HUPdate

Volume 24

Number 3

February 8, 2013

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Hold fast to dreams, For if dreams die, Life is a broken-winged bird That cannot fly.

Empowering the Dream: It’s Up to You!

—LANGSTON HUGHES

This year’s event celebrating the life of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., focused on taking personal responsibility — not only in meeting the goals of Martin Luther King but also your own life’s goals.

“There’s a difference between ‘believers of dreams’ and ‘makers of dreams,’” said guest speaker Rev. Dr. Kevin Johnson, senior pastor of the Bright Hope Baptist Church, who quoted the Hughes poem.

“When Dr. King said, ‘I have a dream,’ he took ownership of the dream.”

INSIDE ‘Miracle Man’ Elliot Gordon.....2 Thank You to Patient Transport....................................2 An OR Memento Finds a New Home....................3 Keeping Personal Items With Patients..............................4

A dream may be free but the journey to reach it isn’t, he said. “A price must be paid for dreams. Coming to fruition comes with a cost. Martin Luther King paid with his life.”

The Cheerio rose to the top. Again and again she had him repeat this process until he saw the point. “No matter what life brings you, keep rising, rising to the top,” Johnson said.

According to Johnson, King was not the smartest student at Morehouse College “but he moved beyond his B and C grades.

Never look at where great leaders started… but where they ended.”

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To meet your own goals, “keep moving.

Look at your future, not your past,” he said.

“Believe in yourself. God wants to take you to a higher level.”

Johnson then told the story of a young boy called Cheerio by kids at his school because he had holes in his shoes. But Cheerio’s mom refused to let him think less of himself.

To demonstrate a point, she told him to put some milk and a single Cheerio in a bowl. ‘Press down the Cheerio and see what happens when you let go,’ she told him. `` Top: The MLK celebration featured performances by the Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School concert choir. `` Right: The Rev Dr. Kevin Johnson urged the audience to take ownership of their dreams.

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Miracle Man

`` Thanks to emergency open heart surgery at HUP, Elliot Gordon last year completed the Philadelphia Half Marathon.

In April 2009, Elliot Gordon was training for the Boston Marathon, what would have been his 43rd such race. But on the morning of April 5, out of the blue, the usually healthy Gordon started to feel dizzy. Within moments, he passed out.

Despite the grim odds, after several hours in surgery, he was transferred to the ICU to recover. “The surgeons said I survived because my body was in such good shape.

Had I not been training for Boston, I would have died.”

Elliot was suffering from an aortic dissection, the same condition that killed actor John Ritter in 2003. This serious heart condition results from a small tear in the inner wall of the aorta, causing blood to flow between the layers of the wall of the aorta and force the layers apart. If the dissection tears the aorta completely open (through all three layers), massive and rapid blood loss occurs.

After a month and a half in the hospital, Gordon was released. He was 25 pounds lighter and, because he was already so lean from decades of running, there wasn’t much fat to lose in the first place. The loss was all muscle — he couldn’t get out of bed, couldn’t stand, couldn’t walk.

After being rushed to a local hospital, it was determined that he needed emergency heart surgery. He was transferred HUP, where Joseph Bavaria, MD, director of the Thoracic Aortic Surgery Program, performed an openheart procedure to have Gordon’s torn aorta removed and replaced with a synthetic graft.

“He needed an urgent intervention and the surgery itself is high risk,” Bavaria said. “Half of patients suffering from an aortic dissection die before they even reach the hospital.”

He was given the okay to try light running again after six months, but it took over a year before he was finally able to jog slowly.

In his first attempts back on a treadmill, he had many difficulties. But he was determined to get back to the sport he so loved and had dedicated decades of his life to.

In November 2010, he ran his first “return” 8k since the operation. A year later, he ran a 12k race. This past November, Gordon ran the Philadelphia half marathon, coming in 7th out of 18 runners in his age bracket (he recently turned 70).

