Message from the CEO
Multiple Measures of Excellence

We have always had a fruitful relationship with the University of Maryland School of Nursing, but now we are embarking on an important collaboration that will benefit nurses at both institutions. In this issue, you can read about how our new partnership will advance our joint mission and provide tremendous opportunities for UMMC nurses.

Achieving excellence requires the participation of all employees at the Medical Center. So we are thrilled to have exceeded our goals for participation in the Employee Opinion Survey that you just completed. Our phenomenal rate of 80 percent participation – 5 percent higher than our goal – will give us meaningful information to use in making important decisions.

We were also delighted by another mark of participation: You turned out in droves for the employee forums on Commitment to Excellence. We had standing-room only for many of these sessions, which shows how motivated all of you are to provide our patients and their loved ones with the best experience possible.

Employee participation is one measure of excellence. We also are recognized for our excellence in patient care and safety for the second year in a row by the Leapfrog Group, an honor shared by only 41 hospitals in the country.

As the air finally turns crisp and cool, I extend a wish that your holiday season begins with a peaceful Thanksgiving shared with family and friends.

Jeffrey A. Rivest
President & Chief Executive Officer

November Department/Employee of the Month

Nichole Barbuzanes
Contributor Relations Coordinator, UMMS Foundation

The new Wall of Honor in the Medical Center's main lobby holds special significance for Nichole Barbuzanes, contributor relations coordinator for the University of Maryland Medical System Foundation. Barbuzanes played a big role in getting the wall designed, built and dedicated.

“The wall went from one that was not very aesthetically pleasing to one that is very attractive and that has an interactive component,” says Roger Marquis, vice president for development, who heads the UMMS Foundation. “I think the wall now reflects what we do in the hospital—high tech and high touch.”

In recognition for her efforts, especially on the Wall of Honor, Barbuzanes was chosen as the November employee of the month.

“Nichole was the primary architect on this project. She worked closely with the designers and everyone else to pull it all together, and then coordinated the event at which we unveiled the wall for all of the new people who were added to it,” Marquis says. “She is a great team player.”

A Pennsylvania native, Barbuzanes attended Dickinson College in Carlisle and worked part time in the college’s alumni development office.

“I found that I really enjoyed working on the various gift drives and campaigns,” she says. She graduated with a bachelor of arts degree in psychology in May 2006, and came to work for UMMS Foundation in October of that year.

The UMMS Foundation is the fundraising arm of the Medical System. It provides support for capital projects, patient care services and other needs of the system’s hospitals, with a special focus on the Medical Center.

“We are attempting to make the Medical System a philanthropic destination for the community,” explains Marquis. “Some people in the community still think of UMMS as a state institution and not as its own non-profit entity very much worthy of philanthropy.”

Barbuzanes assists the Foundation’s gift officers in their efforts to encourage and recognize contributors. That can include sending out birthday cards, planning a ceremony honoring a contributor or organizing fundraising events at private homes. Last spring she helped organize and plan a reunion weekend for surgeons who have trained in the Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Program at the Medical Center.

“She also helped start the Shock Trauma Prevention Committee, which includes a group of parents in the community who work to extend accident prevention programs into private high schools in the area,” Marquis adds. She works with the two Shock Trauma nurses who present the program, helping them to schedule assemblies at the schools, especially around prom season.

“I like working in the health care setting,” Barbuzanes says. “I enjoy learning from our contributors why they’re so passionate about giving back to the hospital. Our contributors are mostly grateful patients.”

Barbuzanes lives in the Canton neighborhood of Baltimore, and appreciates how different it is from where she grew up – a town of just 1,000 people. “There’s always a lot going on in Canton, and I enjoy running down by the water,” she says.

In recognition of her contributions, Barbuzanes will receive a $100 check and a certificate of appreciation from Jeffrey A. Rivest, Medical Center president and chief executive officer.

December Department/Employee of the Month

Shelly Elliott, BS, MT, CCT
Senior medical Technologist, Laboratories of Pathology

Shelly Elliott, BS, MT, CCT, lives by a spiritual motto: “Your passion should be married to your purpose in life.” Those words, and a Christian upbringing that taught her “agape” (a Greek word meaning “charitable love”), guided Elliott into a health care career at the Medical Center's Laboratories of Pathology. Her success and enthusiasm have earned her the honor of being the December Employee of the Month.

