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MUSC Rumor Mill separates fact from fiction Hospital policy I was told that it's against hospital policy to listen to the radio on a low work environment tone in non direct patient care areas. Yet when I tried to look it up I could not find it. Does such a policy exist? Answer: No. You may wish to speak with your supervisor for clarification. ART cafeteria, food At the orientation for ART, before the hospital opened, the cafeteria coordinator mentioned that they would be offering healthier selections. However, there  are  limited number of selections in this category.  I also heard that there would be some type of restaurant being added . Is this true and is it going to be one with healthy selections? Answer: ART cafeteria coordinators are fine tuning the At Your Request Room Service program. This entailed a completely new approach to feeding patients at MUSC. The dietary staff at ART are getting very positive reviews from MUSC patients and staff.  The next focus will be on the retail program. Currently offered are Wellness & You items on the hot line daily, in addition to fresh vegetables and healthy side dishes. This selection will be expanded to include entree salads, veggie wraps, new sandwiches, and more. The food items will also be labeled with nutritional analysis very soon. Becoming a clinical associate (CA) Why should I take the CA test or training through MUSC if I am already certified through the state? Answer: While the state certification is beneficial, the South Carolina Nurse Aid Competency Evaluation Series exam is based on care of the patient in a residential care facility. The exam does not provide a mechanism for competency assessment needed to work in a tertiary care environment. The MUSC CA Competency Exam provides an assessment of the skills and knowledge base required to perform competently as a CA in the hospital setting. Starbucks in ART I heard the rumor that a Starbucks will eventually open in ART. Any idea when this will occur? Answer: MUSC officials are  in the design phase now with Starbucks and construction will begin once that is finalized, hopefully within the next two months. Scrubs I am just curious why all of the operating room staff now have the same color scrubs as the nurses—blue. I was under the impression that MUSC went to color coded scrubs so that the patients could better differentiate which staff was which. There is an over abundance of people in the same color scrubs—royal blue. Is there anything that is going to be done about this issue? Answer: The scrub search for ART OR staff required careful review as the staff knew that they could not choose royal blue. The color  chosen was blueberry. On the sample scrubs the color was lighter than the royal blue. Once the scrubs are washed several times they will become lighter. RN shortage, patient abundance Is it true that ART needs 150 registered nurses to completely open all of the beds? If so  please consider an agency and re-establish the bonus pay to get everyone over this hump. Answer: It was difficult to accurately estimate the patient volume demand which has exceeded management's expectation. Management is hiring nurses and other staff into regular positions as quickly as possible and travel nurses have been brought on board. It is obvious to many that there has been much cooperation among the staff during this challenging period, and it is appreciated. If any registered nurse feels that the burden is too disruptive to his/her schedule, contact your director, administrator or Marilyn Schaffner, the chief nursing officer. Shrinking Lot M I have noticed surveying marks shirring off a complete row of parking spaces along Courtenay Drive. Where are the removed spaces being relocated to? Answer: For now, no specific parking spaces on Courtenay are being removed. You may have seen temporary closure of spaces to allow survey crews to complete surveying needed for the Courtenay/Bee Street improvements and to plan for the eventual widening of Courtenay. Nursing school I am employed here, and I also attend Trident Technical College. I was told that MUSC has slots that can help me get into the nursing program faster. I have been accepted for spring 2009. If I can get in faster, I would love to know how. Answer: Congratulations on being accepted into Trident Technical College. Regarding your question, at this time, no hospital in the community has such an arrangement with Trident Technical College. Ashley/Rutledge garage I’ve heard that after numerous accidents in a stairwell of the Rutledge garage, MUSC is still not considering putting a cover on the north stairwell to keep rain out, is this true? Answer: Canopies to cover both the north and south stairwells of the Ashley-Rutledge parking garages are included in the project to install a second elevator on the south side of the garage. The project is under way and is scheduled to be completed by mid-July. Nurse of the Year selection I heard that nurse managers can pick their nurse of the year. I was wondering why we vote if this is true? Our nurse manager provided forms for voting this year. Our forms were due on May 6; however, a nurse was present from our unit at the ceremony on Monday. Apparently only the nurse manager and this nurse were aware that he/she was nurse of the year. Is voting for NOTY merely a facade? This is very dejecting. Answer: Each year MUSC honors the Nurse of the Year. The process begins with open online nomination submissions. Reminders were sent out to the all RN group and the nomination form was linked in the News You Can Use on the Intranet beginning in March. Nominations are then sorted and sent out to the respective nurse managers (Not every unit receives nominations). Each manager then chooses a unit winner. There is no set process for this decision. Some have their staff vote, some make the decision themselves, and some meet with unit leaders to discuss the choice. How each unit’s Nurse of the Year is chosen is not as important as ensuring that the winner represents the unit as an outstanding role model of excellence in nursing. All unit winner nominations are blinded and voted on by the Nurses Week committee to elect the MUSC Nurse of the Year. If you would like to know more about your unit process, ask your nurse manager and provide suggestions for how you would like your unit to handle the nurse of the year nominations and winner selection. Nurses Week I’m disappointed to see that Hospital Week is celebrated so widely but nurses week was brushed off with very little recognition of the dedication to the care of patients. I’m just curious as to why the nurses didn’t receive anything in recognition of nurses week this year. Answer: MUSC had a full schedule of events to celebrate Nurses Week this year. The agenda was sent out to all registered nurses beginning in February, to allow for saving the dates. Some highlights: Monday: Nurse of the Year Ceremony, followed by a reception. Tuesday: Educational and Professional Organizational Fair, Flower Sale for your favorite nurse, Wednesday: Nurses’ Craft Fair and Flower Sale, Thursday; Nurses Build Day for Habitat for Humanity in West Ashley, Friday: Nursing Research Poster Day, Nurse Appreciation Luncheon, recognition of nurses with new certifications, new registered nurse IIIs, and nurses serving in the armed forces, and Saturday: Nurses Build with Sea Island Habitat for Humanity, Florence Nightingale’s Birthday Party with distribution of cake to staff working weekend and evening shifts. The medical center tries to have varied offerings that will be of interest to all of MUSC registered nurses, and encourage each one to be involved in the activities of their choice. Nurses are encouraged to be involved in the planning and execution of the week’s activities. Gifts are not typically given out for Nurses Week. With more than 2,200 nurses, the cost would be prohibitive. Cafe Are there plans to keep the cafeteria at ART open until later or maybe open it up for a couple of hours at midnight? After working in the main building for three years and having the pizza place open until 3 a.m. for the last year, I’m kind of missing it! Answer: There no plans to open the cafeteria for late night food options due to the projected low sales volume. The current dinner meal period is extremely slow and does not, at this time, warrant staying open later. Rumor mill Why are rumors not posted in order? I try to check every day and often find new rumors tucked in between rumors that have been posted for a few days; this practice makes it hard to keep up. Answer: The rumor mill is designed to post responses according to the date order in which they were received. In some cases, it takes longer to post an answer to one rumor than to another. You may want to search responses by using the “Category” section. Reproduced from http://www.musc.edu/rumor/.     Friday, June 6, 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.