|
We Care On the Job and Off
Service is as much a way of life as it is a job for Medical Center staff. After leaving work for the day, many staff across all departments and professions find themselves in a position of continuing to heal – such as by feeding, clothing and sheltering those less fortunate. Service and caring form the seamless foundation of their lives. "The people who work here have great passion for the causes they support as individuals in the community," says John H. Spearman, senior vice president for external affairs and community relations. "We want to tap into that passion and support them, because it is that same altruistic spirit that has drawn them to work in health care and to excel at what they do in any situation." "We celebrate many of our achievements as an institution, but we also applaud the individuals who make UMMC such an exceptional medical center because they embody the spirit of true service – and they carry that with them whether they are at work or in their communities," says Jeffrey A. Rivest, president and chief executive officer. Here are just some examples of the ways Medical Center staff serve their communities. Other stories will appear in future issues, such as examples of nurses and other clinicians who go on medical missions to less fortunate communities or nations, lending their clinical excellence to people who may not have essential health care. A Little Bit of Everything
Nadine G. Lyles, scheduling coordinator and guest services representative, is a familiar face to just about everyone who walks through the Gudelsky entrance, where she staffs the information desk. Before she was hired by UMMC, she was a volunteer here. "I have been a sitter for terminally ill patients," Lyles says. "I would stay with them if their family members needed to leave for a short time, so that they would not be left alone in their last hours." Lyles has volunteered in many other areas of Baltimore life: in her church for everything from kitchen duty to security to youth ministry, and by collecting clothing and furniture for those in need. "I also do volunteer ushering at some of the entertainment events held at the Hippodrome Theatre, the Lyric Opera House and other places," Lyles says. "I guess you could call me an ambassador for the people, because I enjoy – no, let me rephrase that – I love helping people." Shelter and a Second Chance
After Harvey Pearson Jr., the lead technician for the Clinical Equipment Distribution Center, and his wife, Queen, inherited a house in Baltimore, they turned it into a safe temporary home for women who have recently been released from prison and have nowhere to live. The home is furnished for six and includes a full kitchen and a computer. Giving Children a Jumpstart to Kindergarten Renee Campbell, customer communications coordinator for the Support Operations Service Center (SOSC), volunteers for Jumpstart, an AmeriCorps Program, at the University of the District of Columbia. She identifies children's organizations and schools willing to sponsor programs to prepare children for kindergarten. Department Focus: Rehab and Lab
In several departments, colleagues plan activities to find a shared sense of satisfaction in doing good. The Department of Rehabilitation Services staff and the Laboratories of Pathology have each created a Community Outreach Committee that coordinates numerous charitable activities. Every April, the Rehabilitation Department's Community Outreach Committee picks a weekend when staff members volunteer with the Jones Falls Watershed Association for Project Clean Stream. "It really is a great opportunity for us to spend time with one another and spend some quality time outdoors, all for a worthy cause," says Katie B. Baick, PT, DPT, advanced physical therapist and co-chair of the Community Outreach Committee. The individuals in the department also volunteer for causes related to the challenges their patients face, such as brain injury. The Laboratories of Pathology staff also has established a committee for community outreach, as part of its C2X activities, in addition to many of the activities that individual lab staff do on their own. Lab staff served meals at the Ronald McDonald House on three occasions, and the committee is trying to arrange for a group volunteer project with Chesapeake Habitat for Humanity to rehabilitate a home for a lowincome owner. Andrew Leser, a histotechnician in the Anatomic Pathology Lab, has volunteered for the past three years with Delaware Habitat for Humanity. "I enjoyed this, since it let me accomplish two things at once: With the support of community, we helped build a home for someone in need, and it also taught me a few things about different types of construction, like plumbing, wallboard and painting," Leser says. Cheryl Kemp, MT(ASCP)HP, a quality assurance technologist in the lab, has been volunteering with Special Olympics of Maryland for 10 years. Her daughter competes in aquatics, basketball and equestrian sports. "We are always looking for volunteers," Kemp says. "I encourage anyone who is interested in volunteering to go to SOMD.org or to contact me for more information." The lab staff also supports other departments in their giving. When the Department of Clinical Nutrition and the Department of Food Services hold the annual food drive for the Maryland Food Bank, lab employees are among the biggest supporters. Holiday Help With so many employees and departments going above and beyond the call of duty to make the holidays brighter for patients and families, the UMMS