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Cardiovascular Section Chief’s Goal: Innovating the Art of Surgery............... Page 5
2010 Quality Awards show improvement is “responsibility of everybody” Now in its third year, the St. Luke’s Hospital & Health Network 2010 Quality Award winners were announced in September and the honorees will be recognized at an awards ceremony during National Health Care Quality Week. Jennifer Sprankle, RN, MSN, CPHQ, director of clinical performance improvement, said one intention of the Quality Awards is to show that performance improvement needs to be part of the fabric of all Network areas, not just those involved in direct patient care. “Quality improvement is not just a department. It is the responsibility of everyone in the St. Luke’s system,” she added.
A Day in the Life of Christian Hermosillo............................. Page 8
Submissions for the award are welcome from the entire Network, including satellite offices and outpatient areas. A team of reviewers scores the submissions and recommends first and second place winners in five categories representing the points of the St. Luke’s Star. The recommendations go back to the Chief Quality Officer, the Quality Director and the Quality Resources staff for final review and decisions. Finally, the “President’s Award” is given to one of the first place winners. This honor is kept secret until the awards program. continued on page 9
St. Luke’s Nursing Students Organize “Backpacks to Brighten”....................... Page 9
Above and Beyond the Standard “Day-Job”............................ Page 10
The Quality Resources Department. Front row (L-R): Jill Knolle, MSW, MPH, CPHQ; Joan Snyder, RN, BSN, CPHQ; and Joyce Brauchle, RN, BSN, CPHQ. Back row (L-R): Jennifer Sprankle, RN, MSN, CPHQ, Director; Kathy Nunemacher, RN, BSN, CPN, CPHQ; Donna Sabol, RN, MSN, CPHQ, VP, Chief Quality Officer; Beverly Harrison, Administrative Assistant; and Diana Tarone, RN, BSN.
OCTOBER 2010
In This Issue: 2010 Quality Awards Show Improvement is “Responsibility of Everybody”..... ....... 1 Nurse-Family Partnership Serves First-time Mothers and Their Babies.. ..... 2 Annual Benefits Enrollment is Coming Soon!.................................... 3 Cruising with the Murphys..................... 4 Cardiovascular Section Chief’s Goal: Innovating the Art of Surgery................. 5 For Network Infection Control, “Clean Hands Save Lives”.. .................... 6 Reimbursement & Financial Analysis/ Planning Department Tracks, Ensures Vital Financial Flow to Network.. ............ 7 A Day in the Life..... ............................... 8 St. Luke’s Nursing Students Organize “Backpacks to Brighten”....................... 9 Above and Beyond the Standard “Day-Job”.. ...........................10 New Laser Upgrades St. Luke’s Electrophysiology Capabilities.............11
ds save lives Clean han page s . ix. on y r o t s e e S
You Make A Difference This month’s issue of Network Pulse features the honorees of the third annual 2010 Quality Awards, as well as heartwarming stories about employees who expand their careers outside the realm of the office. It also describes the innovative measures that have been taken by St. Luke’s staff in order to ensure satisfaction and quality service for all of St. Luke’s patients. Based on the comments below, all of your hard work has paid off: From patients, commenting on nurses at the Allentown Campus: “The nurses were fantastic!” “The nursing staff was great! I had no complaints.” “They were all great!” “The nurses were very professional and did IV quickly and as painlessly as possible. I would rate them all as excellent.” From a patient at the Emergency Department at the Bethlehem Campus: “I came in through the ER where EVERYBODY made all effort to help and keep me comfortable. My hat is off to these hardworking, dedicated people who made me feel my care was at the top of their concerns. The physicians treated me like a PERSON.” From a patient in Labor and Delivery at the Allentown Campus: “Everyone was wonderful! Student doctors were present as well, and all were very courteous. They properly introduced themselves and established rapport as well.” From patients, commenting on the Quakertown Campus: “I think this is the best hospital I’ve been in. I would recommend.” “To me, St. Luke’s is A-#1. A card, signed by all who took care of me, wished me well, which I thought was very nice.” “All staff were very concerned, caring and always professional and pleasant.”
