 medical center employees in behavioral and peer interviewing techniques from March through June. In the future, we will continue this training as needed for new supervisors and additional peer interview team members.
 
We expect the implementation of Selecting Talent practices will help us decrease turnover and maintain experienced staff, enhance care and patient satisfaction and improve employee satisfaction.  Selecting Talent will be the last of the key MUSC Excellence “must haves” that will be rolled out. In the future we will work to improve integration of the “must haves” (behaviors and certain actions or best practices) into our daily operations.
 
We have made good progress since beginning our MUSC Excellence journey nearly two years ago and we will continue to see positive results as we move forward. Thanks to everyone for a job well done.

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

People—Fostering employee pride and loyalty
Dave Neff, Ambulatory Care administrator, related the recent visit of Joan Mclees, wife of the late Bill Mclees, former MUSC hospital administrator, who shared her own positive experiences as an Ambulatory Care Services patient at Rutledge Tower. Mclees praised the great service she received from Blood Draw Services, Mammography and University Internal Medicine staff.

Web team applauded
Dave Bennett, director of MUSC Web Resource Center, Business Development and Marketing Services, and the Web team were recognized for Web site  and Web communications design excellence with several national awards.
 
The group was honored by eHealthcare Leadership for their contributions with MUSCHealth.com. The team received a platinum award (best rich media) tying with New York Presbyterian Hospital System and a distinction award (best health care content).
 
MUSC also won three awards with Greystone.Net Awards: (gold award) best use of multimedia and social networking; (gold award) innovation; and (bronze award) best overall Website. MUSC competed nationally with more than 70 other academic medical centers among Greystone clients. Chris Murray, director of Business Development and Marketing Services, praised Bennett and his Web team, Betsy Reves, Linda Austin, M.D., Kim Haynes, Sujit Kar, Christine Gainer, Charlene Xie, plus Sydney Butler and Dana Ratliff, who both contribute to video content for MUSC’s Health Connection segments, on their achievements.

Trident United Way Campaign
David Nicole, Trident United Way’s (TUW)  Campaign president, addressed managers and thanked them and employees for their support with MUSC’s TUW campaign. Each year, employees contribute more than $200,000 and make up about 500-plus donors. Donations help with the Dial 211 network education (a 24/7 service to give and receive help), TUW childcare resource referral program and reading programs at MUSC. Managers may contact Nicole at 740-9000, ext. 261, to answer questions regarding the TUW.

Chief Mullen visits
City of Charleston Police Chief Gregory Mullen was appointed to the city’s top police position as October 2006. Mullen addressed the hospital managers about good neighborhood/campus safety practices using intelligence and target policing.
 
He reminded the audience that his department’s philosophy focuses on prevention. Mullen also reminded the audience of the importance of continuous communications and technology to develop coordinated action plans to address specific situations The department is updating its records management system and computerized dispatch programs and linking with the Internet to communicate information. The city police force is collaborating with other police municipalities and other federal partners in providing a combined effort to maintain a safe community and surroundings. Additionally, Mullen and his staff meet regularly with citizen advisory groups to discuss neighborhood safety and crime issues and are  open to collaborating with others in this effort.

November’s Benefit for the Month— Employee Assistance Program
Helena Bastian, Human Resources director, discussed the benefits of the MUSC Employee Assistance Program (EAP). The program is free and confidential and is available to all MUSC employees (MUHA, university and UMA) and their dependents. It provides assistance for personal, occupational, relationship and mental health problems. It offers assessments, individual and couples counseling, consultations and/or referrals for outside support and education programs. The office is located at 51 Bee St. For information, call 792-2848.

Standard of Behavior for November
John Sanders, Children’s Hospital administrator, talked to managers and employees about the values of learning and practicing AIDET (Acknowledge, Introduce, Duration, Explanation and Thank You) and using key words at key times. AIDET improves a patient’s overall experience, reinforces coordination of care and decreases patient anxiety and related concerns.
 
