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Currents To Medical Center Employees: At the Jan. 15 communications meeting the Standard of Behavior for the month was announced. The purpose of having a standard of the month is to promote understanding of our Standards of Behavior, organizational values and the important role everyone plays in delivering high quality care and service.   The standard is Manage Up which is a key component of AIDET.  Everyone should understand and use AIDET in their interactions with patients, families, visitors and employees and manage up others in the course of AIDET.    Clearly some departments are doing an exceptional job with AIDET and managing up, while other areas need to take it up a notch. We know when everyone uses AIDET that we decrease patient anxiety, improve the patient experience and improve clinical outcomes.   Since we had some delays with announcing the standard of the month, plans are for Manage Up to be the medical center’s Standard of Behavior for January and February.    On another matter, at the Jan. 15 communications meeting I discussed the medical center’s goal to increase physician satisfaction from a mean score of 67.8 to 69.8 or higher. The baseline for this goal was determined by the Press Ganey physician satisfaction survey completed last March. Spreadsheets were issued to departments with their specific department-based goals.   Dr. Pat Cawley, executive medical director, provided the management team with a model action plan for addressing physician satisfaction at the September 2007 Leadership Development Institute (LDI). All leaders who have interaction with physicians should have an action plan in place and reported in the Leader Evaluation Manager (LEM) system. Dr. Cawley is available to provide guidance and assistance by contacting Angie Baldwin at baldwian@musc.edu or 792-9537.   No date has been nailed down for conducting the follow-up Press Ganey physician satisfaction survey, but the survey is expected to be conducted in the months ahead to enable measurement of progress this fiscal year and planning for next fiscal year.   Finally, many dedicated individuals are working feverishly to prepare for the opening of Ashley River Tower (ART).  In the weeks ahead there will be multiple construction and licensing inspections. Our plan is to transport patients into ART Feb. 4 and begin admitting patients Feb. 5.    Unfortunately, the tight schedule coupled with construction issues caused us to delay the employee event intended to celebrate the opening of ART. In the near future we hope to announce the date for the employee event.   We have an exciting year before us and I want to thank everyone for a job well done.  W. Stuart Smith Vice President for Clinical Operations and Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center People—Fostering employee pride and loyalty Peggy Thompson, director of Patient Account-ing Revenue Systems, read a “win” letter recounting a patient’s recent experience while visiting MUSC’s Emergency Department. The patient praised staff for providing exemplary care as well for the  responsiveness and assistance of Patient Accounting staff as he began to coordinate payment arrangements and financial assistance. Thompson reminded managers that the medical center provides some assistance to self-pay patients, who do not have health insurance, with a 30 percent discount during their first-time billing, for non-cosmetic, non-elective procedures. Action O-I Pam Marek, Decision Support Services, updated managers of a new coordinated HBI-Action O-I product that merges important data for easy review of specific data and supporting the leadership evaluation manager (LEM) system. Marek prepared a new report similar to the standard green, yellow and pink report template that managers can place along with their Action O-I report as an adjustment for LEM. Managers may contact Marek to coordinate and prepare reports each quarter. Call 792-8793. HR update Weekly Management Orientation—Three separate sessions are scheduled. A session is scheduled for Jan. 28. Register via CATTS. Ashley River Tower (ART) Central Orientation—Open to current staff transitioning to ART. No registration required. Schedule available on the MUHA intranet. Recognizing/Reporting Harassment Training—Held from 8 to 8:30 a.m., every other Monday. Open to new hires and no registration required. MUSC Excellence Training—Held from 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., every other Monday. No registration required. Schedule available on the MUHA intranet. Position/Employee Action Request (PEAR) for New Hires—PEARS should be completed and submitted to HR as soon as a position is filled but no later than the Wednesday prior to orientation. Internal References—Contact either current manager or HR. References must be factual. Primary Source Verification— Needed for positions requiring certification, licensure and registration and completed prior to expiration date. As a reminder, the internal due date for registered nurse primary source verifications is April 11. Questions may be directed to Lynn Campbell, 792-1684. Visit http://www.musc.edu/medcenter/staffToolbox/PrimarySourceVerification.htm. MUHA HR mailbox moved to the North Tower mailroom, Room 244-A, main hospital. January benefit of the month Mark Stimpson, HR benefits manager, reminded managers and employees that January’s benefit of the month: the new Roth 401K. With this addition, MUHA offers employees a total of seven different retirement plans.   