“Not very many people could — or would even attempt — to run a half marathon after this type of procedure,” Bavaria said. “He really is a miracle man.”

Thank You 

PATIENT TRANSPORT

In FY12, Patient Transport received over 177,800 transport requests (an increase of 4,500 over the previous year) and responded to more than 1,600 rapid responses at HUP and the Perelman Center.

A special luncheon held during Transport Week recognized the safe patient transport provided throughout HUP on a daily basis.

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Black History Month

Empowering the Dream

EVENTS

(continued from page 1)

Mark your calendar for the following Black History Month events at HUP:

Mistress of Ceremonies Sheinelle Jones, of Fox 29 Good Day Philadelphia, encouraged people to “make a commitment to be a better person. As we get older we tend to become more cynical. Today is a chance to push the pause button and re-energize. Think about being kind, and the importance of love and life.”

February Jazzy Wednesdays

A live jazz band, noon to 2 pm, HUP cafeteria, 2 Founders.

African-American Marketplace Thursday and Friday, February 7 and 8, Ravdin Mezzanine, 9 am to 5 pm.

Entertainment for the celebration came from the young members of the Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School concert choir.

Accompanying them were members of the Dave Stevens Band.

Many thanks to Tamika Patton of Administration for once again taking the lead in pulling together this inspiring program!

An Afternoon with Mahalia

(featuring Tamika Patton) Thursday, February 21, noon to 1:15 pm, Medical Alumni Hall, 1 Maloney

18th Annual Gospelrama Friday, February 22, 5 pm to 7 pm, Medical Alumni Hall, 1 Maloney.

`` Mistress of Ceremonies Sheinelle Jones, of Fox 29 Good Day Philadelphia urged people to “think about being kind and the importance of love and life.”

SURVEY SAYS... `` Bruce Heppenstall (c.) holds the special plaque created especially for him from the original Founders 17 operating room. Joining him at the reopening of all of Founders’ newly renovated ORs are L. Scott Levin, MD, chair of Orthopaedic Surgery (l), and Jim Mullen, MD, executive director of PeriOperative Services.

An OR Memento Finds a New Home Bruce Heppenstall, MD, of Orthopaedic Surgery, has operated in ORs 16 and 17 since Founders was built in 1987. During this time, he designed and had installed in these rooms a special ventilation system to prevent infections in full joint replacements. The clean air enclosure, known as the Laminar Airflow System, recirculated a continuous flow of highly filtered, bacteriafree air under positive pressure in the operating field and removed air contaminates generated during surgery.

With the completion of the Founders OR renovations, he was presented with a special memento: a plaque containing a piece of the airflow system. But it’s more than just a plaque. “Press the green button… It lights up. If you push the other green button it plays the music from Star Wars. That’s the sound they put there for you,” said Carolyn Grouse, PeriOp Technical Director.

HUP is now in the ‘window’ of time for its next Joint Commission accreditation visit. The surveyors can come at any time. To help us better meet Joint Commission standards, HUPdate will provide information on ‘hot topics,’ ie, areas that the survey will definitely focus on. If you have any questions, please contact Marguerite Kerry, BSN, JD, director of Office of Patient & Regulatory Affairs at marguerite.kerry@uphs.upenn.edu.

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Pain Management Guidelines

The Joint Commission surveyors will focus on pain treatment disparities, defined as inequitable pain treatment based on negative labeling of patients. When documenting concerns that a patient may be abusing or misusing pain medication, do not use derogatory labeling (eg, “Frequent Flyer,” “Constant Complainer,” “Just Drug Seeking,” “Just wants to get high”). Instead, document as “Patient is exhibiting aberrant behavior in regard to pain medication.” Describe observations or interactions that raise concerns such as “Breathing rate has decreased and is more shallow.” or “Patient is hard to arouse.”