Sanders remarked that when employees correctly use AIDET, the experience can be both positive and meaningful for the patient as well as the employee. What’s more important, according to Sanders, is that a patient feels confident and reassured that a staff member can care for them throughout their visit. Sanders reminded managers and employees that when patients come to MUSC their health is in crisis. It’s important that hospital staff acknowledge and introduce themselves to their patient so they feel comfortable about the way they will be cared for. Staff should discuss the duration of their visit and discuss expectations to the best of their knowledge and finally, thank patients for trusting the employee for taking care of them.

Quality—Providing quality patient care in a safe environment
Boyd Wood and Jason Beers, Facilities Management, reviewed details of several construction projects as part of the Joint Commission Statement of Conditions Report.
 
Beers reported that the recent eBBI, a basic information report on all of MUSC’s buildings and Plans for Improvement (PFI), plans for building improvements, were now available online. This meets the Joint Commission’s requirements for all accredited hospitals. As of early September, the medical center had nine open PFI reports, which is a substantially lower number than the 300 original PFIs reported last year. PFIs include building deficiencies that cannot be fixed within a 45-day period.
 
Beers expects the number of reports to increase following additional inspections after the opening of Ashley River Tower. Beers will conduct a comprehensive annual survey. Also, monthly surveys will target hot spots or problem areas and will involve staff from Facilities Management, Safety and Security and Occupational Safety and Health Programs.
 
Beers also unveiled a new proactive Building Maintenance Program (BMP), approved by the Joint Commission as an effective method for finding/tracking building deficiencies. The BMP will be used throughout the main hospital, Children’s Hospital, Rutledge Tower, Clinical Science Building (first and second floors), Institute of Psychiatry, Charleston Memorial Hospital and the ART facility.

Service—Serving the public with compassion, respect and excellence
eCareNet update
  • Admin RX Project (bedside meds admini-stration): Roll out for this project continues. The system was piloted in November (2CCV). Field engineers and support staff were available throughout this period. By mid-November, the project was introduced on 10W. Teams reported some issues with the C5 tablet devices but managed well throughout the pilot.
  • Clinical Documentation Project: System has been successfully introduced in Med-Surg units. Teams are currently evaluating ICUs and other hospital areas for further implementation.
  • eCareNet Viewer (formerly OACIS): Currently revamping the clinical display and implementing a Web-based version of the display (does not use a browser but uses Web technology). Roll out is planned for mid-December. Plan to add a vital signs feature to med administration records to the clinical display system.
  • Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) Project: Targeting to go live in the ART facility and the Heart & Vascular Center and Digestive Disease Center continues. Plans are to initiate the CPOE project approximately eight weeks after the ART opening.

Announcements
  • MUSC Angel Tree program is  under way. Employees and department areas can pick up their angel tags by calling Liz Nista, 792-8382. Participants may bring their unwrapped and tagged Angel Tree gift to any Wal-Mart Debi’s Kids bin or deliver them to the MUSC horseshoe at 1 p.m., Dec. 11 and join in all the festivities.
  • Beth Borden is the new manager for Hospital Fiscal Services. Borden has been with the medical center since early November.
  • Carol Lane is the new business manager for Surgical Services. Lane, who has 33 years finance experience with a medical background, came from the Charleston Breast Center. She replaces Kelli Suggs who has joined the Digestive Disease Center Service Line at ART.
  • Cheryl Holderfield, R.N., was named as the new nurse manager for the Neuroscience ICU.
  • MUHA new hire reception for employees will be held 5 to 6:30 p.m., Dec. 12, Storm Eye Institute Auditorium. The event is open to employees hired between July 22 and Sept. 16.
  • Kelli Shaw reminded managers, directors and administrators that the compliance CATTS modules for MUHA are due Dec. 1.
  • The next hospital communications is Dec. 4.
 

Friday, Nov. 30, 2007
Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.