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Survey results, safe practice ideas discussed The final town hall meetings will be held from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m., Nov. 2; 3 to 4 p.m., Nov. 6; and 10 to 11 a.m., Nov. 7, at 2 West Amphitheater. Employees also may receive the flu vaccine at these remaining meetings.   October’s town hall meetings focused on results of the August 2007 Employee Perspectives Survey, MUSC Excellence details about high/middle/low performers; infection control update and medical center idea campaign; ClinDoc system; the National Research Corporation’s (NRC) Consumer’s Choice Award and forthcoming Ashley River Tower (ART) opening events. People—Fostering employee pride and loyalty Betts Ellis, institutional relations administrator, reviewed results from August’s Employee Perspectives Survey. For the second consecutive year, the medical center used Press Ganey, a national firm with more than 25 years of survey experience, to help measure employee satisfaction progress. Nearly three-quarters of the hospital’s workforce participated in August’s survey (74.2 percent compared to 66.5 percent in 2006). The medical center increased its mean score on all 67 questions repeated from the 2006 survey. MUSC surpassed its goal with an overall mean score of 65.3 (goal was 63.4) with 5,249 comments included in the survey. The survey featured a total of 77 questions in 14 sections (six organizational and eight departmental). Questions were asked in both the organizational and departmental focus. Overall organizational strength and opportunities were discussed with staff.   Employees can expect a department-based rollout of survey results in coming weeks.  High/middle/low performers The process is recognized as a best practice similar to AIDET, rounding or the alignment of goals to values as a supplement to an employees’ evaluation. High/middle/low fundamentals focuses on behaviors and performance and not people. Values and standards of behavior should always be posted for all employees. Today, among 47 percent of high performers and a significant number of middle performers are seeking other jobs elsewhere. Management’s goal is to recognize and coach high and middle performers.   In the next few weeks, managers will be meeting with all employees and recognize high and middle performers and identify opportunities for improvement. Management’s focus is improving employees’ organizational performance. Quality—Providing quality patient care in a safe environment   Pat Cawley, M.D., medical center medical director, reviewed October’s goal to reduce hospital acquired infections by 30 percent through good hand hygiene and barrier precautions. To involve employees in thinking about hygiene and prevention, the hospital promoted the MUSC idea campaign throughout October. So far, employees have submitted more than 600 ideas in this campaign. Cawley assured participants that those who provided an e-mail address will receive feedback and evaluation for their idea. Currently a review committee is considering ideas. By early November, the committee will select ideas and begin the implementation process. By next summer, they hope to reward participants for their input. Growth—Growing to meet the needs of those we serve Alex Sargeant, creative director for Business Development & Marketing Services, reviewed details about NRC’s annual health care consumer survey featuring MUSC as the 2007 winner of the Consumer’s Choice Award within the Charleston market for 10 straight years. In all categories, MUSC led other area hospitals with the best doctors, nurses, latest technology, personalized care, imaging services, Web services, etc.   With January's  opening of the first phase of ART and the new era featuring MUSC Excellence, a new logo and visual identity for MUSC was needed to accurately affect its future  by building recognition and awareness among people within the institution and throughout the community.   The logo design process was assigned to five nationally recognized graphic designers. The competition drew more than 50 options, which were reviewed internally, and further tested among test audiences via the Internet.   The graphic icon, inspired by the new ART facility, is symbolic of MUSC’s future and is the first footprint of the expansion plan. It also complements the institution’s triad mission of education, research and patient care.   MUSC Health is the new brand for all clinical and patient care services, centers of excellence, clinical service lines and departments.   The new corporate identity system featuring the new icon and logo will change all stationary—letterhead, business cards, etc.   The graphic standards manual, which provides guidelines for proper logo usage, and new logos are now available online at http://mcintranet.musc.edu/graphicstandards. Staff can download any university or clinical service line logo in jpeg, tiff, Photoshop file, etc. At this time, vendors will be unable to access the site until details with a pass code system are finalized.   ART opening events will continue Jan. 6 with a  referring practitioner event. Separate employee and community events also will follow. Service—Serving the public with compassion, respect and excellence Marilyn Schaffner, Ph.D., R.N., Clinical Services Administrator, recognized the benefits of technology used within the clinical areas featuring ClinDoc, the hospital’s nursing documentation system.   Schaffner shared results of an observational study evaluating the efficacy and timeliness of documenting patient information. The study compared the accuracy and documentation of a patient’s vital signs using an automated blood pressure machine. The study evaluated three stages: recording stats on paper; recording stats on paper using ClinDoc and a fixed device; and finally, recording stats directly to a patient’s electronic medical record using ClinDoc and side-by-side tablet personal computer (PC) fixed to a Dinamap pole.   Evaluators reviewed latency comparisons (frequency of charting delays) and error rates. For stages one and three, staff recorded vital signs in less than five minutes. For stage three, it’s estimated that most of the information was recorded in less than one minute. For stage two, delays were recorded up to 30 minutes due to the time a clinical associate records  information on paper and again using the ClinDoc computer system. Error rate for this stage was 24 percent. Schaffner emphasized that when staff used the side-by-side tablet PC and Dinamap configuration, the error rate was 7 percent. Currently, observations in these areas will continue. MUSC Excellence conclusion Stuart Smith, vice president for clinical operations and medical center executive director, gave a summary of MUSC Excellence goals and accomplishments associated with the hospital’s commitment to this program since 2005. Already half-way through the excellence journey, Smith shared institutional accomplishments using the pillars format.   For fiscal year 2006-07, the hospital accomplished its goals by increasing inpatient admissions and outpatient visits (growth); reducing FTE per adjusted discharge (finance) and decreased mortality index (quality). Other gains included increased employee satisfaction (people), IOP Inpatient, Ambulatory Care, and IOP Outpatient patient satisfaction areas (service).   Looking ahead to FY2007-08, management has: Service—Increase patient satis-faction (inpatient and ambulatory) to 75th percentile People—Reduce turnover to 11 percent; increase the employee satisfaction mean score to 66.3; and physician satisfaction mean score 69.7 Quality—Decrease mortality index to .80 and reduce adverse event rate by 10 percent Finance — Set operating margin of 3 percent; supply/labor expense per adjusted discharge at 40 percent Growth—increase inpatient discharges and outpatient visits by 7 percent. Finally, Smith reminded employees that MUSC Excellence is a place for patients to receive quality care; establish a great place for employees to work and support an environment for physicians to practice medicine and teach.     Friday, Nov. 2 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.