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Currents March 20 To Medical Center Employees: A series of Medical Center quarterly town hall meetings were held from Jan. 22-31. The town hall meetings serve as a forum to report progress on MUSC Excellence goals, provide information on upcoming initiatives and to discuss other topics of interest.    We had a total of 1,154 employees to attend the meetings and 90 percent completed evaluations. Two of the meetings, involving approximately 100 employees at each meeting, were set aside to serve as monthly department-based meetings.   Below is a summary of selected evaluation questions. The questions help to measure the pulse of our organization and progress with our MUSC Excellence initiatives. We did not see as much “positive progress” with the total responses to the evaluation questions compared to previous town hall evaluation reports. It was noted that the two department-based meetings had slightly lower evaluation ratings, suggesting that we need to direct more attention to resolving any concerns.  The ratings on the left of the slash marks below represent the total evaluations (all town hall sessions), and those on the right do not include the evaluations for the two department-based meetings. (There is no plan to continue to break out these departmental scores separately in the future). Our goal is to increase the percentage of “strongly agree” ratings for future quarterly town hall evaluation. Question/Topic This session has increased my understanding of our MUSC Excellence initiative 29%/31% Strongly Agree; 62%/62% Agree; 7%/5% Mixed Feelings; 2%/1% Disagree; 1%/0% Strongly Disagree    I am encouraged by the direction the Medical Center is headed 33%/36% Strongly Agree; 52%/52% Agree; 12%/10% Mixed Feelings; 1%/0%    Disagree; 1%/1% Strongly Disagree    I receive praise/recognition for doing a good job 23%/26% Strongly Agree; 47%/47% Agree; 21%/19% Mixed Feelings; 7%/5%    Disagree; 3%/2% Strongly Disagree    Overall, I am a satisfied employee 21%/24% Strongly Agree; 52%/54% Agree; 21%/18% Mixed Feelings; 3%/3% Disagree; 2%/2% Strongly Disagree    I have the materials, equipment, and supplies needed to provide quality service 26%/28% Strongly Agree; 53%/54% Agree; 15%/13% Mixed Feelings; 5%/4% Disagree; 2%/1% Strongly Disagree     I receive sufficient feedback on my performance 25%/28% Strongly Agree; 46%/47% Agree; 19%/17% Mixed Feelings; 8%/6% Disagree; 2%/1% Strongly Disagree    I feel proud to tell people where I work 39%/43% Strongly Agree; 48%/47% Agree; 10%/7% Mixed Feelings; 1%/1% Disagree; 2%/1% Strongly Disagree    My manager/supervisor has rounded on me Yes—87% for open/general town hall meetings Yes—76% and 64% department-based meetings     I have been trained in AIDET Yes—92% for open/general town hall meetings Yes—91% and 80% department-based meetings      The evaluation results also indicated that 90% of those who completed the evaluations had been trained in AIDET; 53% of the respondents always use AIDET; 36% usually AIDET; 7% sometimes, 3% occasionally and 1% never. It is clear that AIDET increases patient satisfaction survey results and we will continue our efforts to improve use of AIDET.   The January town hall evaluation report that summarizes total responses will soon be posted at http://mcintranet.musc.edu/muscexcellence/index.htm. The next town hall meetings will be held April 23 - May 3. The schedule will be widely disseminated.  On a related matter, plans are being made to offer a three-hour training course for new hires (within or shortly after 90 days of employment) in the near future focusing on MUSC Excellence overview, service recovery, standards and AIDET. Also, refresher training will be made available to the management team upon request. The training plan will be presented to the management team and details will be disseminated soon. W. Stuart Smith Vice President for Clinical Operations and Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center People—Fostering employee pride and loyalty March of Dimes Sarah deBarros is the 2007 MUSC March of Dimes representative. Upcoming events include the Blue Jeans for Babies Day March 23. Also on that day from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Children’s Hospital Lobby, employees can purchase  a stuffed animal for $5 and again March 27. Other fundraising activities include a popcorn sale, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., March 29 and bake sale, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., North Tower Lobby. March of Dimes WalkAmerica will take place April 28 at Cannon Park. Registration begins at 8 a.m. with the walk starting at 9 a.m. HR update The Medical Center’s Employer of Choice Service Team is starting a Benefit of the Month campaign. Each month, a specific employee benefit will be highlighted. March’s Benefit of the Month is the sale of CARTA Express Discount Passes. Employees may purchase a monthly pass for $5 (regular cost is $.75, each way) To support this benefit, the Employer of Choice Service Team will join the MUSC Parking Management staff in selling passes from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., March 21 and March 29, at the Children’s Hospital Lobby. Passes may be purchased with cash, check or credit card. E-mail migration The Medical Center and the University are preparing to switch to a single e-mail platform, Microsoft Exchange, to support employee communications. MUSC users currently use either GroupWise or IMAP as their e-mail system and there is no data sharing between the two. For example, you cannot check an IMAP user's availability via the GroupWise calendar.    To prepare for this change or migration, hospital employees should begin clearing out files (including old archives). The fewer files an employee has, the fewer files they have to migrate to the new system, the faster everything works. How to tell if a message should go?  