Nurse-Family Partnership serves first-time mothers and their babies The Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) is a program of the Visiting Nurse Association of St. Luke’s and offers assistance to first-time mothers in the community. What the NFP does is easy to measure: 1,440 visits per calendar quarter, 258 mothers and 196 babies currently enrolled and more than 1,600 families served since the NFP began here in 2001. But, looking at the bigger picture, there is potentially no end to the good that they do for Lehigh Valley families and the community. That’s because these nurses do much more than provide medical advice and information to first-time mothers and their infants. They provide connections to all kinds of services that make families stronger and improve the odds for babies to grow up safe and healthy. In fact, the Nurse-Family Partnership reaches future generations. Sara Klingner, RN, CNM, MSN, serves as program manager for the Nurse-Family Partnership and her understanding of its worth is deep and personal. Earlier in her career, she worked as a midwife and educator in Miami, Fla. She provided new mothers with the best care and information available,
but when they took their babies home, she wondered, “What will be happening in new mothers’ homes? The Nurse-Family Partnership answers that question. It gives first-time mothers advice and encouragement while teaching them how to care for their babies at the same time. But the nurses also emphasize the importance of education and help mothers to complete high school or college. They help mothers to set goals for training and jobs... and then initiate a plan to reach those goals. For many mothers, it’s the first time an alternative to the lives they know looks possible. The Nurse-Family Partnership was founded about 30 years ago by David Olds, Ph.D., professor of pediatrics at the University of Colorado. Peer-reviewed scientific studies have demonstrated that families in the partnerships have much less child abuse and neglect, a big reduction in emergency room visits for accidents and poisonings, fewer arrests of mothers and teenage children and far fewer behavior problems for children by the age of six. Sara says one of the strengths of the program is that it follows evidence-based practices that
These nurses do much more than provide medical advice and information to first-time mothers and their infants. They provide connections to all kinds of services that make families stronger and improve the odds for babies to grow up safe and healthy. have been proven to yield positive results. So, everything is measured and the numbers for the NFP at St. Luke’s are very good. The rate of low birth-weight babies and pre-term births are both better than the state average for all births. And, 88 percent of mothers are in school or are graduating. To qualify, a mother must be no more than 16 weeks pregnant and must meet an income cap of a bit more than twice the federal poverty rate. Mothers are referred by women’s centers at hospitals in the Lehigh Valley, or by schools and other community agencies, such as soup kitchens and churches. The best referrals, Sara says, are the women who take the initiative to call her and ask for a nurse. (Her phone number is on all of the NFP literature out in the community.) The program has ten full-time and two half-time nurses, each carrying a caseload of 25 families. The nurse calls a new enrollee and sets up a visit. It’s important to get started before the baby is born because that gives a mother confidence and trust in her nurse. All of the visits over the next 30 months are in the family’s home, though the nurses may meet the mothers at clinics or physician’s offices.
The Nurse-Family Partnership team, working hard at changing the lives of Lehigh Valley families and the community.
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Sara says she wants all Network employees to know about the Nurse-Family Partnership for three reasons. First, the partnership always can use donations to provide extra needs and enrichments for the families. Next, St. Luke’s employees may encounter families who could benefit from having a nurse partnership. And then there’s this: “This is a wonderful program, we are changing lives. It is an object of pride for all of us at St. Luke’s.” October 2010
Annual Benefits Enrollment is Coming Soon! November 8 to December 5, 2010
Important Dates for Annual Benefits Enrollment What’s Happening
When
Information to be mailed to your home
End of October, 2010
You may select your 2011 benefit choices during the annual open enrollment period at: www.stlukes.benergy.com
November 8 to December 5, 2010
Benefits Fair: Location
Time
Date
Quakertown Ground Floor — Vending Area
7:30 am – 3 pm
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
VNA Conference Room A & B
11 am – 4 pm
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Bethlehem & SLPG Cafeteria Conference Room
6 am – 4 pm
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Allentown Education Center
6 am – 3 pm
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
HomeStar & St. Luke’s North Cafeteria at Homestar
9 am – 3 pm
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Miners Campus Cafeteria Dining Room
7:30 am – 3 pm
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Your 2011 Benefits will take effect on January 1, 2011
October 2010
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Cruising with the Murphys
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Robert Murphy, associate vice president in Network Development, has seen the world with his family — Asia, the Mediterranean, northern Africa and the British Isles. He’s crossed both the Atlantic and Pacific on cruise ships several times and has been awe-struck by the Parthenon, the Coliseum in Rome and the stark landscape of Iceland.
• Two million red blood cells die every second.
But to him, traveling isn’t about a checklist of sights or running up a total of miles covered. Rather, Bob says, “The things you cherish are the times you spend with loved ones and the experiences you share together. Good memories can help to lift you over some hard times.”
• Seven percent of a human’s body weight is made up of blood.
Bob and his wife, Joan, began traveling when their children, Emily and Brian, were young — “before they thought it wasn’t cool to travel with mom and dad.” They visited the Grand Canyon and Monument Valley (site of all those John Wayne westerns), Yellowstone National Park near the Grand Tetons and Yosemite Valley in California. “It was a way to experience natural history and U.S. history,” he said. Then, the Murphys became interested in ocean cruising, and their travel went global. “I like cruising because every day at sea is a fresh beginning. You go on deck or gaze from your balcony and the sea and sky are majestic,” he said. Their most recent cruise took them to the popular ports in the eastern Caribbean, but not many travelers have had experiences like the Murphy Family had in other parts of the world. For example:
• Each day 400 gallons of recycled blood are pumped through the kidneys.