Foundation created a way to link these drives with donors who come to the Foundation looking for ways to help patients. Many departments got together to identify a family or individual in need in the Baltimore area and provide them with necessities and a few extras for the holidays. For example, the Gudelsky 6 West Orthopedics Unit participated in the Salvation Army and WBAL-TV's "Angel Tree" program. Staff members on this unit combined their personal giving power to provide holiday presents and clothing to 30 children out of hundreds identified by the Salvation Army as being from the most disadvantaged families in the community. Although they originally adopted 20 "angels," colleagues from Gudelsky 5 West and the Mobile PICC Team joined in to adopt another 10. "The staff response was amazing," says Yvette Wise, unit secretary for C6W, who initiated the idea of the unit staff working together on an outreach project for the holidays. She worked with nurse manager Beverly Dukes, RN, MS, and unit nurses Remuel John de Guzman, BSN, CMSRN; Pauline Esoga, RN, ONC, BL (LLB) and Cindy Kiamko, BSN, RN, to coordinate the project, but all unit staff participated in some way. The staff liked the Angel Tree program because it provided them with an individualized wish list and clothing size for each child, ensuring that the gift would be appropriate and desired. We Care and Teach: Advancing the Health Care Professions
UMMC cardiac sonographer Victor M. Bonney, RDCS, volunteers as a clinical instructor to students in the sonography program at University of Maryland, Baltimore County, his alma mater. Educated and skilled sonographers are in demand, so Bonney volunteers in his profession's education and licensing programs, such as by serving on an advisory committee at UMBC and other schools with accredited sonography training programs. In fact, about half the sonographers working at UMMC are Bonney's former students. He also coordinates and monitors accreditation activities for UMMC's echo lab. Bonney says, "My thinking is, ‘A better sonographer does a better exam; a better exam leads to a better diagnosis; a better diagnosis leads to the care our patients at UMMC come to expect.' And they deserve our best." The Arts Contributing to art, music and other cultural organizations improve the quality of life in the community. Sharon Boston, media relations manager in Communications and Public Affairs, volunteers every other Sunday at the Walters Art Museum visitor information desk. The contribution of time made by volunteers at this nationally recognized art museum is one of the reasons it charges no admission fee. Kerry Sue Mueller, RN, BSN, MBA, CCRN, nurse manager of the Medical Intensive Care Unit, has been volunteering for 10 years as an on-site nurse when hundreds of middle- and high-school students convene for a long weekend for the Maryland Music Educators Convention. Mueller has tended to cuts, headaches, fainting and even conductors toppling off the podium, and is available to escort young musicians to the emergency room if necessary. "As a student in middle school and high school, I was heavily involved in my music programs," says Mueller, who played clarinet and sang in chorus. "The fact that I can do this each year gives me great joy." United Way Giving Includes Donation of Time and Energy The annual UMMC United Way drive again brought forth generous donations from staff across the Medical Center. Several departments also organized volunteer projects, and one such project involved staff from throughout the hospital. During a Saturday in October, a group volunteered at the Weinberg YMCA on 33rd Street in Baltimore, painting outdoor curbs and indoor walls. Participating were: M. Christy Baker, systems analyst in Information Systems and Technology (IST); Chris Schroyer, administrative assistant in the Vascular Laboratory; Sean Connolly, biomedical engineering technician in Clinical Engineering; Margaret Mickens, co-coordinator of the United Way campaign at UMMC and office supervisor in Clinical Practice and Professional Development; Keanna Lunn-Brown, staffing specialist for Supplemental Staffing; and Uloma Jacob, planning and marketing analyst in the Marketing Department. "We had a great time," Baker says. "We want to go back in the spring, and we hope that many more people will participate. We will send out a communication with a link where people can sign up." Another United Way campaign activity drew IST staff members Pauline Robinson, a project manager, and Paula Shockley, a system administrator, who volunteered along with people from throughout the greater Baltimore community at Our Daily Bread Employment Center, packing 1,000 lunches and assembling 30 food baskets. Peer Support and Community
Clinical social worker Iris Smith, LCSW-C, served for several years as president of the Glen Neighborhood Improvement Association in Northwest Baltimore. She has also facilitated one of the Lupus Mid-Atlantic support groups in West Baltimore since 1990. This group has helped UMMC patients and other community residents to cope with their illness and continue to live full lives. Fire and Rescue Volunteers Many of the Medical Center's patient care technicians in the Emergency Department, Shock Trauma Center and Maryland ExpressCare volunteer as paramedics and emergency medical technicians (EMTs) for volunteer fire and ambulance companies in Maryland. Becoming trained and certified as an EMT is part of the training for their jobs at UMMC, and many have chosen to share those skills in their communities on their days off. 
