To Medical Center Employees

At the Dec. 6 management communication meeting, Helena Bastian, director of human resources, announced that we will once again roll out the High-Middle-Low conversations with all employees during January and February with a slight change. She noted a recommendation had been made to change the term "middle" to "solid" and the management team, following a quick survey, overwhelmingly supported this change. Ms. Bastian explained our definition of "middle performer" has always been "solid reliable worker" but some equated the word "middle" with "mediocre," which was not the intent. Ms. Bastian stated that relevant forms in the MUSC Excellence toolbox (located on the medical center intranet) will be updated to reflect this change.

High-Solid-Low conversations provide an opportunity for managers to meet with employees to discuss performance outside of the annual performance evaluation discussion. Conversations should be at least 90 percent positive. High performer conversations give managers an opportunity to recognize employees who serve as role models, express appreciation for their exceptional work and to seek suggestions on how we can improve our organization. Solid performer conversations serve to provide positive feedback, discuss one or two opportunities for further development, and to express appreciation for a job well done. Low performer conversations, targeting a very small group, are intended to be specific about unacceptable behavioral or performance problems, explain how this adversely impacts others and to provide a time frame for improvement.

As we approach the holiday season and calendar year end, I want to thank everyone for your dedicated efforts. We kicked off our MUSC Excellence initiative six years ago and we have continually improved patient service and quality of care over the years. Have a happy and safe holiday season.

W. Stuart Smith
Vice President for Clinical Operations
and Executive Director, MUSC Medical Center

People–Fostering employee pride and loyalty

Helena Bastian, MUHA HR director, presented the following:

HML terminology modification

• MUHA is modifying the High-Middle-Low Performance terminology to High-“Solid”-Low. HR will revise all resources to reflect the change. Leaders will be conducting HSL conversations with staff through the end of February.

Payroll reminders

• Christmas holiday payroll processing – 1st Kronos edit; deadline will be 10 a.m. Dec. 20; Final Kronos deadline will be 10 a.m., Dec. 21.
• Managers asked to plan ahead to keep payroll for your designated area updated as much as possible.
• ESL Maximum – cut-off date, Dec. 31, plus accrual ESL.
• PTO Maximum – The 2011 yearly cut-off date is the pay period ending date that includes the Dec. 31 workday.
• PTO Carryover – An employee having more than 360 PTO hours at the pay period ending Dec. 31, plus the accrual for that pay period will need to consider their excess of 360 PTO hours that will be deducted. The leave cut off will be reflected in the Jan. 11, 2012 pay date.
• ESL Carryover – Employees hired prior to July 1, 2000: maximum ESL carryover into 2012 is 1,440 hours; employees hired on or after July 1, 2000: maximum ESL carryover into 2012 is 720 hours.

SML Eligibility and accrual method for January 2012

• Eligible employees must have 55 hours of accrued ESL by the last pay of the calendar year. For the purpose of this policy, the last pay period is the pay period which includes the Dec. 31 workday, which for 2011, the payroll ending date would be Dec. 31 (includes ESL accrual for payroll ending Dec. 31).
• Eligible employees will automatically have up to 12 ESL hours transferred to SML, which will be reflected in the Jan. 11 pay date.
• SML balance may not exceed 24 hours (Employees with more than 24 hours balance as of Dec. 31 will not be eligible to transfer additional hours. Balances exceeding 24 hours will not be decreased or cut off).

2011 tuition reimbursement payments

• Final deadline for calendar year tuition assistance request to payroll department will be Friday, Dec. 16, which will be paid on Dec. 28 pay date.

Holiday closures

• MUHA will be closed Dec. 26 and Jan. 2, 2012.
• Office of Parking Management and University Transportation Services and Campus Mail Services will be closed on Dec. 23, Dec. 26 and Jan. 2, 2012

New hires

• Reminder to leaders that education verification for individuals scheduled to begin on Jan. 3 must be completed prior to the schools and office closure for the two-week period between Dec. 18 and Jan. 2 for the holiday.
• HR will be unable to verify education unless an applicant’s degree is registered with the National Student Clearninghouse.
• The National Student Clearninghouse does not verify high school diplomas and GEDs.

HBI turnover – Kim Duncan, MUHA HRIS manager, shared details about this reporting program: Highlight name: turnover rolling 12 all; populates data after 45 days; part of a voluntary, involuntary and total turnover; includes regular and temporary employees; can use HBI filters to drill down data or exclude categories; and ability to view data over a 12 month period.

Benefit of the Month -- December
MUSC’s Employee Assistance Program is available to employees who need help handling health, marital, family, financial, legal, stress, alcohol or drug abuse and other personal problems. All inquiries are confidential. Call 792-2848 or visit https://www.musc.edu/medcenter/eap.

