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To Medical Center Employees:
At
the June 16 communications meeting, three employees of the month were
announced including Mike Norris, Lead Technician, Emergency Department;
Latasha Ellis, Commercial Collector, Hospital Patient Accounting; and
Kevin Satterfield, EEG Technician, Clinical Neurophysiology.
Norris was recognized by a physician for his exceptional clinical
observation skills which resulted in saving a patient’s life.
Satterfield was recognized for numerous acts of kindness and going the
extra mile for patients, including personally delivering an elderly
patient’s cane to a nursing home located across town.
Ellis was recognized for coming to the aid of a pregnant woman who was
waiting on the street curb for a cab to take her over to the main
hospital. Ellis drove the patient to the hospital. As we celebrate the
acts of these outstanding employees, I am reminded that everyday
employees throughout MUSC are going the extra mile with providing
compassionate care and service.
Steve Hargett, MUHA Controller, updated the management team on our
financial status as we approach the end of the fiscal year (FY). All
indications are we will end the year with a small positive bottom line
and an improved cash position. I attribute this turnaround to focused
efforts throughout the medical center. We will begin FY 2009/2010 in a
much better financial position. Additional details are included in this
newsletter.
Thank you very much.
W. Stuart Smith
Vice President for Clinical Operations
and Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center
 People—Fostering employee pride and loyalty
- Mike
Norris, R.N., in the Adult Emergency Department, was recognized
for saving a patient’s life during a routine transport of a patient
from 1W. Norris alerted other medical staff to the patient’s changed
condition, which led to more tests and medical intervention. Norris is
praised for his alertness and clinical sense/skills in the care of that
patient. (by Sandy Gould)
- Tasha
Ellis, a collector in Hospital Patient Accounting and Revenue Systems,
assisted a pregnant woman to University Hospital following a medical
appointment at the MUSC’s Cannon Place building. Ellis helped transport
the patient to the main hospital. (by Peggy Thompson)
- Kevin
Satterfield, an EEG technician in clinical neurophysiology services,
was honored for delivering outstanding customer service and responding
to the patient/patient’s family’s needs.
Meredith
Strehle, team chairperson for the MUHA Excellence’s Rewards and
Recognition team, praised the work of these employees, as well as their
managers, for recognizing and nominating these individuals as workplace
examples of MUSC Excellence. She encouraged managers and directors for
their support in recognizing model employees and physicians throughout
the organization by nominating them via the MUHA intranet.
Starting June 26, nominations for Employee of the Year will open.
Nominations and related information can be submitted via the MUHA
intranet.
HR update
Helena Bastian, MUHA HR director, thanked employees for participating
in the first training session of SuccessFactors, the medical center’s
new performance management process.
- SuccessFactors
– Managers, supervisors and designated personnel may still register for
training via CATTS (participants should verify if a session is full
prior to registering). The next training session for super users is
June 18 and sessions will extend from two to three hours.
- SuccessFactors
updates — managers to update employee job descriptions and supervisor
tree to define reporting relationships. RN templates (RN I, RN II, RN
III) have been updated as per Joint Commission HR standards regarding
nurses who oversee students (excluding residents and/or medical
students) when they provide patient care, treatment and services as
part of their training.
- July
4 holiday – Observed on Friday, July 3. Holiday shift differential will
be authorized for an eligible nonexempt (hourly-paid) employee whose
work shift begins during the actual holiday. (I.e. shift beginning 7
a.m., July 4 [eligible] and shift beginning 11 p.m., July 3 and ending
7 a.m., July [not eligible]). Refer to HR Policy #15, Compensation, for
more details.
- July 6 Orientation – PEARS are due June 30 because of the upcoming holiday.
- Online
Posting — Effective July 1, quarterly postings and the requirement to
get final hire approval will be discontinued. PEARS must still be
submitted for new hires.
Quality—Providing quality patient care in a safe environment
Lois
Kerr, MUSC Joint Commission consultant, shared results from the Patient
First Action Plan audits. She reminded managers that the Patient First
tracking audits and Stand down Wednesdays initiative (begun as of June
3) are two separate efforts now conducted throughout the organization.
Kerr reviewed results from initial reports reported by the inpatient
manager teams: Entries in the medical record are signed, dated and
timed (84 percent compliance; goal is 90 percent); Verbal orders
signed/dated and timed within 48 hours (77 percent); Nursing admission
database is completed within 24-hours of admission (86 percent); Plan
of care is interdisciplinary/appropriate to the patient (96 percent);
Staff/patient food is segregated in refrigerators (97 percent, goal is
100 percent); All medications in refrigerators are labeled and includes
dates according to policy (96 percent, goal is 100 percent).