For example, Rebecca Gibbons, EMT-P, a patient care technician in the Trauma Resuscitation Unit, volunteers as a paramedic with the Fallston Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Company in Harford County. Shock Trauma Center surgical technician Jacob C. Smith also volunteers as a paramedic in his community. And Robert Pearce, NREMT-B, Communications Center supervisor for Maryland ExpressCare, volunteers as a firefighter, EMT and driver for the northernmost station in Baltimore County – called Maryland Line – and as a captain, EMT and driver for the Hereford Volunteer Ambulance Association.
For the fourth year in a row, the Leapfrog Group has named the University of Maryland Medical Center one of the nation's best hospitals for patient safety and quality of care. Only 45 hospitals nationwide have earned this important and prestigious recognition for 2009.
The Leapfrog survey is the only national, public comparison of hospitals on key issues including mortality rates for certain common procedures, infection rates, safety practices and measures of efficiency. The Leapfrog Group was founded by The Business Roundtable to initiate breakthrough improvements – or "leaps" – in health care safety, quality and affordability. "Our inclusion in this list four years in a row demonstrates that our entire staff—including doctors, nurses, pharmacists, therapists and support staff—is focused on providing the best patient care," says Jeffrey A. Rivest, president and chief executive officer of UMMC.
"The Leapfrog survey is a comprehensive, objective and up-to-date assessment of hospital performance in terms of quality and safety. It gives health care consumers an important resource when they are choosing a hospital for care," says Rivest. The Leapfrog survey uses such criteria as patient care outcomes, use of best practices and patient safety initiatives. The criteria also include the number of specific high-risk procedures that are performed. Each year, Leapfrog adds new performance measures and expands the criteria for hospitals to meet its stringent standards. One of Leapfrog's key criteria is whether a hospital uses computerized prescriber order entry, which means that medications, lab tests and imaging studies are ordered electronically, to reduce errors. The Medical Center completed full implementation of computerized order entry, known as CPOE, two years ago. For 2009, Leapfrog looked not only at whether a hospital implemented CPOE, but also how effectively it used the system to prevent medication errors. The Medical Center met those rigorous standards. Also important to the Leapfrog Group is whether hospital intensive care units are staffed with physicians who have specialized training in intensive or critical care. Such specialists are known as intensivists. "All 10 of our intensive care units are staffed by doctors who are specially trained in intensive and critical care," says Jonathan Gottlieb, MD, senior vice president and chief medical officer. The Medical Center also scored well on safe practices, such as nurse staffing, quality and leadership, hand hygiene, medication reconciliation, communication of critical information to patients and having leadership structure and systems in place to provide patient safety. "Excellent care and patient safety are our top priorities, and being on the Leapfrog Group's list for the fourth year in a row demonstrates our focus on these priorities," says Lisa Rowen, DNSc, RN, senior vice president for patient care services and chief nursing officer. 
Knitting Circle Rallies Around Cancer Patients
Once a month, on her day off from work as an oncology nurse on 9 West, Trisha Kendall, RN, BSN, OCN, heads to the Patient Resource Center for a different kind of patient care. Kendall and several other Medical Center staff from various departments make up the UMMC Knitting Circle, which knits caps and scarves for cancer patients who have lost their hair temporarily as a side effect of chemotherapy. The circle is open to anyone, and meets from noon to 2 pm on the first Wednesday of every month. Kendall stays for the whole two hours, and the other staff members drop in and out during their lunch periods. The knitters include pharmacists, lab techs, dietary techs and even a few patients from the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Cancer Center.
Kendall keeps a stash of the handcrafted caps on 9 West, and lets patients choose one they like. She calls the program "Amber's Chemo Caps," named after Amber Schad, a former patient who developed a love of hats after leukemia treatment caused her hair to fall out. So far, the group has produced hundreds of caps – too many to count. One day in December, one of Kendall's current patients, Vaiju Sisodia, who is being treated for leukemia, joined the knitting group. A beginning knitter, Sisodia said she was inspired to help fellow patients and find a way to pass the time while she was in the hospital for treatment. "It helps to provide a lot of different types of caps," Sisodia says. "And I'm learning something, too." Kendall always brings extra knitting needles and yarn and gives on-the-spot lessons even to people who have never knitted before. "The Knitting Circle supports a healthy work environment by providing a way to relieve stress and do something positive for our patients at the same time," Kendall says. "I have really enjoyed meeting staff from so many departments. People come from pharmacy, philanthropy, trauma clinic, dietary, etc. Amber's Chemo Caps volunteers also include churches, community groups and survivors of cancer."
