October Message from Steven L. Strongwater MD, CEO
October 2009 Construction on Phase II of the Major Modernization has begun. During this phase, Stony Brook University Medical Center will realize the completion of a vision conceived in November 2002, almost seven years ago. The Labor and Delivery suites, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), components of the Operating Room and the Emergency Room will be completed within the next two years. In addition, a new Psychiatric Emergency Room, which will house separate facilities for adults and children, will be constructed. Very soon, a new dedicated Pediatric Emergency Room will open. Planning for and constructing this unit has been a labor of love and will be a significant foundational component of the Stony Brook Long Island Children’s Hospital, a hospital within a hospital at SBUMC. An open house will be scheduled. Please look for an invitation soon to join us for an insider’s first look. Just as the physical plant at SBUMC is changing, there are many other changes underway at Stony Brook University (SBU). Our new president, Dr. Samuel L. Stanley, Jr., has hit the ground running. A week of exciting events are planned to commemorate the President’s inauguration as the University’s fifth president. These activities will run from October 21 through 28. International guest lecturers, SBU renowned faculty, graduate students, healthcare personnel, and the community at large will all participate in what promises to be a celebration of SBU’s history and future. The Inaugural theme is “The Power of Stony Brook: Research, Education, and Discovery (RED—Stony Brook’s color). Preparation for the Inaugural has been underway for months. Please take a moment and check out the events scheduled on www.stonybrook.edu/inauguration. In particular, we hope you can join us for an open interactive Community Service Forum with President Stanley in the Student Activities Center on West Campus, Sunday, October 25, at 11:30 am (lunch will be offered on a first come, first served basis). The President’s Community Service Forum will follow the American Heart Association-sponsored “Start! Heart Walk”—the first held in Suffolk County in the last nine years—which also will take place on West Campus. SBUMC is the major sponsor for the AHA Walk and we encourage you to join us. Suffolk is in competition with Nassau County, and we need a great showing, so please create a team and help us raise money to cure heart disease. Go to www.longislandheartwalk.org. The Walk will be held on SBU’s Main Campus starting with a Donation Turn-In and Create Hope Pavilion, open at 8:30 am, and a Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at 10:00 am. This year’s Walk includes a first-ever “Paws for a Cause Start! Dog Walk” beginning at 10:15 am. Perhaps the greatest change we have undergone at SBUMC is our continued success in improving patient outcomes. SBUMC has seen a continuous improvement in patient survival over the past four years, even while treating sicker patients. Visit the Quality and Safety Web site at www.stonybrookmedicalcenter.org/QualityandSafety/. October is National Patient Safety Month, so it is particularly appropriate to reflect on this accomplishment. We have received almost 40 external awards for the quality of care, services we provide, and our innovations. Most recently, we received recognition for signing the most comprehensive memorandum of understanding on Long Island and the first hospital in the United States with the Environmental Protection Agency to “go green.” The creation of our Partners in Care Council, which engages community members to help redesign the patient experience, participate on committees, and assist with key recruitments, will also change SBUMC dramatically for the better, with far more attention paid to enhancing the human side of healthcare in a highly complex environment. SBUMC is expanding our inpatient bed capacity to accommodate new programs and to reduce waiting times. Over the next several months, SBUMC will open as many as 25 new beds. This will allow us to open a Neurological Intensive Care Unit, dedicated to patients who have complex neurological conditions like stroke or require brain surgery. A dedicated Stroke Team has been deployed at SBUMC to rapidly respond to and prevent complications of stroke—the only service of its kind in Suffolk County. As detailed in the September Update, over 60 new faculty in a wide range of specialties have joined SBUMC over the past few months, many in support of our Programs of Distinction: Heart, Neurological Disorders, Cancer, Geriatrics, Trauma and Emergency Medicine, and Women and Children. Some change is good. STONY BROOK PRIDE Major Modernization Project (MMP) moves forward. Phase II of the MMP has begun with renovation work to the former lobby on Level 5 of the Hospital. Work will include renovation to the remaining components of the Emergency