• One memorable cruise began in Anchorage, Alaska and crossed the north Pacific to Japan, then went to Vladivostok, Russia, Korea and Beijing. • A Mediterranean cruise stopped in Rome’s port of Civitavecchia and Naples, where the Murphy Family saw the ruins of Pompeii and the scenic Amalfi Coast. The cruise passed through the Straits of Messina and into the Aegean Sea, where it stopped in Athens. This part of the trip included a memorable visit to the Acropolis and the Parthenon. There were stops at Greek islands, including Santorini, and the ship called at Dubrovnik, Croatia. Another highlight of the trip was a stop in Kusadasi, or Ephesus, in Turkey, where ruins and artifacts date to pre-Biblical times. “It was inspiring to walk down a street and know that Cleopatra and St. Paul had walked there, too,” he said.
• In the early nineteenth century some advertisements claimed that riding the carousel was good for the circulation of blood.
• By donating just one pint of blood, four lives can be saved. • The kidneys filter over 400 gallons of blood each day. • The average life span of a single red blood cell is 120 days. *Source: “www.funshun.com/amazing-facts/bloodhuman-body-facts.html”
• Another Mediterranean itinerary went from Rome to Barcelona in Spain and the Rock of Gibraltar. It also crossed over to North Africa with stops in Morocco and Senegal. “Seeing Africa was one of our goals,” Bob adds. “I stood on a beach in Casablanca where, in 1942, my late father, who served on a U.S. Navy destroyer escort, played a small role in the Allied invasion of North Africa, Operation Torch. • A British Isles cruise started in Southampton, England and went to Dublin, Ireland before crossing the north Atlantic to Reykjavik, Iceland and Greenland. It concluded in New York City. . ob envisions Jerusalem and river cruises in Egypt and Europe as locations to visit during his B next cruising conquest. And, he says he’s happy to see that daughter Emily, 25, has inherited a desire to travel. She recently visited Singapore and other Asian destinations. Bob adds, “Travel is an enriching experience, but it’s always great to come home to the USA.”
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Robert Murphy (center, white shirt) poses with a stingray during stop in St. Kitts.
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In 1947, the Ladies’ Aid Society opened a gift shop at the Bethlehem Campus, now named the Wishing Well Gift Shop, and a snack bar called The Oasis.
October 2010
Cardiovascular section chief’s goal: Innovating the art of surgery Stephen A. Olenchock Jr., DO, who serves as section chief of cardiovascular surgery for St. Luke’s Hospital & Health Network, is proud of the record and work the cardiovascular team is doing. There are, of course, the high ratings it has twice received from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, including a ThreeStar recognition that put St. Luke’s in the top 10 percent of more than 850 cardiovascular surgery programs in the United States. But, to Dr. Olenchock, being nationally recognized is not the best thing about the program that he leads. Instead, he is proud St. Luke’s is innovating its surgical art with new procedures that continually raise the complexity of cases treated here. For instance, last year he successfully performed an all-thorascopic maze procedure to treat a patient with atrial fibrillation. The procedure involves using radio energy to alter the abnormal electrical signals to the heart that cause the arrhythmia, and is usually done during open-heart surgery. Dr. Olenchock was able to utilize a much less invasive technique involving three small ports on the side of the chest. “It was the first time it was done in Pennsylvania, and it puts St. Luke’s on the same plane as any academic institution,” Dr. Olenchock said. In addition to the technical complexity of the thorascopic maze procedure, being able to provide the procedure at St. Luke’s brings enormous benefits to patients. First, because the operation is less invasive, outcomes can be expected to be better; shorter hospitalizations, less chance of complications, and so on. Then, there is a comfort factor that is especially important to older patients — being able to stay at their “hometown hospital” for even complex treatment. “I think you get personable care here. You see your doctor. The entire team is a smooth, well-oiled machine and every member of the team wants to be here and is proud to be here. A lot of people have been at St. Luke’s for a long time, but they don’t stand still, their skills are always progressing. We challenge each other to do that.” Another results of being innovative, Dr. Olenchock has observed, is that the variety October 2010
Dr. Olenchock in surgery.