Roth 401K  is part of the South Carolina Deferred Compensation Program. The Roth 401K plan provides more tax planning flexibility while in retirement. It shares the same investment choices as the traditional 401K and contribution limits ($15,500, under age 50; and $20,500, older than age 50). The difference is that the Roth 401K contributions are made post-tax. If Roth 401K account is held for five years, none of the money is taxable during retirement. Employees can enroll via the MUHA HR office. Standard of Behavior for January The practice of “Managing Up” helps maximize the “I” component for AIDET (Acknowledge, Introduce, Duration, Explanation and Thank You) best practices. Managing up one’s self, coworkers, physicians and staff helps by: decreasing patient anxiety; improves the patient experience; increases compliance; and improves clinical outcomes. Education roll-out update Laurie Zone-Smith, Ph.D., R.N., manager for the Center for Professional Development and Clinical Education Resources, reviewed the agenda for their Jan. 17 meeting. The group meets at 9 a.m., 2West Amphitheater, first and third Thursdays of each month. Alaris infusion pump super-user training will begin Jan. 21 (2West Classroom). End-user training is scheduled for Jan. 28. Although registration is not required, participants are encouraged to arrive early. Additional agenda items can be reviewed on the MUHA intranet. Service—Serving the public with compassion, respect and excellence eCareNet update Admin-RX (Bedside Med Administration Project)—Roll out continues and is currently in use on 2CCV, 10West and 9PCU. Teams are using the C5 tablet computer. The nursing informatics and IT staffs are currently assisting with staff re-education. ART Mock IT trials—On Jan. 17, informatics and IT teams conducted a mock testing of ART’s clinical activities. Staff tested C-5 tablets, wireless phones and applications, especially volume and stress testing, of the facility’s wireless infrastructure. The wireless technology in ART is different from what is used in the main hospital. Resolving registration delays for in-patient units—Several issues have been identified and corrected. Upgrades of system hardware and software of the interface engine is planned during the week of Jan. 21-25. Other patches and upgrades also are planned during user downtimes. eCareNet Viewer (OACIS)—This project continues and software is currently being upgraded. Core functionality, including vital signs, output and intake, etc., has been completed. Medication Administration records will be captured in OACIS. No date for activation has been confirmed. Other activity—Future projects include the rollout of ClinDoc and Admin-RX to other areas, CPOE, OACIS upgrades, ICUs, Interfacing, etc. Leadership will  meet to discuss and prioritize projects throughout 2008. Growth—Growing to meet the needs of those we serve ACC update Bill Spring, Heart & Vascular Center admini-strator, updated managers about the Phase 1 Action Coordination Committee (ACC) efforts. Both Spring and Marilyn Schaffner, Ph.D., R.N., Clinical Services admin-istrator,  co-chair the group and have been meeting weekly to manage the operational effort in preparation for ART opening. ACC sub-groups and committees are meeting almost daily to prepare for the move-in and operations. ART orientation and other physician and staff training have reached their pinnacle in activities. Following the success of upcoming DHEC inspections, ART is expected to receive its certificate of occupancy by Jan. 25 and  licensing by Jan. 31 in time for the Feb. 5 opening. Announcements MUHA employees are reminded to register to receive their electronic W-2s. For the first time, MUHA registered employees will receive an e-mail notification about their W-2 via the MyRecords page. The deadline for eW-2 registration is Jan. 22. Melissa Feather, R.N., Meducare clinical manager, reminded managers that Meducare will conduct the transport of all patients transferred between the main hospital to ART, which may restrict availability of services up to Feb. 5. The patient/family shuttles will continue to support its schedule. Any Maydays or hospital discharge requests should be coordinated, as usual, via Meducare dispatch. Meducare also will continue to provide patient transport services from CMH to IOP and the main hospital. SEI Ambulatory Procedure Center is open for business. The center, located at the MUSC Magill Vision Center, 735 Johnnie Dodds Blvd., offers specialty care for cataract and refractive lens replacement. Call 792-8100. The next hospital communications meeting is Feb. 5.     Friday, Jan. 18, 2008 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.