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Currents
Recently Mr. Tom Keating, administrator, Children's Healthcare System
and Support Services, informed me that he will be retiring at the beginning
of January. Mr. Keating has been employed with MUSC for more than 16 years
and has held a number of key positions. He will be relocating to Georgia
and will be employed with an organization that offers management training
programs.
Mr. Keating personifies the Medical Center's values. MUSC has greatly
benefitted from his innovative contributions over the years. He will be
greatly missed.
W. Stuart Smith
Vice President for Clinical Operations and
Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center
Trident United Way Campaign (TUW)
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The TUW campaign will continue through the end of December. Fred
Crawford, M.D., chairman, Department of Surgery, and chair of the 2000
MUSC TUW Campaign, sent brochures to employees at the beginning of the
campaign and urged that we make gifts or pledges. This year's goal is $235,000.
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If you have not already done so, please consider returning the envelope
with your gift or pledge. If you have made a gift or pledge . . . thank
you very much. If you need additional brochures or information, please
contact Shelly Sinclair, TUW Campaign Coordinator, MUSC Development Office,
at 792-1973.
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MUSC is the largest employer in the Charleston area and we need to demonstrate
our support to the community. Your gift or pledge will be greatly appreciated.
JCAHO Survey Summary and Change for Year
2001
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Vivian Gettys, JCAHO program manager, once again commended everyone for
a very successful JCAHO accreditation survey. Gettys stated that the surveyors
were very complementary of the collaborative quality care and services
demonstrated. As a follow-up to the survey, Gettys distributed a handout
outlining recommendations for improvements as we move forward.
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Gettys informed the management team that the JCAHO is considering a new
initiative to improve the accreditation process. This new initiative looks
at reducing costs, improving customer satisfaction, and making accreditation
more relevant. Considerations include the use of a secure Internet-based
survey process, an 18-month survey cycle, a customized on-site survey process,
and further training and development of surveyors to reduce variability
in survey findings.
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Gettys also reviewed new and revised standards for 2001 which include:
—Patient Education—Organizational plan and appropriate resource allocation.
—Discharge Planning—Use of discharge criteria, and providing patient
information regarding the discharge planning process.
—Pain Assessment and Management—Comprehensive program including assessment,
patient education, treatment and follow-up, clinical education and performance
improvement.
—Anesthesia Care—Levels of sedation specified. See MUSC policy
C-44, Conscious Sedation/Analgesia by Non-Anesthesiologist.
—Restraint and Seclusion—Restraint/seclusion requirements based on
acute medical, post-surgical care or behavior management. See MUSC
policy C-22, Restraint and Seclusion.
—Medical Staff—Physician health, telemedicine and credentialing.
—Environment of Care Management Plans—Life Safety, Emergency Preparedness,
and Utility Systems
For further information, please contact Vivian Gettys at 792-7688.
Compliance with Federal Legislation on Non
Discrimination in Post Hospital Referrals
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Recent federal legislation requires that hospitals not limit post-hospital
referrals to home health agencies and other entities. Patients must
be notified of home health agencies available in their area that wish to
be listed as available for services. Medical Center staff can comply with
federal guidelines by using the Home-care Agency Referral Program (HARP).
HARP is a computer program available on all patient units in the Medical
Center. After a home care referral (home health, DME or hospice) is written,
unit staff should access HARP, select the service required and the county
where the patient resides. HARP will provide a list of agencies in the
county. Staff can take the list to the patient to select an agency for
service. Staff enter the home care referral into HARP indicating the agency
the patient selects. If the patient has no preference, staff should
select “None” under Choice Maker in HARP and the referral defaults to the
MUSC preferred provider. HARP will automatically page a Home Care Coordinator
and the referral will be made in keeping with federal guidelines. Please
refer any questions to: Carolyn Adams, Home Care manager; 792-1301
or adamsce@musc.edu.
Announcements
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June Stovall, nurse manager, Newborn Nursery/Post Partum, thanked all those
who assisted in the relocation of the Level I and Level II Nursery and
Postpartum to 2 East in the Main Hospital. Stovall requested
that anyone needing to access the Speech Pathology area and/or the DDC
offices, which are housed in the same vicinity, use the entrance located
at the D (visitor) elevators from the main hallway. This will aid in limiting
traffic through the newborn nursery area.
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Dave Northrup, director, Healthcare Computing Services, advised the group
that on December 19 CCIT will retire the web browser access to Oacis called
“Passport.” It will be replaced with another web browser solution called
“Citrix.” Additional information will be communicated as Dec. 19 draws
near.
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Northrup also reminded everyone to work with University Communications
regarding elimination of unneeded telephone extensions, fax lines, Audix
(voice mail) and so forth. To date approximately $265,000 in savings have
been achieved this year, and it is expected that more savings opportunities
exist. Please contact the University Communications office at 792-9980.
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John Lancaster, director, Financial and Administrative Systems, CCIT, announced
that beginning this month, financial month-end reporting will be web-accessible
to all Smartstream users. Initially, the following reports will be web-accessible:
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Project Summary (Summary III)
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Unit Summary (Level II)
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Transaction Detail (Level I)
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Budget Detail
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Commitments and Encumbrances
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An added benefit aside from cost savings is that the information from the
reports can be downloaded into either Excel, Word, or Access files.
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Hard copies of these reports will continue to be available for a short
while. For further information, contact Lancaster at 792-9506.
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