of heart surgeries being done at St. Luke’s is growing. Cardiothoracic surgery at St. Luke’s involves much more than bypass surgery. As a result, while bypasses still are the most common procedure, the percentage of patients who get them is going down as a percentage of total cardiac surgeries. That means that other procedures are becoming more common. Endovascular stent grafting to repair aneurysms is one example. St. Luke’s has carried the procedure to another level of complexity by doing the procedure on the aortic arch. “That’s as complex as it gets. That’s a procedure you used to see only at the University of Pennsylvania or The Cleveland Clinic.” Another area that has been growing is repair of stenosis, or narrowing, of heart valves. “It’s a very rewarding operation,” Dr. Olenchock said. That’s because he often sees patients in their 70s and 80s who have no symptoms other than feeling fatigued or short of breath. They don’t seek treatment because they believe they are just “getting old,” he said. “So, the stenosis of a valve is hard to diagnose, it’s hard to know how small the hole is. But when we replace the valve, the patient immediately feels better.” Dr. Olenchock believes that
repair of valvular stenosis, and other heart valve procedures, will become more common as the number of people usually affected — older people — continues to grow in the American population. Overall, says Dr. Olenchock, “I am most proud of our outcomes and the quality of our care. We want 100 percent success.” Dr. Olenchock served a general surgery residency here in 2004 and went on to a residency at Tufts University/New England Medical Center in Boston where he stayed on faculty for two years. He returned in 2008. He says his interest in the cardiothoracic specialty was encouraged by great mentors and by his wife, Sabina A. Murphy, an accomplished cardiac researcher who has co-written more than 200 manuscripts in the field. She now serves as statistical editor for the European Heart Journal. When the couple has time away from work, they go cycling. In fact, they (along with five other St. Luke’s staff members) belong to the Bethlehem-based Lamprey Systems Cycling Team. Readership Survey Suggestion
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For Network infection control, “Clean hands save lives” Your mother says so. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says so. And at St. Luke’s Hospital & Health Care Network, Bridget McEnrue, RN, ADN, manager of Infection Control, says so. “Hand washing is the easiest way to prevent the spread of infection from patient to patient,” she says. And yet, according to the Joint Commission, only 40 percent of health care workers nationwide wash their hands before and after every patient contact. At St. Luke’s, the rate is much better — 70 percent. As good as that rate is compared to national averages, Bridget says the goal for 2010 is 75 percent. In subsequent years, the goal will continue to be raised. St. Luke’s good hand hygiene record didn’t happen by accident. Starting in 2008, St. Luke’s began a hand-washing audit. In July of 2009, the program was improved to make it easier for managers to do the audits. Managers on every floor are required to track 30 employees each month. This includes all jobs — nurses, engineering staff and residents. The managers watch for hand-washing every time an employee goes into a patient room and every time the employee comes out. If someone forgets, he or she gets reminded. The Department of Infection Control distributes the results of the hand-washing audits throughout the Network. Departments are compared to each other and various job classes are compared as well.. For instance, Bridget says she has been impressed by improvements made by St. Luke’s residents since the audits began. “We use the numbers to offer education,” she adds. Staff members typically use three main excuses for not washing their hands — none of which are valid or acceptable, Bridget says. “First, they say they don’t have time. We say, make time, it’s that important.” Other times, people will say they didn’t have to wash because they were wearing gloves. “But, you still must wash.” Finally, some say they didn’t touch the patient. Bridget doesn’t accept that excuse, either, because an infection can be picked up from any object in a patient room. St. Luke’s follows the guidelines established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which offers a promotional campaign for health-care settings with the slogan, “Clean hands save lives!” Bridget says the basic message is that you should wash for 15-20 seconds,
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which is how long it takes to sing “Happy Birthday” or “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” to yourself two times. St. Luke’s offers staff two ways to wash their hands. One is soap, water and friction. The other is the waterless hand sanitizer available in wall dispensers that seem to be everywhere in Network buildings. When using soap and water, the added advice is to use a paper towel to turn off the faucet. The key to using the waterless hand sanitizer is to use enough to cover both the tops and bottoms of the hands, and not to use it if your hands are visibly soiled. With either method, and in addition to all patient contacts, employees much wash after personal hygiene and eating. Is the effort to encourage hand hygiene working? Bridget thinks so, as Network rate for overall infections is going down.
“ St. Luke’s has been such an important part of my life for forty-seven years. It’s hard to imagine the day when I hang up my uniform and am no longer able to offer my somewhat limited services to help others!” � Former volunteer Victoria “Lala” Leach At their annual meeting, on October 18, 1916, the Ladies’ Aid Society decided to have their first Charity Ball to raise money for their hospital projects. A great success, the event brought in $4,617.14.
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October 2010
Reimbursement & Financial Analysis/Planning Department Tracks, Ensures Vital Financial Flow to Network The Financial Planning & Analysis Department is essential to our Network as we seek to receive the optimal revenue needed to operate efficiently and successfully. The department is comprised of a group of financial and accounting analysts who study and monitor the various payments — reimbursements — that are due to the four hospitals in the Network from various federal and third-party payers including: Medicare, Medicaid, the federal Tobacco Settlement Fund, Blue Cross and many other programs. Annual cost reports, which are like tax returns, are filed to determine the monies due to federal programs and monies due to the hospitals. Based on a series of complex formulas, the cost reports determine final reimbursements for items such as: • Disproportionate Share, which means additional Medicare payments for serving a disproportionate share of low-income patients. • Medicare Bad Debt, which is reimbursement for uncollected deductibles and co-insurance amounts from Medicare patients. • Cost-based areas, such as the School of Nursing. • Medical Education, which is reimbursement for approved education programs for the cost of direct and indirect graduate medical education.