Department and Post Anesthesia Care Unit on Level 5, and a new Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and a Labor and Delivery Suite on Level 4. SBUMC is awarded U.S. Health and Human Services Organ Donor Silver Medal of Honor. The Silver Medal recognizes the Hospital’s achievement of a 75 percent conversion rate plus an average of 3.75 or more organs transplanted per donor over the past 12 months. SBUMC is one of only seven hospitals in the region to be presented with this prestigious award. The New York State Cancer Registry approves application. The Registry’s application for “Recognition Certificate for Completeness and Timeliness of Cancer Reporting,” based on 2008 cases, has been granted. This honor recognizes the “accurate and timely reporting that cancer researchers, planning agencies, and public health professionals rely on to assess the burden of cancer on the people of New York.” Congratulations to Cancer Registry Director, Vencine Kelly, and the registry staff. Kudos received from the Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration. The Radiological Assistance Program Training and Emergency Response course was held at the Stony Brook campus this past spring. The course was conducted by the Department of Energy for the agency’s National Nuclear Security Administration’s first responder assets, and was the first regional pilot course hosted by the Radiological Assistance Program (RAP). SBUMC was thanked for providing classrooms, training venues, security, and other things that helped the course run smoothly. The program manager specifically recognized Leo DeBobes (Emergency Management), Edward O’Connell (Environmental Health and Safety, Radiation Services Division), and Michael Turner (Conferences and Special Events) for their assistance and work with the Region 1RAP staff in preparing for the event. Dr. Marc Shapiro takes on additional role as Hospital’s Assistant Chief Quality Officer. In this new role, Dr. Shapiro, Professor of Surgery and Anesthesiology, Chief of the Division of General Surgery, Trauma, Critical Care and Burns, will concentrate on issues related to surgical quality, performance improvement, and patient safety. He will be working with Carol Gomes, Associate Director for Quality Management; Dr. Joseph DeCristofaro, Assistant Medical Director for Patient Safety; Carolyn Santora, Associate Director for Patient Safety and Regulatory Affairs; and Dr. Todd Griffin, Chief Medical Officer, in addition to many others whose goal is to have SBUMC deliver the highest quality and safest medical care. Marshall S. Lieberman, HEM, is named Director of Compliance and Audit. Mr. Lieberman has extensive experience in healthcare administration, having served in numerous roles at Mount Sinai Medical Center over the last 17 years. He received his undergraduate degree from Queens College and his Healthcare Environmental Manager (HEM) training and certification from ECRI, an organization designated as an Evidence-Based Practice Center by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Thank you to Stephanie Musso and Jean Boeje, who have been managing these functions for the last several months during the search process. Welcome, Lorraine Gari, MD. Dr. Gari has joined our Pediatric Emergency Department. Her name was inadvertently omitted from the list of new faculty presented in last month’s update. Letter of appreciation to the Echocardiography Department cites excellence. Nurse practitioners in the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery presented Dr. Smadar Kort, Director of Noninvasive Cardiology and Cardiovascular Imaging and Echocardiography, with a letter expressing their appreciation for the “outstanding professional and personal service rendered by the Echocardiography Department.” The letter also cited the department’s commitment to excellence and meeting the needs of patients. SBUMC nurse comes to the rescue. Our nurses save lives every day. But, Kristan Probeck, RN, performed heroically in a different manner recently. While at the bus stop with her daughter, she noticed a house on fire. As someone called 911, she broke a window and helped rescue the dogs she knew were living at the house. Vaccination schedule is set for seasonal influenza. It’s that time of year to set aside some time to get vaccinated. Visit http://uhmc-iweb1.uhmc.sunysb.edu/intranet/ for a schedule with times and locations. For updates about the H1N1 (Swine flu) visit the same address above, and click on “H1N1 (Swine) Flu Update.” PATIENT SAFETY SBUMC is participating in Institution for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Expedition, “Safe Care for Stroke Patients: Preventing Aspiration and Other Risks.” The Stroke Team, in collaboration with the Emergency Department, is participating in this new stroke care initiative running from September 28 through December 14. The aim of this Expedition is to enable participants to improve