- Outpatient/EDs
– Appropriate consent is documented in record (88 percent). There is
still some confusion about general and informed consent. Management is
working to clarify this issue.
- Procedure
Areas/ORs – Time Out is completed and documented on standardized form.
(80 percent). Need to reemphasize Time Out procedures and proper use of
standardized form; Operative/procedure progress note includes all
required elements (73 percent). Synopsis report for next caregiver
while report is being transcribed and typed. Report should include
specific elements including estimated blood loss during procedure (must
indicate with N/A or a number)
- Administrators
(rounding) – Corridors not clean and obstructed (80 percent);
Medication carts secured (75 percent); and Employee competency folders
(57 percent).
The
tactical SWAT team (composed of service line directors) will meet to
review data and findings. Kerr thanked all managers and staff for
participating with these audits. Organizers are now personalizing
similar audits in specific departments (pharmacy and radiology).
National Patient Safety Goals
Carl Kennedy, Outcomes & Quality Management/Patient Safety and a
member of the Joint Commission Survey Readiness Rounds team, continued
his review of the 2009 National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG) and best
practices. He reviewed elements of performance goals related to NPSG
#2: Improve the effectiveness of communication among caregivers. It
states that good communications is key.
- Elements
of Performance (2.01.01) — For verbal/telephone orders or for telephone
reporting of critical test results, the individual giving the
order/test result verifies the complete order/test result by having the
person record/read back the information to verify the complete
order/test result.
- 2.02.01
— Standardized list of abbreviations, acronyms, symbols and dose
designations must not be used within the organization. Staff should be
aware of trailing zeroes; implement “do not use” list for all
medication-related documents that are handwritten or entered as a free
text into a computer. Hospital does not include any abbreviations,
symbols and dose designations identified as not to be used on
preprinted forms.
- 2.03.01
– The organization measures, assesses and takes action (if needed) to
improve the timeliness of reporting and receipt of critical tests, test
results and values by the responsible licensed caregiver. The hospital
defined these. It also defines the acceptable length of time (30
minutes) of the availability of critical tests/results/values and
receipt by a licensed caregiver. See the revised Policy C-80, which
defines these tests as by cardiology, radiology and laboratory services.
- 2.05.01
– The organization implements a standardized approach to hand-off
communications including the opportunity to ask/respond to questions.
SBAR communications is the hospital’s standardized practice.
(S-What
is the current situation? B-What is background? A-What are the
assessment factors? R-What are the recommendations). Hand-off is about
transferring the care of the patient and not the location (shift
change, lunch, break, meetings, etc.). Limit interruptions during
hand-offs to minimize the possibility that information fails to be
conveyed or is forgotten.
MUSC Patient/Family Shuttle service
Brian Fletcher, clinical services disaster preparedness coordinator and
interim clinical manager for Meducare, announced that the MUSC
Patient/Family Shuttle will suspend it's service at Charleston Memorial
Hospital/McClennan Banks. The service will be available on a will call
basis for patients/families. Call 792-7997.
Finance—Providing the highest value to patients while ensuring financial stability
Stephen Hargett, medical center controller, reviewed the financial report and continued progress made since last quarter.
Hargett praised the hard work by hospital employees for
completing/processing any open and discrepant purchase orders with
accounts payable. Fiscal services are currently preparing for their
annual external auditors visit in August to confirm the medical
center’s financial results for the year.
Through the past 11-month period to May 31 FY2009, the medical center
is currently in the black with more than a $500,000 gain. Hargett
reminded managers that the medical center has taken the prior year hits
this fiscal year. He emphasized that leadership has put all processes
in place to insure we won’t have repayments in future years.
Census year-to-date has averaged 520 compared 497 through 11
months of FY 2008. Hospital surgeries were up by double-digit increases
and productivity is at 6.9 FTE per adjusted discharge year-to-date
compared to last year’s 6.97. MUHA’s unrestricted cash
balance and days cash on hand as of May 31 shows an increase of $20.7
million and 8.8 days cash.
Hargett predicts a good cash number for our annual financial statement on June 30.
Announcement
The next hospital communications meeting is July 7.
Friday, June 19, 2009
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