• Wage Index, which measures the relative differences between each labor market’s average hourly rate and the national index. The team optimizes and documents these categories so the Network receives its entitled reimbursements. For instance, reimbursements totaling $16 million were realized from some of these in the last several years. Kathryn Gibbons, FHFMA, MHA, is the director of the department, which is based in the Finance Department located on Polk Street in South Bethlehem. The staff handles a complex web of systems that direct payments to St. Luke’s for care provided to patients covered by federal programs. Katie, who has been at St. Luke’s since June 2007, could not be prouder of her staff. “This is a group of super-specialized individuals who are very detail-oriented. The work we do, you can’t learn it in college. It’s almost like a philosophy — either you get it or you don’t,” she says. Most of her staff members have backgrounds in accounting, billing, charge master and audit. The staff includes ten professionals, who, as of July 2010, had more than 196 years of combined experience in the field. Katie explains that her staff ’s work is complicated by the constantly changing federal regulations and programs. In fact, she and her staff receive daily on-line briefings about the latest updates.
Tara Koehnlein, CPA, MBA, manages a subsection of the department which works with all Network departments. The staff’s more senior professionals take on some of these roles, as an understanding of reimbursement implications is critical to any analysis of health care. Typically, they will work with a department that is planning a project, perhaps the addition of beds or new services. They will analyze profit and loss statements to determine the bottom-line impact of the proposed change. They have also recently built the hospitals’ first-ever cost accounting system to assist in determining specific costs in the department’s analyses. Katie enjoys working with her staff. Before she came to St. Luke’s, she worked at a large university where she served as executive director of revenue policy and fiscal analysis for the hospital sector, and taught an on-line course in health care financial management. The staff includes the reimbursement team of Joel Conaway, senior reimbursement analyst; Gale Kipp, analyst; Caroline Mandry, Analyst II and Dan Dougherty, Analyst II. The Financial Analysis/Planning team includes Tara Koehnlein, manager; Lori Williamson, coordinator; Janice Ruland, coordinator; Nick Bellucci, senior cost accountant; and Kristin Rickert, analyst.
(L-R): Janice Ruland; Tara Koehnlein; Gale Kipp; Joel Conaway; Caroline Mandry; Nick Bellucci; Kristin Rickert; Lori Williamson; Kathryn Gibbons; and Daniel Dougherty.
October 2010
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A Day in the Life of... Christian Hermosillo HomeStar Pharmacist • St. Luke’s Hospital – Allentown Campus Pharmacist Christian Hermosillo oversees the HomeStar Retail Pharmacy at St. Luke’s Hospital – Allentown Campus. It’s a relatively new operation, having opened in April 2010. It serves the needs of discharged patients and hospital employees, and, increasingly, neighborhood residents who enjoy the convenience of having a pharmacy within walking distance. Christian’s day starts before 8 am. That’s when the pharmacy opens. Operational hours are 8 am to 5 pm, Monday through Friday. When he arrives at the ground-floor pharmacy at the eastern end of the building, he turns on the computers and, together with pharmacy technician Sara Anthony, gets ready for customers. Christian enters orders for drugs and other supplies he will need, starts filling prescriptions left overnight on the fax machine or voicemail, and answers the phones. “I do a little of everything,” he explains. Everything is done on-line, including inventory management, a task handled “by the front office” in chain-type pharmacies, he explains. He and Sara also work on marketing efforts to attract
new business. For instance, categories of products go on sale at different times of the year — pain relief at one time, cold remedies at another. The part of the day Christian finds most rewarding happens when he counsels and advises customers. “If a patient is confused or frazzled, I explain things in laymen’s terms. I think I’m good at that,” he says. He is bilingual, too. “Older patients may worry about costs, so we do our best to meet their needs at a reasonable price. One thing I emphasize is how important it is to take medications as prescribed. Sometimes, they just forget and sometimes it’s a monetary issue and they try to ‘stretch out’ a prescription by taking smaller doses. I don’t recommend this,” Christian said. Bariatric surgery patients have become something of a specialty for the HomeStar Pharmacy. That’s because St. Luke’s Bariatric Surgery Center is in Allentown. Prior to surgery, he meets with groups of patients and family members to talk about medications and the dietary supplements they need. He even created
The part of the day Christian finds most rewarding happens when he counsels and advises customers. “If a patient is confused or frazzled, I explain things in laymen’s terms.” — Christian Hermosillo a separate section in the pharmacy where all of those products are conveniently displayed. Similarly, same-day surgery staff and case managers fax prescriptions to the pharmacy when they know a patient is scheduled to go home, so there is no gap in getting the medication. As the afternoon continues, there is a mix of filling prescriptions, answering the phone and trying to build up the business. Christian says he can compete with the big chain pharmacies’ generic and 90-day discount prices, a fact he makes sure customers understand. The pharmacy was handling an average of 30 prescriptions daily in August, and his goal is to raise that by ten daily every month. When he can fit it in throughout the day, Christian likes to go on-line at www.slhn.org and answer questions on the Web Forum. It’s just another way to do the counseling that he enjoys so much. At the end of the day, he heads home to the Breinigsville area. He works out in the home gym he created in the basement, or he might sit outdoors and enjoy the new landscaping around the home; or, his pet bulldog, Romeo, might come by for some attention. His wife, Janelle Hermosillo, works as a pharmacist at St. Luke’s Hospital – Bethlehem Campus. Christian grew up in Texas and earned his Pharm.D at the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy and did some graduate work at the University of Texas-El Paso. He now is working on an MBA degree.