the outcomes of stroke patients by helping hospitals to increase the reliable delivery of processes, such as dysphagia screening. The program will help standardize processes and reduce variation, with a focus on the American Heart Association’s Get With the Guidelines Stroke Program as a best practice initiative. The NICU Central Line Training program is up and running. Many infants require central venous access. Percutaneous central lines (PICCs) are a vital intervention in the management of pre-term and critically ill infants. Invasive procedures in the newborn require a clinician with both clinical and technical expertise. The goal of this educational program is to provide a standardized curriculum that not only enhances but also increases opportunity to practice insertion of PICC lines in critically ill infants. A Patient Safety Net (PSN) oversight group is formed. The group includes representatives from Risk Management, Nursing Quality Management, Continuous Quality Improvement, Decision Support Services, and Nursing Leadership. This quality forum meets weekly to discuss, analyze, and assure follow up of selected PSN reported events that pose potential significant risk to quality and patient safety. Event trends and staff feedback for selected events are emphasized. Stony Brook speaks on Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Webinar. Chris McMullan spoke at the IHI webinar: “Planning and Implementing Your Improvement Course: The Improvement Map for Quality Managers” on September 24. SBUH’s Continuous Quality Improvement Department was asked to contribute toward the content development and to participate in the prototype testing of IHI’s Improvement Map. SBUH participates in The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Adult Cardiac Surgery Registry. The registry includes process and outcomes data for all patients undergoing cardiac surgery, and it assists SBUH to benchmark quality improvement efforts. The data are collected by the Cardiothoracic Surgery Department and entered into the Apollo application, while data integrity and data quality are managed by Decision Support Services. Since data collection began in January of 2009, two quarterly harvests were submitted to the STS. Quarterly STS Harvest reports are sent to SBUH summarizing our institution’s data as well as comparisons of SBUH to similar hospitals and the overall STS population. How SWEET It Is! The most recent Patient Safety Committee Safety “SWEET” Awards were presented at the September Department Head meeting. Units awarded “CHIPS” awards for “chipping away” at the Press Ganey safety categories were:
Special Lifesaver awards were presented to Vera Felisberto and Stephanie Froberg, both Clinical Assistants in the Emergency Department, whose observations and quick actions resulted in patients getting timely and appropriate care. Also receiving a Lifesaver award was Meliha Karahan, a Room Service Ambassador for Pediatrics, for addressing National Patient Safety Goals relating to patient identification. Team members from Laboratory, Pharmacy, Hospital Administration, Nursing Education, medical staff, nursing staff, medical records staff, and print shop staff were given the Lifesaver Award for their collaboration on the “Think Pink” Team. This group ensured patient safety during a laboratory equipment conversion, which impacted on laboratory values needed for determining heparin dosing. Congratulations to the “Think Pink Team”: Joe DeCristofaro, Kathy Holzmacher, Debra Grimm, Jay Bock, Jeannene Strianse, Laurie Rafkin, Lisa Senzel, Peg Duffy, Marie Varela, Rose Cardin, William Roberts, Joe Longo, Denise Westman, Lynn Hatta, Eileen Gilmartin, and Chris Edwards. Kudos to these individuals and to all the other staff that supported their efforts. An “M&M” Award was given to Christana Caines, NP for Cardiothoracic Surgery, for reducing morbidity and mortality by developing standardized order sets for the cardiothoracic patient, now built into the electronic medical record to ensure continuity of care. A new “SWEET” category was introduced, the “Good & Plenty” award for good ideas (we want plenty of them) that have been put into practice. The first recipient is Corinne Digena, an LPN and telemetry monitor on 16 South, who implemented a system of color coding the wave forms of telemetry patients who are DNR to clearly distinguish them from other patients. This has now been rolled out to other telemetry stations. Failure Mode and Effect Analyses lead to higher reliability. As part of SBUH’s journey to high reliability, failure mode and effect analyses (FMEAs) were recently presented reflecting a commitment from staff to mitigate risk and improve performance. John Soranno, Director of Receiving and Courier Services, worked with his staff to further improve the security of transporting medical records by transporting them in sealed, durable totes. Lou de Onis, Human Resources, worked with