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Currents To Medical Center Employees: On Feb. 27 and 28 our management team, including nearly all Medical Center supervisors with responsibility for hiring and performance evaluation, will take part in our fifth quarterly MUSC Excellence Leadership Development Institute (LDI). The upcoming LDI will focus upon a variety of topics including: new guidelines for business plan development; generational differences; training for department roll out of the Employee Perspectives Survey and development of action plans; Reward and Recognition Team update; Standards Team update; and other related topics. The LDI is designed to train managers to be better leaders.   Managers are expected to designate individuals to be in charge during their two day absence. We have full confidence in those left in charge and greatly appreciate their hard work and dedication.   We are now one year into our MUSC Excellence initiative and we are seeing some positive results. During the past year we have adopted and communicated measurable pillar-based goals. We improved employee communication and recognition. We implemented a new online leader evaluation system tied directly to the goals and our management team members are becoming more proficient in use of this system. We implemented “key words at key times” (AIDET) training and we have taken rounding to another level. A new Service Recovery plan was implemented and training was provided to employees. We converted our patient satisfaction survey tool for inpatients to another vendor. We are seeing good progress with our patient satisfaction results and we are learning to use the data more strategically. We completed an employee perspective survey and employees will soon be involved in development of action plans to make improvements. As we move forward we will improve and “hardwire” practices rolled out during this past year and we will implement additional best practices. The ultimate goal is to make the MUSC Medical Center a great place to work, a great place for patient care and a great place for physicians to practice medicine and teach.   The College of Medicine and University Medical Associates have also kicked off a MUSC Excellence initiative. We will work closely to achieve economies of scale and to achieve mutual goals. Also, the University Finance and Administration Division has implemented a similar MUSC Excellence initiative that serves the best interests of the entire MUSC.   I appreciate everyone's hard work and look forward to continued progress. Sincerely, W. Stuart Smith Vice President for Clinical Operations and Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center GetWell Network, hygiene discussed Lisa Montgomery, Finance and Support Services administrator, announced to staff that the employee response to the CARTA Express Service has been very good, and that due to this response, MUHA and MUSC administration decided to subsidize the cost of the $64 pass for employees. Now, instead of the public market price of $64, employees pay a $5 monthly administrative fee. On March 8 passes will be sold from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Children's Hospital lobby.   Those who use the CARTA Express Service can purchase monthly passes in the Office of Parking Management on the second floor of the President Street garage and will be offered a free Hagood Parking tag. Montgomery also reminded managers and directors that the MUSC badge continues to be a pass for the regular bus transit system operated by CARTA and transit routes can stop at express service stops should someone need to reach their vehicle during the day.   For information, employees can visit http://www.ridecarta.com or http://www.whydrive.net. Montgomery thanked John Runyon, Business Services, for his time and effort in working with CARTA staff to make the program such a huge success for MUSC employees. Facilities management update Dennis Frazier, Hospital Administration, began the Feb. 21 communications meeting with information regarding the distribution of facilities management for the Ashley-Rutledge and Courtenay hospital campuses. He introduced Dave Dement as the director of hospital maintenance for the Ashley-Rutledge hospital campus, the Courtenay Drive hospital campus, and the Central Energy Plant. Boyd Wood will serve as director of construction and design for both campuses. Frazier said he was excited about the ideas coming forward that would better serve those requesting maintenance services and that he looks forward to reporting on the department's progress in the coming months. GetWell Network coming to adult hospital Shannon O'Neil, Marketing, told attendees that the adult hospital is very close to going live with GetWell Network services. According to Comcast, the 7W, 8W, 8E and 10E are ready for programming. O'Neil cautioned that her engineering staff must double check the work and assuming that all is well, additional work needed to make the system functional on those floors should take approximately four weeks. In addition, O'Neil asked nurse managers and others interested in learning more about the system and how to use it to contact her for tutorials. Human Resources update Mark Stimpson, MUHA Human Resources, explained that a letter sent to employees who use the state employee health plan or MUSC options outlining MUSC Pharmacy Services was in response to a marketing push from a pharmaceutical benefits company called Medco. In their letter, Medco promoted less expensive alternatives to medication that people are taking as well as their mail order pharmacy for 90 day supplies of medication. MUSC Rutledge Tower, MUSC Ashley Avenue Pharmacy and MUSC Hollings Cancer Center Pharmacy can also dispense 90 day supplies at significant savings, there are special co-payment rates for employees, and can also work with customers to see if a patient can use less expensive alternatives to their current medications.   Stimpson also discussed Human Resources' effort to make progress on understanding the reasons behind MUSC's turnover rate and solicited directors and managers help in reminding terminating employees to visit the Human Resources office prior to departing MUSC so an exit interview may be conducted. This interview is not only an opportunity for MUHA to find out why a person is leaving, but also an opportunity for the employee to learn when insurance benefits might end and other important information. Stimpson said employees do not need an appointment; interviews usually last no longer than 15 minutes. The office is open Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Education Roll-Out Committee Laurie Zone-Smith PhD(c), R.N., presented the update from the Education Roll-Out Committee. Topics included presentation of new policies; Policy C-37 Release against Medical Advice and Policy C-26 Medication Samples.   Zone-Smith also said that effective March 13, Interpreter Services must be contacted through Simon pager number 17080. Individual Spanish interpreter pagers will no longer be used. Text messages should always include unit/clinic location, callback number and name of the person requesting the interpreter.   Vaccine forms were reviewed and staff are encouraged to begin vaccine order form upon admission.   She also asked mangers and directors to remind employees that the last on-site scrub sale will take place from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Feb. 22 and 23 in the Children's Hospital lobby. All employees are required to comply with the dress code as of April 1. Patient safety, hygiene Rosemary Ellis, MUHA director quality, acknowledged that while good hygiene and infection control are on everyone's agenda, managers and directors need to hold their staff accountable for good practices in those areas. Despite housekeeping's better job at replacing soap in dispensers prior to them running out, Ellis has taken previous suggestions and distributed “number to call” labels for every dispenser in patient rooms, units, etc. These labels have the number to call in case a dispenser is empty so that the soap can be replaced expeditiously. She also asked that all supervisors see distributing the labels to the appropriate dispensers as an opportunity to remind staff of proper hand washing technique, as well as a chance to verbalize expectations for placing the labels and abiding by hand washing directives. Staff introductions Holly Hyman, Hollings Cancer Center, was named director of HCC Volunteer Services. Hyman directs volunteers who are working in the chemotherapy treatment areas, waiting rooms, the Looking Glass, and throughout the second floor.   Friday, Feb. 23, 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.