Christian Hermosillo (right) in the HomeStar Retail Pharmacy with pharmacy technician Sara Anthony.
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Christian and Janelle enjoy being in the Lehigh Valley and think it is an ideal location. Local winery tours and trips to New York City are among their favorite pastimes. October 2010
ST. LUKE’S NURSING STUDENTS ORGANIZE “BACKPACKS TO BRIGHTEN” In a world filled with individuals consumed with looking out for their own well being, it is good to see that some people still reach out to those in less fortunate positions. Nursing students at St. Luke’s School of Nursing initiated a project that provided school supplies and backpacks to young students in need. Children who might otherwise not have had a pencil to write with started the school year fully stocked with school supplies and brandnew backpacks thanks to the “Backpacks to Brighten” project. Organized by the School of Nursing (SON) students who wanted to make the children feel special, supplies and backpacks were donated to the cause by the hospital’s staff and volunteers.
to secure new school supplies. St. Luke’s nurses visited many families that had teens between the ages of five and 18 years old. One of the most gratifying parts of the experience for these employees was knowing that their efforts brought excitement as they enhance the scholastic lives of these children.
Following the collection of supplies, the nursing students assembled the goods and presented them to families in need. Student Nurses Association advisor Nancy Kanuck empathized with these kids and pointed out that “the goal of the project is to make these kids feel special” and in order to do so, disbursing basic school supplies was essential. The Project Prior to the first day of school, school supplies, backpacks, messenger bags, lunch bags and other items articles were collected for the children. These children are from families that were visited for parenting education by the St. Luke’s St. Luke’s School of Nursing students with filled backpacks. Front row (L-R): Nicole Kanuck, Community Health nurses. Generally, these kids are Heather Homay. Back row (L-R): Britney Smith, Tonya Pearson, Abresha Torres, Valerie underprivileged and unfortunately do not have the ability Malinsky, Kara Rancourt, Carrie Kurtz, and Danielle Delany.
Quality Awards cont. This year’s first place honorees: • “The Bleeding Watch,” a project involving the Allentown and Bethlehem cardiac surgical team, reduced the number of reoperations to control bleeding from a monthly rate of 6.5 percent to less than 1 percent. Team leaders were Dr. Terrill Theman, Dr. Steven Olenchock, Michael Smith, Michael Homishak and Eunsun Lee. The project yielded an annual cost savings of $150,000. • T he Specialty Bed Support Surface Team carried out a Network-wide project to reduce the incidence of pressure sores from an average rate of 6.7 percent to 3 percent in FY 2010, the lowest rate since trending began in 1997. Don Seiple and Joane Labiak led a team from Biomedical Engineering, Wound Management and the patient care units. By reducing use of rental services, an annual savings of $200,000 was realized. • T he St. Luke’s Allentown Cancer Care Center Multidisciplinary Team was honored for
October 2010
reducing treatment delays and minimizing patient weight loss, factors known to improve outcomes and survivorship. Team leaders were Robyn Plesniarski and Susan Gorman. • The TTOPS Team, led by Dr. Joseph Merola and Kathy Nunemacher, was honored for achievements in the Women’s Service Line in Allentown and Bethlehem. TTOPS stands for Transformational and Transparent Obstetric Priorities and their Steps. The team produced improved results in patient safety, reduced operative vaginal deliveries, increased submission of birth plans and oxytocin bundles and an overall decrease in OB liability. The second place honorees: • I mplementing a Blood Management Program was a project of a multidisciplinary team in Allentown and Bethlehem led by Kristy David, Kathy Ramson and Claudia Kupec. The goal was to optimize the use of transfused blood and improve patient care. An 8 percent decrease in use of packed red blood cell transfusions represented an annual savings of $420,000.