Staff Grabs Hold of Hand-Hygiene Message Second in a series of articles on quality and safety at the Medical Center 
The latest figures show that UMMC staff members are following the rules about washing their hands. And vigilance will remain high as the Medical Center participates in a state-sponsored initiative to make hand hygiene a priority in every hospital in Maryland, with the goal of reducing patient infections. "Although UMMC utilizes many state-of-the-art technologies to protect patients from infection, the simple act of hand-washing remains the single most effective way to prevent the spread of infectious organisms," says Jonathan Gottlieb, MD, senior vice president and chief medical officer. The intensive campaign within UMMC to make sure all staff members wash their hands and use hand sanitizers has paid off, with an average rate of 96 percent compliance with proper hand hygiene, says Joan Hebden, RN, MS, CIC, director of infection control. That measurement comes from reports made by peer observers designated in each unit and department. These observers watch their co-workers enter and leave a patient room, and then record and submit whether the colleague – doctor, nurse, tech, physical therapist, phlebotomist, etc. – washed hands or used sanitizer. The reports are then faxed to UMMC's Department of Infection Control, which tracks the data hospital-wide. "As we have focused on building a culture of patient safety, individual and team empowerment has occurred. All members of the team – regardless of role – are encouraged to push this effort forward because it's the right thing to do for patient safety," says Lisa Rowen, DNSc, RN, senior vice president and chief nursing officer. The 96 percent compliance rate was achieved in fiscal year 2009, and involved more than 15,000 observations of staff. The data show continued improvement compared to the average compliance rates of 77 percent for 2007 and 84 percent for 2008. Hebden said the Medical Center has educated staff in multiple ways, such as internal education programs, screen-saver reminders, posters and even peer-to-peer discussion with staff identified as habitually falling short in hand hygiene. Employees who observed such practices could anonymously call the hospital's Safety Hotline (410-328-SAFE, or extension 8-7233) to report someone, and that staff person – regardless of position – would be approached by Infection Control staff to work on improving. Hebden said one misconception among a few employees and physicians was that hand-washing was not necessary if gloves were worn. In addition to the success within the hospital, UMMC will participate with the Maryland Health Care Commission to improve hand hygiene in hospitals statewide, led by the Healthcare-Associated Infections Advisory Committee. UMMC has three staff members who serve on this committee: Eli Perencevich, MD, MS, medical director of infection control; Anthony Harris, MD, MPH, associate hospital epidemiologist, and Michael Anne Preas, RN, BSN, CIC, infection preventionist.
Wall of Commitment Showcases C2X Spirit
Along one of the hospital's most traveled areas – the Weinberg Atrium – patients, visitors and staff can see specific examples of just what Commitment to Excellence (C2X) means: The new Wall of Commitment is a permanent display area that will continually be updated with examples of individuals committing themselves to serving patients, families and each other. "The Wall of Commitment is a public display of our commitment to serve and care for our patients and their families," says Johnie Carr, UMMC director of operations. "The ‘Today I Will' cards, which are completed by employees, staff and physicians from all across the Medical Center, are a primary piece of the wall and serve as a visual affirmation of our commitment." The Wall will also share Great Stories and other news about C2X. The Great Stories project started by the C2X Employee Loyalty Team continues to get submissions about excellent service. The C2X Communications Team has been working on getting these stories out. The Wall of Commitment is one such medium. "The Wall of Commitment was intended to show our patients and guests – and to remind us every day – of the personal commitment to excellence each of us and our colleagues have made," says Carr. "Our new Wall of Commitment will provide examples and reinforce the many ways we are committed to transforming our culture and improving our patients' experience," says Michael Wertz, director of managed care and leader of the C2X Communications Team. The cost of constructing the display was donated by The Great Cookie.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fourth Year in a Row
State Sen. Catherine Pugh, (second from left) a member of the
University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) Board and chair
of the Women and Minority Business Committee, attended an
opportunity fair Dec. 9 to inform contractors about "Phase IV: The
Trauma, Critical Care and Emergency Medicine Expansion Project."
The opportunity fair drew 70 companies owned by women and/or
members of minority groups, including veterans and small-business
owners. Also attending were (from left) Herbert C. Buchanan Jr., UMMC senior vice president and chief operating officer; Leonard
Taylor, UMMC vice president for facilities; and Donna Jacobs, UMMS senior vice president for government and regulatory affairs.