SBUH colleagues to improve the process for addressing background checks on future employees. Chris Edwards, Director for Health Information Management, presented an interdisciplinary FMEA focused on securing medical records, as needed. Congratulations to all involved in these efforts! PATIENT SATISFACTION A grateful patient donates to the Emergency Department. A grateful patient has made an anonymous $10,000 gift to support emergency services, benefiting those in the community who come to us for urgent care. Patient orientation videos to be available online. Ten video infomercials aimed at providing patients with important information to make their hospital stay more pleasant were produced earlier this year and are now running between programs on two patient education channels on Hospital televisions. The infomercials will be available for viewing on the Internet later this month so that patients planning a hospital stay can view them prior to hospitalization. The topics covered in the infomercials are: TV and phone service, food service, chaplaincy services, visiting, the Health Care Proxy, the call bell, discharge, patient relations, bringing electrical gear to the Hospital, and patient surveys. COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS Town Hall Meetings encourage dialogue and help keep employees informed. Town Hall Meetings were held on September 23 in the afternoon and evening with live video conferencing at Tech Park and Flowerfield. The meetings provided information on the New York State regulation requiring the vaccination of employees for seasonal and H1N1 influenza, an update on Phase II of the Major Modernization Project, the upcoming opening of the Pediatric Emergency Department, and the need for support of the Stony Brook Long Island Children’s Hospital. The Town Hall presentations were followed by a Q&A session. Visit the Hospital Intranet to view a rebroadcast of the meeting at http://uhmc-iweb1.uhmc.sunysb.edu/intranet. Happenings is now online. Happenings, Stony Brook’s source of staff and faculty news, is now available exclusively online. The newsletter features the same great coverage with more in-depth reporting and interactive features. Visit www.stonybrook.edu/happenings. SBUMC employee newsletter is online and onsite. In addition to being posted on the Hospital Intranet, Lifelines will now be available at centralized locations for readers to pick up. To become more eco-friendly and to save costs, the newsletter will no longer be mailed directly to employees. A limited number of copies will be available at the Market Place Café, Starbucks, Skyline Deli, Ambulatory Surgery Center, Cancer Center, or at Tech Park at Chock full o’Nuts Café (31 Research Way). A new and revised Intranet site is launched. Visit the “Inside SBUMC” Intranet site, which employees can now access from outside the Medical Center through the Employees Portal (www.sbumcconnect.com, select “Employee Portal”). For a PDF with detailed instructions on accessing the portal, go to http://infrastructure.uhmc.sunysb.edu/Helpdesk/EmployeePortalandIntranetSites.pdf to “get connected.” Phone directory is online. The 2009-2010 printed phone directory, The Red Book, which will be distributed in early October, will include only the office and departmental listings of Stony Brook University, Stony Brook University Medical Center, Stony Brook Southampton, Stony Brook Manhattan, and the Long Island State Veterans Home. Individual faculty and staff phone listings will be available online at www.stonybrook.edu/sb/directories or from the “Directory” link on the Medical Center’s home page. This is another way Stony Brook is becoming more green while reducing costs. More than 100 families attended SBUMC’s 11th Annual Ceremony of Remembrance. The ceremony, held on September 20 indoors and at the site of the Babies’ and Children’s Memorial Garden on the Medical Center grounds, included poetry readings, music, and the candle lighting and reading of the names of the babies and children who were honored in loving memory. Summer Soiree raises funds to benefit pediatric multiple sclerosis. BIG SHOT, a Billy Joel Tribute Band, was the hit of this year’s “Summer Soiree” held at the Crest Hollow Country Club on July 29. Partygoers danced the night away in “denim chic” and a new silent auction added to the over $175,000 raised that evening. Honorees Cynthia and George Marks reminded everyone of the importance of supporting children with multiple sclerosis. Dr. Robert Parker interviewed on WALK FM. Dr. Parker spoke with Donna Vaughan on WALK Island Assignment show about Stony Brook’s approach to children’s cancer and our cancer program. They also promoted the September 19 Seawolves Football Fundraiser. The event raised nearly $3,600 from ticket sales, glow bracelets, and donations to benefit the Sunrise Fund and to support Play Fit—Stay Fit!, a comprehensive wellness program for survivors of childhood