Wellness update
Susan Johnson, Ph.D., Employee Wellness Program coordinator, reviewed details about MUSC’s move to become a tobacco-free campus by March 1. Johnson reviewed details with the new policy, who it affects (MUSC students, employees, patients, visitors, volunteers, contractors and vendors), details leading up to this change, signage plans, enforcement (policy rests with appropriate supervisory staff, deans, department heads and administrators), etc. MUSC is offering smoking cessation programs via MUSC Employee Wellness, musc-empwell@musc.edu; Institute of Psychiatry’s CDAP, 792-5200; SC Quitline, 1-800-QUIT-NOW; Quit for Life program, http://www.eip.sc.gov/prevention/; and MUSC Pharmacy, all locations. Additionally, MUSC President Ray Greenberg, M.D., Ph.D., also is looking into providing six months of free smoking cessation-quit smoking classes for MUSC employees and students. More information will be announced at a later date.

Quality – Providing quality patient care in a safe environment

Dave Northrup, OCIO director of clinical systems and John Kratz, M.D., co-chair of the Epic Ambulatory EMR Implementation Oversight Committee, gave an update about the new system that will be replacing Practice Partner in May 2012. Northrup related the committee’s progress in the hiring about 70 part-time trainers who will assist with Epic classroom training of 2,500 users and superusers (physicians, nursing/clinical and administrative staff) scheduled from February to May 2012. He also reviewed the system’s patient portal located under the “MyChart” area, physician charges (requires specific data elements such as chief complaint, coded diagnosis, signed progress notes, etc.); order entry with auto-interfaces to lab and radiology; and progress in introducing the system with Carolina Family Care. He also mentioned how the system is expected to impact clinic workflow for the first month and that organizers have planned a usage slow down at least from May to June. Kratz spoke about the system’s use of abstracting as a training tool for physicians and staff. Abstracting manages a patient’s medications, allergies, problems and health histories. He noted that the more physicians or provider conducts abstracting in the Epic system, that the more proficient they become.

Epic training of users and superusers consist of 8-hours mandatory classroom training (one eight-hour class or two, four-hour classes) with test. Users must register online for training at locations in Mount Pleasant, North Charleston and at MUSC. Other users will receive between 2 to 4 hours of training via e-Learning or CATTS. Visit http://epic.musc.edu (NetID required if off campus).

Quality website update
Jennifer Hooks, Performance Improvement Department manager, spoke about concept changes in her area including a new department emblem-logo featuring four components symbolizing the cycle of process improvement --Six Sigma, lean, culture change and continuous improvement. Hooks also defined the department’s mission statement, reviewed their Fiscal Year 2011 and 2012 YTD scorecard using the MUSC Excellence pillar format. Highlights included internal and external training, improvements with employee satisfaction scores, improvements in quality projects (hand hygiene, patient discharge, etc.), and financial savings totaling $969,691 and training opportunities for MUHA staff growth.

Patient transport update
Dave Neff, Ambulatory Care Service Line administrator and Tyler Nance, Ambulatory Care Support Services, announced that the hospital’s patient transport service went live as of 7 a.m., Dec. 6. Services are available at Rutledge Tower, HCC, University Hospital, Children’s Hospital and ART. He reminded managers there are three ways to request a patient transport: bed board (inpatient users), the MUHA intranet (use quick links, patient transport request), and Rutledge Tower clinics (DAL computers—dedicated auto log). Neff thanked MUHA Hospital Patient Transport Services Task Force members who have contributed to this project.

Hand hygiene
Neff provided an overview of the new Hand Hygiene Compliance Rewards Program. The Hand Hygiene Compliance Rewards Task Force worked closely with Infection Prevention & Control Department to establish the rewards program to encourage and recognize inpatient units, clinical support departments and outpatient clinics who have achieved great success in meeting or exceeding the 90 percent compliance goal. The new system will initially focus on inpatient adult and pediatric hospital units. The first rewards will be presented in mid-January based on hand hygiene compliance audits completed in October to December 2011 timeframe. Inpatient units must have a minimum of 30 audits per month, half of which must be audits completed by unit personnel and half by IPC personnel and/or personnel from outside their unit. Highest performing units will be recognized in ways ranging from announcements to banner awards and trophy and cash awards for the three highest performing units.

Announcements

• Marc Gerber, R.N., was named the new Meducare manager as of Nov. 21. Gerber, who is a former paramedic and manager of Rural/Metro Ambulance Service, will manage the 24/7 Meducare Ground operations, Communication Center and patient/employee shuttle services.
• Michael Bell is the new office manager at the Communications Call Center located at ART.
• The next meeting is Dec. 20.
• Note: The January hospital communications meeting schedule is as follows: Jan. 3 meeting moved to Jan. 10 and Jan. 17 meeting moved to Jan. 24.