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Currents To Medical Center Employees: We are now in the midst of hurricane season as evidenced by Hurricane   Isabel’s recent threat to the Charleston area. All managers should be familiar with our policies that address weather emergencies and staffing including: Medical Center Staffing During Emergencies and Disasters Policy, #A-42; Medical Center Weather Emergency Plan, #A-64; and Medical Center Human Resources Hazardous Weather Policy #13. These policies can be found on the Medical Center Intranet and should be communicated to everyone. Please remember that any employees who drive into the Charleston area immediately prior to or following a damaging hurricane need an emergency worker placard on the rearview mirror or in another visible area. Managers needing more placards can call Tracy Washington, Safety and Security, at 792-6902. One of the communication tools that we have used for employees to get work-related instructions is the Employee Weather Emergency Information line operated by the Marketing Referral Call Center. This line enables employees to call department/area-specific number(s) for information updates on return-to-work instructions. Green cards have been issued to employees that indicate their departmental number and other key numbers to access up-to-date instructions. Any manager who needs additional cards should contact Tracy Washington, Safety and Security, at 792-6902. Also, we will continue to use the Medical Center Intranet and broadcast e-mail to facilitate storm-related communication.  For additional details concerning disaster preparedness, please refer to the June 13 Currents newsletter which can be located through The Catalyst archives online.  Thank you very much. W. Stuart Smith Vice President for Clinical Operations and Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center   Maximizing Effectiveness of Education: The MUSC LEAD Team Lynne Nemeth, Care Management, Research and Evaluation director, informed managers about the MUSC LEAD (Leadership for Education and Development) Team at the Sept. 9 communications meeting. The team is defined as a facilitator in education rollout and a resource for successful education, with the goals of assisting in preventing information overload, measuring outcomes, and standardizing the process of education. Representing clinical educators with diverse expertise, the team’s function is to evaluate the management of “change” processes via the review of organiza-tionwide programs, competencies, policies, programs or products which may require communication, dissemination, and evaluation. For example, should a process owner need to implement an educational change, he or she submits the process change to immediate regulatory bodies for approval and buy-in. Support must be secured before presenting to the LEAD team. Once the process has been submitted to the LEAD team in completed format for review, the team will determine priority level based on objective criteria, determine the end recipient (see if additional groups need the information), schedule a rollout, and release information on a specific date in the appropriate form. Some of the tools used for education dissemination include staff meetings, bathroom postings, individual e-mails, broadcast e-mails, Catalyst articles, one-on-one, PowerPoint presentations, CATTS or other web tools, and a communication log. When submitting to the LEAD team, a process owner is responsible for two forms, a “Notification of Planned Educational Activity” form and an “Information Dissemination Request” form. For more information, contact Nemeth at nemethl@musc.edu. MUSC Information Management Needs Assessment: survey results Christine Lewis, Health Information Services Coding and Record Processing manager, and Dave Northrop, Healthcare Computing Services director, presented the results of the 2003 MUSC Information Management Needs Assessment survey and five priorities based on those results. Those five are: Implement an integrated, enterprise-wide Electronic Medical Record (EMR) to include computerized physician order entry and a clinical documentation system.  Continue to make strategic investments in information systems and infrastructure to support an EMR and other information management needs. Pursue improved decision support and outcomes measurement reporting and research needs. Continue to expand availability of clinical, financial and administrative information for patient care, research and education through adequate numbers of universal workstation access Continue improvements in the training related to information management. For information concerning the survey, contact Lewis at lewisc@musc.edu. Announcements Rosemary Ellis, Quality director, announced a change in MUSC policy C-9 Customer Satisfaction and Grievances. Revisions were made to reflect current nomenclature: Patient and Family Liaison. Ellis also asked managers to remind employees sent to PI Storyboard workshops to bring a floppy disk and completed template. For more information on either topic, contact Ellis at ellisro@musc.edu. Helena Bastian, Medical Center Human Resources director, reminded managers of the Annual Retirement and Service Awards Ceremony that will be held on Sept. 25  to recognize retirees and MUSC employees with 10, 20, or 30 years of service. For information concerning the Service Award Ceremony, contact Janet Browning at browninj@musc.edu. .   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.