• E valuation of Reuse/Reprocessing of Dialyzers was a project of the dialysis units at the Bethlehem, Quakertown and North campuses. The team, led by Kay Werhun and Lisa Dutterer, increased bedside patient care time, increased patient censuses and reduced employee injuries from toxic exposure to zero. The annual cost savings was $60,422. • The Family Health Center Walk-In Clinic in Allentown was honored for creating hours during the day that patients can be seen without an appointment, thereby avoiding unnecessary visits to the Emergency Department. The project, led by Caryn Mullin and Dr. Robert Dolansky, has been expanded to provide more hours and higher patient volumes. • The Coumadin Education program was a Network-wide effort led by Debbie Cooper and Leslie Johnson. Using innovative electronic records and alerts, the program achieved improved documentation and an 88 percent compliance rate for anticoagulation therapy education standards set by the Joint Commission. 9
ABOVE AND BEYOND THE STANDARD “DAY-JOB” Jeremy Kahle, Manager of Strategic Planning and Business Development in the Decision Support Department for St. Luke’s Hospital & Health Network, has plenty to keep him busy at his “day job.” The department serves all parts of our Network, doing analysis of all kinds of information in order to help departments across the network. “We could be working on environmental services in the morning and brain surgery in the afternoon,” he says. But Jeremy, who has been at St. Luke’s for about 11 years, has other interests that go beyond just hobbies or pastimes, and one of them brought him face-to-face with an event that changed history. He serves as a part-time paramedic for both the City of Bethlehem and Suburban EMS, based in Palmer Township. And, he recently completed police academy training at the Lackawanna College Police Academy in Scranton. . f his paramedic work, Jeremy says. “I love being a paramedic. O I feel I am making a difference on every call. And I like feeling I am directly impacting patients. Sometimes it’s hard to feel that working as a data analyst for the hospital.” He adds, “But, it’s very physically demanding.” . aving completed the police academy training, he plans to seek H work part-time with one of the smaller local departments, which typically use part-timers. Working part-time will enable him to stick with his duties at St. Luke’s while working as an officer. The academy training includes instruction in weapons, driving and “first aid... which isn’t very hard for me,” he says. And, every Saturday is used for physical conditioning.
Jeremy Kahle, EMT, sits with medical equipment inside a Suburban Emergency Medical Services ambulance.
. ore than eight years ago, Jeremy’s duties as a paramedic brought M him to “a life-changing experience.” He had joined the Northeast Disaster Response Team run by the nationwide medical-transport agency Rural/Metro Corp., and on Sept. 11, 2001 he was at work when he got the call: “Pack your stuff, we’re going.” . e was among 90 Rural/Metro personnel and 23 ambulances H dispatched to Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan and spent the next three days working there. Initially, he was part of a rapid entry team prepared to respond to reports of signs of survivors beneath the rubble of the collapsed World Trade Center towers. His team’s assignment then shifted to recovering and transporting body parts to temporary “morgues,” which were large refrigerator trucks. He explains that by then, it was evident there weren’t going to be any more patients. “. Then we shifted to caring for first-responders who suffered injuries or were experiencing chest pains or other symptoms. After that, we were sent home. Jeremy and his comrades at first experienced war-zone conditions at Ground Zero, grabbing rest two hours at a time right on the sidewalks. Before they left New York, they were sent to the Waldorf Astoria Hotel – quite a contrast. “We walked in there, we were filthy, I’m sure we didn’t smell great... but they were so grateful and happy to have us,” he recalls. T. o this day, Jeremy has in his office a large, panoramic photograph showing Lower Manhattan – taken before the Twin Towers were destroyed by the terrorists’ attack on that day.
Suburban EMS staff (L-R): Tara Greig, Para Transporter; Jeremy Kahle, EMT; Michael Rapp, EMT; and Don Genovese, EMT.