cancer and their families. To hear Dr. Parker’s interview, go to www.walkradio.com and click on “WALK Cares” and select “Island Assignments,” “September 13,” to listen to the podcast. WIC Program receives a $5 million grant. Josephine Connolly-Schoonen, PhD, RD, Family Medicine, and Lauren Brand, MS, RD, CDN, were recently awarded a $5 million grant to continue and expand the WIC (Women, Infants, and Children) Nutrition Education and Supplemental Food Program over the next five years. In addition to WIC sites in Setauket and Bay Shore, new sites will be opening as guided by the NYSDOH. Plans are also being made to provide WIC services in the Medical Center’s Women and Infants Center. “It’s About Us” campaign is under way. More than ever, our patients, students, researchers, and Veterans Home residents are counting on our support. The “It’s About Us” Guide for Giving features many worthy ways you can help. Check out the “Guide for Giving,” which you should have received in the mail, or find your favorite program online in a searchable database at www.stonybrook.edu/itsaboutus. For more information or to schedule a presentation for your group, call Rick Guarino at 632-4873. Upcoming Events: For information about the many activities and events taking place throughout each month, visit the SBUMC Web site at StonyBrookMedicalCenter.org and go to “In the Community,” then select “Calendar of Events.” Some events for the month of October are the 6th Annual Jump for a Cure and the 7th Annual Cut for a Cure, for the benefit of the GIFT (Giving Inspiration, Fighting Together), repeated throughout the month of October; October 4, 16th Annual Walk for Beauty, Walk for Life; October 15, 9th Annual Fall Fashion Festival; October 18, 21st Annual Child Life Run; and October 25, the AHA Start! Suffolk County Heart Walk. Last Touch Jack Nicklaus said that 80 percent of a successful golf shot begins with a proper grip and how you stand over the ball. In other words, success is almost a foregone conclusion before you exert one muscle. …Eighty percent of our success in learning from other people is based upon how well we listen. Success or failure is determined before we do anything. A critical life skill is listening. And listening is not as easy as it sounds (no pun intended). Some people believe listening is a passive activity. Just take it in. What could be further from the truth? Successful listening is energy dependent. It requires focus, consideration, mental tryouts, careful deliberation, decision making, prioritization, and more. It requires listeners to use their minds…to think. Typically, listening is an act for two. To encourage dialog requires someone to talk as you listen. What would you do if someone was perpetually distracted and did not pay attention when you were talking? Who wants to talk to someone who is not paying attention? When you talk to someone who is not paying attention it feels like you are wasting your time. And the next time you have something to say, in all likelihood, you are not going to seek them out if they didn’t listen the last time. Perhaps you will even go out of your way to ignore them. If you are not a good listener, over time, you will be the last to know—even about the important stuff. When someone is talking to you, pay attention! Turn off the television, stop doing your emails, put down your Blackberry, and fold up the newspaper. Former President, Bill Clinton is well known to have mastered this technique. It is said that even on a long receiving line Clinton made you feel valued because he listened intently while just shaking your hand in passing. (He was also a master of making eye contact while he listened. And the moral of this story is that body language counts in successful listening.) What you say after someone talks to you is equally important in encouraging dialog. Imagine I have just paid you the greatest compliment in the world. What should you say? “I really don’t deserve this,” or “Thank you”? If you deserve it, just say thank you. Thank you recognizes the value and judgment of the person talking with you. To do anything less encourages people to think less of you. It is true that sometimes people say foolish things. Before you speak, think. Is it worth making an issue of this? Should you, so to speak, call the question? Will it serve any purpose to embarrass the person? Indeed, how you react will greatly influence how long your conversation will last. Sometimes it is best to just let it pass. Life is complicated. Learning how to listen and what to say, or what not to say, can make your journey much easier. A man wrapped up in himself is a very small bundle. Maturity begins to grow when you can sense your concern for others outweighing your concern for yourself. Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a battle. Enjoy the journey to world class….
Patients First—World-Class Processes—Teamwork—Growth—Use Resources Wisely |
