Volume 27
Number 9
April 29, 2016
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
BABY FRIENDLY EFFORTS E ARN
V ictoria Rich Award
Congratulations to HUP’s Baby Friendly Hospital Committee, this year’s recipient of the Victoria Rich Patient Satisfaction Award, for its successful efforts in achieving the Baby Friendly designation. It’s the first time the award has gone to an interdisciplinary committee.
INSIDE Wellfocused Program: What’s New?..............................2 Organ Donation Changes Lives...........................2 HUP’s “Living Legends”...........3 A Sweet Outreach Helps Those in Need.................3 Passed Down Pearls of Wisdom..................................3 Better Communication May Lead to Shorter Stay........4 Phishing Security Alert!............4 What’s Up at HUP?....................4
Shortly after Surgeon General Regina M. Benjamin, MD, released a Call to Action to support breastfeeding in January 2011, several disciplines from Women’s Health formed the committee which encompassed both inpatient and outpatient services as well as ties to the community. The goal: incorporate the Ten Steps of Successful Breastfeeding into HUP’s practices and culture, requirements for receiving the Baby Friendly designation. These steps included:
• Placing babies on their mothers’ chest within five minutes of delivery (“skin to skin”) to help regulate the baby’s heart rate, breathing, and temperature, and stimulate digestion and feeding behavior. • Keeping mom and baby together 23 out of 24 hours, helping the infant better transition to life out of the womb. • Educating parents on how to soothe babies without the use of pacifiers. • Instructing moms to “watch the baby, not the clock” for feeding cues.
Although the Ten Steps focus on successful breastfeeding, “we support these practices for our formula-feeding moms as well because they are tied to better outcomes,” said Jessica Lazzeri, MSN, RN, NEA-BC, interim associate clinical director of Women’s Health. She added that teaching safe formula preparation is also part of the Baby Friendly criteria. In addition to educating new moms, all staff received specialized training. Congratulations to all of Women’s Health for this recognition and for making HUP one of only five hospitals in the state with this designation!
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Wellfocused Program: What’s New? Spring is in the air, and with it comes a chance to have a fresh start on improving your health and well-being, all while earning rewards with a new Wellfocused program. The three-tiered program structure allows UPHS employees to receive rewards for participating in many health-related activities to improve or maintain good health.
BIOMETRIC SCREENING MEASUREMENTS Body Mass Index (BMI)
Blood Glucose Level
Earn 100 points for having a healthy BMI (between 18.5 and 25)
Earn 100 points for a healthy blood glucose level (between 70 and 99)
Blood Pressure
Cholesterol
Earn 100 points for a systolic reading less than 120 mmHg and a diastolic reading less than 80mmHg
Earn up to 300 points for: HDL < 200 100 ≤ LDL < 130 Total cholesterol < 200
The first step of the Wellfocused program is to Know Your Numbers through a biometric screening. This snapshot of your current health status will enable you to identify areas of focus when creating your goals. Your biometric screening numbers are kept confidential and will be uploaded to your Well-Being Assessment by a third-party administrator. UPHS will never have access to your screening results. There will be onsite screenings starting the week of May 9th, for all UPHS employees. You can schedule a biometric screening online at adurolife.com/uphsbiometric-scheduler. If you have recent screening data (within the last 24 months) you do not need to be re-screened. You can simply take the Health Screening Provider form, found on uphshrandyou.com under the Wellfocused tab, to your doctor’s office for completion, and then fax it to 866-877-7983.
ORGAN DONATION Most of us know that donor organs can save lives, for example, a heart or lung transplant. But did you know that a donor can help restore a person’s sight? Or prevent life-threatening infections in severely burned patients? In fact, a single donor can change the lives of more than 50 people. People of all ages and medical histories are potential donors. The medical condition at the time of death will determine what organs and tissues can be donated. Even patients whose conditions preclude donating organs (for example, an infectious disease) are eligible to donate corneas and tissue. The national organ transplant waiting list now exceeds 121,000 people whose lives depend on a life-saving organ transplant. This week more than 100 of them will die because not enough organs are available. Thousands of others whose lives would benefit from the gift of eye and tissue donation continue to wait and hope.
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Changes Lives
HUP has joined the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania and Gift of Life Donor Program as a hospital partner in a campaign to educate hospital communities on the urgent need for more organ, tissue, and cornea donors and to encourage individuals to register as donors. The vast majority of Americans support donation as an opportunity to let their organs and tissue give life and health to others when they no longer need them. Unfortunately, many people overlook the important step of registering as a donor. Registering now relieves your family of this burden and serves as a real gift to them, as well as to the grateful recipients of your donation. It’s easy to become an organ donor. Simply click on Gift of Life Donor Program on the Intranet home page or go to www.Donors1.org/Penn and follow instructions to register in your state.
Cornea
Bone Heart Lung Liver Kidney
Pancreas Intestine
Skin
`` DaCarla M. Albright, MD
HUP’S
`` Nicole Aqui, MD
“LIVING LEGENDS” Nicole Aqui, MD, chief of Transfusion and Apheresis Services in Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, and DaCarla M. Albright, MD, of Obstetrics and Gynecology, were honored by the City Council of Philadelphia as two of the 2016 Philadelphia Living Legends. The resolution recognizes outstanding contributions to community and society by Philadelphia’s African American dentists or physicians. Councilman Curtis Jones, Jr., who presented the Council resolution, said the award “points out unsung heroes that from time to time get overlooked but make huge differences in our society as a whole and in African American communities in particular.”