To learn more about documentation requirements for pain assessment/reassessment, go to the Pain Assessment” policy at http://uphsxnet.uphs. upenn.edu/hupadmpl/Pain_Assessment_2006.pdf.

Said Heppenstall. “I like it!”

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500 Days and Counting

DATE: Friday, February 22 TIME: Noon TOPIC: Creating Your Personal Emergency Kit What if something happened to you tomorrow?

Would your loved ones know where you keep your important papers, information about accounts, how to access your phone? Join us for a webchat about planning for the unexpected. There is more to consider than just the legal aspects of getting your affairs in order. Get prepared!

To submit questions or participate, go to www. oncolink.org/webchat. You can also read a transcript on the site after the live event.

Eighteen months ago, Penn Medicine launched an initiative to eliminate preventable deaths and readmissions by July 1, 2014. We now have approximately 500 days to reach our goals. To recognize the strides we’ve made — and discuss the challenges facing us — PJ Brennan, MD, chief medical officer and senior VP for UPHS, will host a 500-Day Blueprint for Quality event on Monday, February 18, from 3 to 6 pm in the Smilow Center for Translational Research. The event will feature UBCL teams, quality improvement staff, and administrative leaders from around the organization.

“House Calls” at HUP Can Help A program initiated by members of the Association of Senior and Emeritus Faculty is designed to make a stay at HUP a little more patient friendly by offering ‘house calls’ in the hospital. “People can be easily confused in a hospital environment and the experience can be very threatening,” said Rob Roy MacGregor, MD, of Infectious Diseases, who is one of the visiting physicians.

“We’ll stop by to see how a patient is doing and have the time to answer questions, perhaps in greater detail than the busy health-care team.”

The service is available to any Penn-affiliated (University or Health System) faculty member or employee — and their relatives — who are admitted to HUP. Because of HIPAA regulations, patient or their families must be made aware of the service and then make a request for a visit by calling Patient & Guest Relations at 662-2575.

The Veteran Recruitment initiative focuses on hiring veterans to work throughout UPHS. HR is hosting a Veterans Career Fair on Wednesday, February 20, from 10am-2pm at the University’s Hall of Flags, 3417 Spruce Street. For more information on the initiative, visit PennMedicine.org/careers/working-at-penn-medicine/veterans.

KEEPING PERSONAL ITEMS WITH PATIENTS Dentures, eyeglasses, and jewelry. Staff in patient units have seen inpatients lose these personal items and more. Sometimes they’re left on food trays and removed by Food Services. Maybe they fall into the trash or sometimes accompany a patient to the OR, where they are removed and later reunited with their owner.

To address the wide array of reasons why patients lose personal belongings during a hospital stay, Al Black, HUP’s chief operating officer, initiated a project with the Patient and Family Advisory Council. Council members Peg Smith and Len Schultz met with nurse managers on each unit and with staff in the ER. They reviewed patients’ hospital and emergency room stays from check-in

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to discharge. They identified what was working and opportunities for improvement.

Smith and Schultz reviewed their findings with staff and found people receptive to their ideas. For instance, when Food Service workers remove a patient’s tray, they now consistently check for personal items.

Black shared the very positive outcomes of this project. “Over a one-year period, our quarterly number of missing items went from 83 to 20, a 76% decrease for the year,” he said. “The Council’s role was instrumental.

Our staff valued the time spent with them and respected the feedback and ideas they received. This is a strong example of how the Council can work with the hospital to improve the overall patient experience.”

HUPdate EDITORIAL STAFF Sally Sapega Editor and Photographer Abby Ernst Designer

ADMINISTRATION

Susan E. Phillips Senior Vice President, Public Affairs CONTACT HUPDATE AT: 3535 Market Street, Mezzanine Philadelphia, PA 19104 phone: 215.662.4488 fax: 215.349.8312 email: sally.sapega@uphs.upenn.edu HUPdate is published biweekly for HUP employees. Access HUPdate online at http://news.pennmedicine.org/inside/hupdate.