If an employee has no reasonable expectation to return to an e-mail message, they should remove it. However, employees who are asked to save an e-mail message because of a legal issue may retain a paper copy or file and store it elsewhere. Employees should be familiar with the record retention policy regarding a legal issue.    The new Exchange system will combine the inbox and mailbox quotas of GroupWise and IMAP—that is, there will be initially a 183-day limit on inbox items and an overall 200-megabyte limit to accounts.  Once the entire migration is completed, the 183-day limit will be reduced to 90 days. Reviewing current GroupWise usage, most accounts fall well below the 200-megabyte limit.      An online IS survey will be conducted with employees using GroupWise e-mail. Questions will focus on how employees utilize the e-mail service, including sharing mailing lists and calendars, use of rules, notes and calendar management, etc. The responses will be used to determine the migration schedule; for example, people who share calendars should migrate at the same time.   Customer Service manager Chris Williamson and Laura Bradfield, both of Information Systems, will be meeting with business managers, information technology coordinators, and key personnel to schedule the migration process within departments. Users will be notified individually when they will migrate.      Pilot migration and review will begin in March 26 starting in Information Services. The pilot will review the effectiveness of user support strategies such as websites, handouts, and drop-ins, along with the technical migration processes. Additional updates regarding the e-mail migration process will appear in upcoming issues of The Catalyst. National Doctor’s Day The Medical Center will recognize physicians during National Doctor’s Day March 30. Elevator etiquette Kathleen J. White, Facilities Management, shared some advice should an employee be stuck in any of the Medical Center’s elevators. Foremost, White reminded employees to remain calm and not panic, while also reassuring other passengers. Next, use the elevator phone to contact an MUSC operator. The operator will alert both an elevator mechanic and hospital maintenance personnel.   If transporting a patient, employees should assess the situation and resources (personnel and supplies such as oxygen, IV fluids, etc.) and communicate any needs to the hospital operator or assistance personnel. Finally, White urged employees to wait for an elevator mechanic and not attempt to escape from a stuck elevator. An elevator stuck between floors could move unexpectedly and cause injury to a person en route.  Instead, wait for assistance and follow their instructions. Quality—Providing quality patient care in a safe environment Facilities and Capital Improvements unveiled a new facilities forms management system available on the Medical Center Intranet. Effective immediately, this system replaces the administrator approval form previously used by managers to submit work project requests.   Online request order forms were organized into three categories—work orders, space requests and construction and design needs (furniture, professional services and moves). Electronic forms were created to initiate work order requests and is available using the Intranet forms toolbox. For  emergencies, managers should call 792-4119.   Benefits of this online system provides staff the ability to review submitted work orders at any time, plus check an order’s status. Users should complete the electronic forms, especially in the description of work and comments section. Requests will be reviewed periodically on weekdays. Information will be stored on the Facilities database to assist staff as they maintain their work area’s project activities. A request has been made to create a desktop icon link. APOC update The Advanced Point-of-Care Systems has a new name. APOC will now be known as ecarenet to help identify and represent the clinical system initiatives at MUSC. Clinical Documentation Project: Super user training was completed and end-user training has begun. We will be using the Rubbermaid Medcart. The team is still evaluating tablets, handhelds and other products for the roll-out. Due to project issues, the April 10 go-live event may be pushed back.  Bedside Med Administration Project: A two-day workshop took place March 21-22. Participants discussed specific issues like workflow, processes, devices, medication delivery, patient identifi-cation (barcode bracelets), etc. The project will roll out in June at 2CCV and possibly an ICU. Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) Project: This project is progressing well. Orderable item (individual orders) billed for medications, labs, radiology is more than 75 percent complete. The team is now evaluating admission order sets (ability to click to an order set and generate multiple orders at once). Pilot is scheduled for July. Physician Portal Project: The team is working with McKesson to finalize the linkage into different systems (Land-Vision, AgfaPAX, GE MUSE/EKG, cardiology imaging). The portal roll-out will be coordinated with the Clinical Documentation project to allow review of nursing notes and flow sheets. Perioperative and Anesthesia Project: The roll-out for this project has begun and is being tested in 75 work stations (scheduling). PICIS is the vendor. The next phase of the project is scheduled to go-live in late March. Announcements Employee Appreciation Day prize drawings will be conducted on March 28. Winners will be based on names that have completed their AIDET (Acknowledge, Introduce, Duration, Explanation, and Thank You) behavior assessment and recorded in CATTS. More than 20 different prizes will be available.   The next Communications Meeting will occur April 3. MUHA Excellence pillar goal statements Service—Serving the public with compassion, respect and excellence People—Fostering employee pride and loyalty Quality—Providing quality patient care in a safe environment Finance—Providing the highest value to patients while ensuring financial stability Growth—Growing to meet the needs of those we serve     Friday, March 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.