A Sweet Outreach Helps Those in Need
Arlene Brackett, a financial service representative in OB/GYN, found her way to MANNA in a rather circuitous manner. While a student at St. Joseph’s University, she reached out to Heidi Lewis, a Quality and Patient Safety project manager, to learn more about the HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) patient rating system for a paper she was writing. In addition to receiving really good information, “I learned that she was on the board of MANNA,” Brackett said. “Whenever I hear about helping others, I do some research and get on it.” Brackett decided that she wanted to be a part of this non-profit organization that cooks and delivers nutritious, medicallyappropriate meals and provides nutrition counseling to neighbors who are battling life-threatening illnesses. She applied as a volunteer but working fulltime prevented her from going to the office and helping to cook and package meals. But she could distribute pies! Pie in the Sky is MANNA’s annual fundraiser. People order pies online for Thanksgiving and volunteers are assigned to specific pick-up locations to help distribute the pre-ordered pies before the holiday. For the past three years, Brackett has headed to her location after working a full day. “I get a list of people – sometimes a really long list—but I always stay until the last person shows up.” Brackett wanted to do more. She asked Michael Rolands, MANNA’s community engagement leader, what the organization could use. “He told me ‘We are badly in need of a paper cutter.’”
PA S S E D D O W N
Brackett applied for and received a Penn Medicine CAREs grant. That need has now been filled! Community outreach is an important part of Brackett’s life. She consistently volunteers for Penn Medicine CAREs events, including the Sayre Health Fair and Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell’s Holiday Party for the Homeless and Disadvantaged and she hopes to one day become more involved in MANNA. But until their schedule better matches hers, she’ll keep volunteering for the pie distribution, helping the organization meet its mission. To learn more about MANNA, go to www.mannapa.org.
Pearls of Wisdom
In celebration of Mother’s and Father’s Day, we want to hear some of the pearls of wisdom passed down from your parents that drive your passion for your career. Send us your parent’s wise words — and if you have it, a photo of you and your parent, either recently or a throwbacks — and we’ll share a collection of favorites on Penn Medicine social media platforms, in internal publications, and through some of our other Penn Medicine channels. Submit your memorable words and photos to pennmedicinecommnications@uphs.upenn.edu.
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BETTER COMMUNICATION MAY LEAD TO SHORTER STAY
Phishing Security Alert!
Patients whose hospital care providers used mobile secure text-messaging as a means of communication had shorter lengths-of stay compared to patients whose providers used the standard paging system to communicate, according to a new study from Penn Medicine researchers published online in the Journal of General Internal Medicine. While several studies have suggested that mobile secure text messaging may improve communication, the new study is among the first to assess its impact on patient outcomes. The study comprised approximately 11,500 patients at two hospitals (HUP and PPMC) which both began with the same paging system. After introducing secure text messaging (sent through an application on a smartphone which encrypted the text before it was sent and decrypted it before it was viewed), average patient length-of-stay declined in the first month from 6.0 to 5.4 days, but was unchanged on similar floors at the control site where the paging was continued. “Many forms of communications within the hospital are shifting mediums in part due to the rising adoption of smartphones and new mobile applications,” said the study’s lead author, Mitesh S. Patel, MD, MBA, MS, of Medicine and Health Care Management in Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine and The Wharton School. “Our findings suggest that mobile secure text messaging may help to improve communication among providers leading to more efficient care coordination and allowing patients to leave the hospital sooner.” To read more about this study, go to www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2016/ 04/patel/.
UP HUP?
Attackers use email and untrustworthy web sites to reach our employees. They often attempt to trick employees into giving up their usernames and passwords. Legitimate IS requests will never solicit sensitive information in this way. We rely on our workforce as the first line of defense. Please remember:
• DON’T click on web links in unexpected email messages. • DON’T reply to an email with your username and password, or any other sensitive information. • ALWAYS exercise caution with your use of email and the Internet.
If you suspect that your account information may have been compromised, please change your password immediately and notify IS Security at InformationSecurityTeam@ uphs.upenn.edu.
atWHAT’S
Diane Douglass
Gamel Abdullah
QUESTION: Vice President Joe Biden visited earlier this year to tour parts of the Abramson Cancer Center. What other prominent figure would you like to see come to Penn?
Jesper Krogsgaard-Jensen
Kathryn Pirolli
HUPdate EDITORIAL STAFF Sally Sapega Editor and Photographer Lauren Hochenberger Graphic Designer
ADMINISTRATION
Prince William. He embodies his mother who was an ambassador for the world.
Michelle Obama — Jesper Krogsgaard-Jensen, Security
— Gamel Abdullah, Assistant Director of EVS
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Holly Auer Director of Communications CONTACT HUPDATE AT: 3535 Market Street, Mezzanine Philadelphia, PA 19104
— Diane Douglass, Cardiac Surgery
Hillary Clinton
Susan E. Phillips Senior Vice President, Public Affairs
Donald Trump — Kathryn Pirolli, Infection Control
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.