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J. eremy is a native of Ellwood City, Pa., and he grew up and graduated from high school in Hollidaysburg, Pa. He went on to graduate from Penn State University, and continues to be a Nittany Lions football fan today. “I can talk about football all day,” he says. In his spare time, he also enjoys skiing and riding a “jet ski” personal watercraft. October 2010
Darren M. Traub, DO, whose expertise is cardiology and electrophysiology, had a case last winter that made him grateful for the technological innovations made at St. Luke’s Hospital & Health Network. Specifically, a new Spectranetics CVX-300 Excimer laser system, used in the extraction of the wire leads placed in the heart for pacemakers and other devices, helped him to succeed in a case that he described “as tough as nails.” A lead is a wire that carries electrical impulses from a pacemaker (or implantable defibrillator) to heart muscle. Dr. Traub explains the longer a lead is in place, the higher the chance of problems developing. Sometimes, the wire itself becomes damaged,
or “fractured.” Or, scar tissue can build up at the tip of the lead inside the heart, interfering with the flow of energy from the pacemaker. And, infections can occur at the site of the lead or the implanted device. When these things occur, the lead needs to be removed and, perhaps, replaced with a new one. Dr. Traub says in the past, doctors did remove leads without lasers. The procedure called for a tube, or sheath, fitted with razor, to be inserted along the troublesome lead. That process had its limitations. However, the new laser makes it possible to remove older leads, including those whose tips are embedded in fibrous tissue. .Specifically, ultraviolet energy delivered by the laser breaks the fibrous tissue into small pieces
so the lead can be removed as in the case of Dr. Traub’s patient. The patient’s leads had been in place for seven years, a long time for a lead’s expected functionality. In the past, such a patient might have been referred to a specialty or major teaching hospital. Instead, this patient, a Lehigh Valley resident, was able to be cared for in Bethlehem, avoiding a trip to a hospital in another city. Kevin McGovern, vice president, says, “We are so pleased to be able to offer our community a depth of services that we didn’t have before. Having a doctor with the abilities of Dr. Traub is wonderful; his skill set is so deep.” He adds, “Dr. Traub is handling difficult, highly complicated cases that, quite frankly, used to be sent to Philadelphia. It is so much better when patients and their families can stay close to home.” Dr. Traub gained experience with lead extractions while serving a cardiac electrophysiology fellowship at the University of Rochester-Strong Memorial Hospital. Another physician at St. Luke’s, Hari P. Joshi, M.D., also has extensive experience is lead extraction with lasers. His fellowship training was at Drexel University College of Medicine. The laser-catheter tools are used in 20-30 lead extractions per year. They also are used to remove blockages in blood vessels, a much more common procedure.
Dr. Traub is performing a catheter ablation using fluoroscopic and electroanatomical imaging as well as intracardiac electrical signals to choose the appropriate locations for ablation.
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New laser upgrades St. Luke’s electrophysiology capabilities
Dr. Traub says a lead-extraction is very much a team operation, involving cooperation by infection control doctors and, if there are complications, cardiac surgeons. As for the catheter lab staff, he says the nurses are very highly skilled, most with 10 to 15 years of experience. “They are really good,” he says, “I would put them up against any in the country.”
In one year, 1920-1921, members of the Auxiliary sewed 36 towels, 18 covers, seven pairs of girls drawers, six petticoats, five heavy wrappers, three doctors’ gowns, 19 infant slips, 30 operating boots, six bed curtains, 18 pillow-slips, 12 nightingales, 10 doctors’ operating shirts, 52 napkins, and six flannel skirts for infants. In 1920, the Ladies’ Aid Society started donating baby clothes to mothers who had none for their babies when they left the hospital.
October 2010
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Network Non-Profit Org. US Postage PAID Permit #275 Bethlehem, PA
801 Ostrum St. • Bethlehem, PA 18015 Our Mission:
The mission of St. Luke’s Hospital & Health Network is to provide compassionate, excellent quality and cost-effective health care to residents of the communities we serve regardless of their ability to pay. Our Strategic Focus: People and Relationships • Physicians, Employees and Volunteers — our most important assets. • We will be the region’s health care employer of choice. Simplicity • Continue to simplify management structure. • Promote efficiency and effectiveness. Integrity • Transparent, accountable management. • Ongoing adherence to our Management Philosophy. Quality • Focus on clinical process improvements using national benchmarks and appropriately share the outcomes of our ongoing focus on quality. • Perform in the top decile in national pay-for-performance programs. Cost • Perform in the top decile in Thomson criteria for cost-effective management. • Continue to be the region’s low-cost tertiary hospital. Network Pulse is a periodic publication for the employees of St. Luke’s Hospital & Health Network published by the Corporate Communications Department. 801 Ostrum St. • Bethlehem, PA 18015 Executive Editor: Susan M. Schantz Vice President, Corporate Communications Contributing Writers: Glenn Kranzley • Vicki Mayk Design Supervision: Lori Diehl Director, Network Graphic Design Photography: Joseph Klepeiss Director, Media Production Services Betsy Toole • Anne Kemp
St. Luke’s strives to be the region’s health care employer of choice.
Three employees from St. Luke’s Obstetrics and Gynecology Associates were recently presented their PCRAFT awards during a luncheon. (L-R): John Haney, Chief Operating Office, SLPG; PCRAFT award recipients Jacinda Reuter, Heather Maxwell, and Sue Strawn; and Dean Evans, President, SLPG.