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Currents To Medical Center employees: I want to thank everyone for your support with the “rollout” of the Step Up campaign.  Stepping Up should be easy but fun.  So please, Step Up to demonstrate our excellent customer service, Step Up to support our coworkers and Step Up to demonstrate our appreciation of the diversity of our patients, visitors, students and employees.   To include physicians in the Step Up campaign, we ask them to recognize employees who demonstrate excellence in customer service and, in turn, we want all employees to treat our physicians as customers.     Thanks to everyone for a job well done.  W. Stuart Smith Vice President for Clinical Operations  and Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center ‘Presenting: ‘Fatal Attraction,’ starring those ever lethal ‘no brainers’ Sounding a familiar theme, Jodell Johnson, Infection Control coordinator, told the management team that when it comes to safety and infection standards, “We’re good, but we can do better.”   The JCAHO consultants completed a Mock Survey with an exit interview on Oct. 23, visiting more than 30 units throughout the organization and interviewing the leadership team and staff on topics ranging from process improvement to infection control practices.  The mock audit is designed to prepare the Medical Center for the JCAHO survey, which will be conducted one year from now. The consultants reported that the overall performance in the mock survey was very good. A full report of the findings is forthcoming.   Just before giving a photo presentation, Johnson pulled a stuffed rabbit out of a pot and waved it around by its ears. “What you’re about to see are no-brainers, the kind of situations that are obvious and avoidable,” she said.  She showed photos of problem areas such as sterile supplies being stored on the floor and under the sink, bed linens not properly covered, and corridors with unattended carts, boxes and open Wall-a-Roos.   Johnson noted that the new Pyxis systems used in storing and inventorying medications has greatly improved the units. She also indicated that during her survey of the medical units, she only found one unattended syringe and many clinical units in which there were no problems.    “Don’t get boiled by forgetting to heed the no-brainers,” Johnson said. MUSC Heart, Vascular Center receives top 100 ranking MUSC’s Heart and Vascular Center is ranked among the top 100 cardiovascular services in the country by Solucient, a leading source of health care business intelligence.   Bill Spring, director of the Heart and Vascular Center, made the announcement at the Oct. 29 communications meeting. “This is an example of how exciting it is to be here,” Spring said. “It doesn’t get any better than this!”   Now in its tenth year, Solucient developed the “100 Top Hospitals: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success” study to identify the nation’s highest performing cardiovascular hospitals and to set performance standards for clinical treatment and management. The study is part of an ongoing series of studies identifying superior care and management in high risk, high cost and high volume service lines. To qualify, hospitals must have performed well across 10 performance measures that indicate high-quality outcomes and efficient management of care.   MUSC performed especially well in the low number of post-surgical infections recorded. The risk-adjusted post-operative infection index shows that MUSC ranked markedly lower in this area compared to the benchmark median, benchmark best quartile and peer group median.   The research found that if all hospitals achieved the success levels of the top performers, 4,400 more patients would be saved annually from cardiac conditions and U.S. hospitals would save some $880 million. The 100 top benchmark cardiovascular hospitals have higher procedure volumes than their peers, performing at least 80 percent more angioplasty procedures and bypass surgeries than non-winning peer hospitals.   Benchmark hospitals had a median of 26 percent fewer deaths for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery compared to non-winning hospitals. Top hospitals also demonstrated lower costs and shorter lengths of stay for CABG’s performed.   Solucient derived the data from detailed clinical and patient management information, including Solucient’s diagnostic related group and hospital database, as well as publicly available MEDPAR data (Medicare Provider Analysis and Review). The study measures outcomes, costs, patient satisfaction, along with mortality and complications rates, excellence in care, efficiency of operations and sustainability of cardiovascular performance.   The study focuses on hospitals that treat a broad spectrum of cardiology patients and includes all hospitals that had at least 30 unique cases in each of the following groups: Acute myocardial infarction Congestive heart failure Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty Coronary artery bypass graft Hospitals meeting these criteria were analyzed according to clinical quality practices and efficiency of operations including: Procedure volume threshold; Risk-adjusted medical mortality; Risk-adjusted surgical mortality; Risk-adjusted complications index; Percentage of CABG patients with internal mammary artery use; Severity-adjusted average length of stay; and Wage- and severity-adjusted average cost   “MUSC is the only medical center in South Carolina to achieve this status as a top performer,” Spring said.   More information can be found at http://www.100TopHospitals.com. Children’s Hospital, SAFE KIDS send message about car seat safety Children between the ages of 4 and 8 years are the most likely to sustain serious injuries or die in auto accidents because of improper use of restraints, according to officials from MUSC Children’s Hospital.   Carol Dobos, director of Children Services, showed a video from the National Association of Children’s Hospitals on the hazards of improperly restraining a child. “We’re finding that even pediatricians are giving out incorrect information,” Dobos said, noting that children’s hospitals see debilitating injuries that are a result of improper use of restraints. According to SC state law, A child under one year of age or who weighs less than 20 pounds must be properly secured in a rear-facing child safety seat that meets the standards prescribed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. A child between one and six years old, who weighs 20 – 40 pounds must be secured in a forward-facing child safety seat that meets the standards. A child between one and six, who weighs 40 – 80 pounds, must be secured by a belt-positioning booster seat. If a child is between one and six and weighs more than 80 pounds, the child may be restrained in an adult safety belt. A child younger than six must not sit in the front seat. Dobos introduced Amy Ethridge from Trident Area SAFE KIDS, who emphasized the importance of providing belt positioning booster seats for children 4 – 8 years old. “That’s where we’re seeing the most injuries,” Dobos said.   Ethridge said that for children who have outgrown convertible or toddler seats, booster seats will help the adult seat belt fit safely and correctly. “Booster seats help reposition the child so that the lap and shoulder belts fit correctly,” she said.   For more information about SAFE KIDS, contact Ethridge at 792-5327. Policy manual template presented To establish consistent style and format of policy documents and expedite publication on the Web, the Policy Manual Task Force has developed three documents: 1. Policy manual template example 2. Policy manual template instructions 3. Policy manual template blank starter   The templates are available on the Intranet Resources section of the MUSC Web site. In the top right corner, click on the  “Policies and Procedures” drop-down list. Select “Template, Example and Instructions.”   Michael Irving, chair of the Policy Manual Task Force, presented the information, thanking the members of the task force for their efforts in developing the instructions and examples. Committee members include Peggy Simmons, Laurie Zone-Smith, Helena Bastian, Eric Frisch, Kelly Roberts, Linda Randazzo and Stephanie Davis. Traffic rerouted on Jonathan Lucas Due to construction at Roper Hospital, traffic on Jonathan Lucas will be rerouted, affecting the MUSC Clinical Sciences Building and Emergency Room traffic. “We will do our best to keep you all informed,” said Melinda Anderson, director, Office of Parking Management. Interim PCICU manager named Carol Dobos, director of Children Services, introduced Kim Montgomery as the interim manager for MUSC Children’s Hospital Pediatric Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit.       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 petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.