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MUSC Excellence at the Medical Center Enhancing patient care, forums planned Service: Serving the public with compassion, respect and excellence Studer coach visits MUSC emergency departments On June 29, the adult and pediatric emergency Departments and the Charleston Memorial Emergency Department (ED) welcomed Julie Kennedy, R.N., to the campus.   Kennedy is a Studer group consultant and one of MUSC’s coaches for MUSC Excellence. Kennedy met with the ED nursing staff to discuss the unique aspects of increasing patient satisfaction in a busy emergency department. As an emergency department nurse herself, she understands the hectic pace, high volume and acuity of patients, as well as the challenges associated with boarding patients overnight.   Kennedy emphasized patient care from the perspective of how staff members would want care delivered to their loved ones. She emphasized how important the nurse’s role is in decreasing the anxiety of the patient and family.   Key points and recommendations Kennedy made included: AIDET (Acknowledge, Introduce, Duration, Explanation and Thank You) decreases patient anxiety while increasing patient compliance and patient satisfaction, and improving patient outcomes AIDET increases satisfaction for both nursing and physician staff “Managing up” helps to increase patient comfort, as well as improve teamwork of staff and safety in the workplace Keeping patients and families informed while waiting for lengthy periods, even for reasons out of an individual's control, is crucial Follow-up phone calls to patients after an emergency department visit make a difference Bedside report decreases the potential for error and enhances communication Many ideas for increasing patient satisfaction in the EDs were developed and some are in the process of being implemented. People: Fostering employee pride and loyalty Psychiatry physician firestarter, Mark Wagner, M.D. Youth Psychiatry has a “firestarter,” as Quint Studer would say. His name is Mark W. Wagner, M.D. He is the service chief for youth psychiatry and has been involved with MUSC Excellence from the beginning. Excellence is clearly evident in all of Wagner’s endeavors, as can be seen with how he embraced the tactics and goals identified in Leadership Development Institute trainings and applied them to the service areas in Youth Psychiatry.   Wagner has been instrumental in the AIDET roll-out in many areas of the Institute of Psychiatry, to include 2 North, Youth Resident Clinic, 5 North and Day Treatment programs in the community. Wagner involved staff and patients in the use of AIDET in community meetings and has initiated admission and discharge phone calls to families, which he personally makes. He also writes thank you notes upon discharge to patients. Wagner can often be seen talking to families in the waiting rooms.   Unit staff has been working with Wagner to gather and display pictures of all interdisciplinary team members so that patients and families can readily identify their caregivers. Wagner also has championed making environmental changes on the units, such as wall murals, treasure chest items for patients, enhanced patient family education handouts and toys for the waiting room. As a “firestarter,” Wagner has motivated staff to make MUSC a fun place to want to work and take care of patients.   Wagner is certainly a role model for the MUSC leadership group. His involvement with patients, families and staff demonstrates that he truly cares about MUSC's mission, and MUSC is very fortunate to have him. Wagner is a visionary and a prime example of a “firestarter.” MUSC Excellence communication boards audit results The communication boards to support updating medical center staff about the hospital's journey toward MUSC Excellence have been posted in work areas around campus, as well as in our outreach locations, for several months. Information on the boards focuses on the various initiatives, such as standards of behavior and employee benefit of the month, to help  reach MUSC's pillar goals.   As the medical center moves toward its goals, MUSC becomes a better place for patients to receive care, for employees to work and for physicians to practice medicine and teach.   The MUSC Excellence Communication Team, with the assistance of other medical center staff, recently completed the second round of audits of the more than 250 boards. The audits are conducted to see if boards are current with the monthly information and if employees are finding the information helpful. Preliminary results show that the boards are current and contain relevant information. However, some staff shared that they would like to see the information explained to them by their supervisors so they understand how to use this information in their work area and daily activities. Employee of the Year voting begins The medical center’s Reward and Recognition team will be announcing the MUSC medical center’s Employee of the Year in August. This is an MUSC Excellence program initiative.   Nominees for this award will include the Employee of the Month recipients from the program this year (September through June) and selected staff nominations submitted during the open nomination process. All medical center staff will be able to vote for the Employee of the Year from July 23 to Aug. 3 from the MUSC Medical Center intranet. New hire reception to be held Aug. 8 The medical center's first new hire reception was a hit and the next new hire reception will be held Aug. 8. Newly hired staff will be invited to join hospital leaders for a reception in their honor. More details to come. Town hall meetings—A few more sessions available Stuart Smith and the medical center administrators are committed to holding quarterly employee forums to provide staff with updates related to the medical center, as well as to provide an opportunity to ask questions of leadership.   Information will be provided regarding how the medical center did with reaching its MUSC Excellence goals, which are categorized by the pillars, and new goals for the upcoming fiscal year 2007-08. Please make every effort to attend one of the remaining sessions: Thursday, July 26 at 2:30 p.m., Storm Eye Auditorium; Friday, July 27 at 7:30 or 11 a.m., 2 West Amphitheatre; Monday, July 30 at 3 p.m., 2 West; Tuesday, July 31 at 10 a.m. or 1 p.m., 2 West; or Wednesday, Aug. 1 at 7:30 a.m., Institute of Psychiatry, or 2 p.m. 2 West.     Friday, July 27, 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.