Elliott joined the Medical Center 27 years ago after earning a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from University of Maryland College Park. As a senior medical technologist for almost 10 years, she has supervised several lab areas.

“Even though pathology is not a hands-on patient experience, it is really the heart of care. I like to say that it’s blood flowing in and results going out, giving life,” Elliott says.

“Laboratory testing touches 80 percent of all the patients who are treated at the Medical Center,” says John Rooker, who heads the Laboratories of Pathology. “We must provide fast and accurate results for blood work, urinalysis and specimen testing to enable the medical staff to deliver quality care to patients.”

When the department changed to a new laboratory information system this year, Rooker chose Elliott to spearhead a customer-service initiative that would ensure a continued smooth flow of information. Elliott now fields inquiries from medical care professionals directly, rather than sending them through layers of screening and routing before the caller can get a response.

“Previously, the technologists responded to inquires at the areas of analysis. It would impede the workflow process,” Elliot explains. “So my role now involves troubleshooting, dealing with acute problems.”

For example, when a customer reports that results from a sample are delayed, Elliott can find and retrieve the sample, go into the area of analysis, run the necessary tests and then call the customer with the results.

“Shelly is the nucleus of our new professional service area,” Rooker says. “She has continued to grow this area of customer service, and our customers are getting better answers, and getting them quicker. Because of her success, over the coming months we’ll be developing a larger group of laboratory professionals so we can expand this program to more hours with a larger capacity to answer customer inquiries.”

“I love the fact that, in this job, I can have a wonderful working relationship with the medical staff so that I feel like I’m making a difference in the quality of patient care,” Elliott adds. “I’m energized and challenged by it. Each phone call is like a new adventure. This program fits right in with the UMMC creed for customer service, which is creating moments of truth.”

Elliott says this is a “season of blessed bliss,” noting that she is planning to wed her “soulmate” next year. The things that bring joy to her life are the church ministry and spending time with family and friends. In recognition of her contributions, Elliott will receive a $100 check and a certificate of appreciation from Jeffrey A. Rivest, Medical Center president and chief executive officer

People Spotlights

Welcome
Sharon Kellogg is the Medical Center’s emergency response planner. She plans, manages and implements disaster training, drills and exercises that test the Emergency Preparedness Program. A retired US Army captain, Kellogg was previously the emergency management coordinator for the VA Maryland Health Care System. She has undergraduate degrees from University of Maryland University College and North Georgia College and State University and is working on a master’s degree in disaster management from American Military University.

Promoted
Susan Ostovitz, BSN, RN, MBA, has been promoted to be administrator for the Division of Transplantation. She has worked at UMMC in the division of Business Development, Marketing and Planning in various capacities since 1997, most recently as senior contract manager. Ostovitz received her bachelor of science in nursing degree from the University of Maryland School of Nursing and her master’s degree in business administration from Johns Hopkins University.

Involved
Diana Johnson, PT, director of acute rehabilitation services, was elected vice president of the board of directors for the Brain Injury Association of Maryland, a private, non-profit state affiliate of the Brain Injury Association of America. She has been with the Medical Center since 1988. She is also the accreditation program director for the Traumatic Brain Injury Unit at University Specialty Hospital and led the team to a three-year accreditation by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities.

Stephen T. Bartlett, MD, chief of surgery for UMMC, was invited to the prestigious Royal Society of Medicine in London, England, this summer to speak at one of its specialty-section meetings. His presentation was about transplantation in the highly sensitized patient. The 200-year-old society is one of the largest providers of continuing medical education in the United Kingdom. Bartlett was invited to speak based on his experience and international reputation. Bartlett is also professor and chairman of surgery at the UM School of Medicine.

Thomas Scalea, MD, physician- in-chief at the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center and professor and director of the Program in Trauma at the UM School of Medicine, presented the 33^rd William T. Fitts Lecture on “Optimal Timing of Fracture Fixation: Have We Learned Anything in the Last 20 Years?” at the 66^th annual meeting of the American Association for the Surgery of Trauma. The Fitts lecture, named for a pioneer in trauma care, is considered one of the most prestigious lectures in the field and is presented once a year at the AAST meeting.

Calendar/Events