Volume 25
Number 25 December 12, 2014
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Staffing for the
Stages of Life
Several years ago, Anissa Magwood, MJ, BSN, was at a crossroads in her professional career. With three years’ experience on Silverstein 12 — and finishing up a master’s degree in health care law — she wasn’t sure what her next step should be. Should she continue on the same unit or try another type of nursing? Or should she leave patient care entirely and enter risk management or compliance? Then she talked to some of her coworkers who had switched to HUP’s Staffing for All Seasons (SFAS) program, a resource
`` Staffing for all Seasons nurses, such as (above) Maggie Maher, Patrick Cargan (l.) and Daniel Naviero, and (right) Anissa Magwood can be found helping with inpatient and outpatient services throughout HUP.
Inside Harron Lung Center Gift...........2 IS Leads Fundraiser for Philabundance...........................3 Another Success in Fighting HAIs.............................3
pool that assigns nurses and CNAs to units throughout the hospital as well as outpatient clinics. “Based on how much they liked floating, I made the switch,” she said. “Six years later I know I made the right decision.”
More than A Nursing Pool Victoria Rich, PhD, former chief nurse executive, created SFAS 10 years ago as a way to keep qualified nurses at HUP when their scheduling needs changed. “Seasons” referred not to the four seasons of the year but, rather, stages in a person’s life. “Some of our nurses have gone back to school; others have small children,” said Teresa Murphy, MSN, RN, manager of Nursing Resources and Operations. “They need a different schedule to fit into their current lives.” SFAS divides its nursing resources into three categories: women’s health, ICU, and med/surg. All nurses must have a minimum of three years’ experience but where they’re assigned depends on their training and skills. For example, nurses require special training to work in an ICU or as part of the women’s health units. Initially SFAS was for patient-care units only but, in 2008, the program expanded to include all areas of the ED, a variety of (Continued on page 4)
Ebola Preparedness..................4
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`` (From left) Giovanna Imbesi and Patti Imbesi (Paul’s niece and sister), John Hansen-Flaschen, MD, and his daughter, Lauren Billheimer, and Denis Hadjiliadis, MD, the Paul F. Harron Jr. Associate Professor of Medicine, of Pulmonary, Allergy & Critical Care.
Heartfelt Thanks A letter sent to Rhoads 1, detailing his unexpected experience
Gift
Harron Lung Center
John Hansen-Flaschen, MD, first met Paul Harron, Jr., in 2005, when he was emergently transferred to HUP in respiratory failure. “He said hello and then I intubated him,” he said. When they took up the conversation again, “Paul asked me what I was passionate about. I told him my lifelong dream was to create a lung center,” he said. “He took an interest in what we were doing.” Sadly, Harron, who was a broadcast and cable television pioneer, died before he could help Hansen-Flaschen realize his dream but his family followed through, honoring his commitment to support the lung center with a $10 million gift. “The Harron Center is the embodiment of John’s work,” said Michael Parmacek, MD, chair of Medicine, at the recent naming of the Paul F. Harron, Jr. Lung Center. “Humanism and caring touches everything he does. We need more physicians like John Hansen-Flaschen.” Hansen-Flaschen modeled his idea for a multidisciplinary lung center on weekly conferences in the 1960s when specialists from pulmonary, thoracic surgery, radiology, and lung pathology would get together to discuss cases of interest and get to know each other. The Harron Center naming gift “provided funding for the physical space of the center, endowed two department professorships, delivered essential research support, and enabled us to offer one-stop convenience to our patients,” he said. “I am so grateful to members of his family.” “The family’s generosity will have a huge impact on Penn for a long time, “ said J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD, executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania for the Health System and dean of the Perelman School of Medicine.
Let HUPdate KNOW!
Are you sharing your time, talents and support to the community and/or Penn Medicine this holiday season? If so, please email your activities and photo(s) to sally.sapega@ uphs.upenn.edu. We may feature you in an upcoming issue of HUPdate!
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I was scheduled for a third surgery in eight months that would bring me to Rhoads for a second time in a year. … Who the hell, in my condition, is supposed to giggle for much of every day and outright lose it more than once a day? And I’m sorry but you can’t tell me it was the dilaudid. The clear counterevidence is that I was still yukking it up just as regularly and, on occasion, uncontrollably after the dilaudid was discontinued. And then there’s the matter of frequently carrying on mature, constructive dialogue. It went on day after day…. In the process, you made a guy like me feel worthy of receiving genuine care. I described the Rhoads experience to my primary care physician as a virtual love-in from the moment I was wheeled out of the OR to my discharge. Deep thanks to all of you. Keep up the truly admirable professionalism, first-rate health care, and profoundly good will.
`` (Standing, from left) Raffle winners Jason Szostek, Liat Shimoni, Barbara Hoehn, and Tracy Christie got to do the ice bucket challenge on Brian Wells (l.) and Jim Beinlich.
“Chilling” M o t i v at i o n Benefits Philabundance and ALS Last year, Information Services donated close to 4,400 food items to Philabundance. This year’s food drive, again led by Poppy Bass, Hospital Based Services application manager, brought in almost three times that amount! Maybe it was the motivation. Employees were again divided into teams according to IS divisions but, this year, the associate CIOs of the teams that collected the most and the least food had to do the ice bucket challenge, a fundraiser that helped promote awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). In addition to the food drive, IS raffled off tickets to employees for the opportunity to “ice” the leaders. When the food drive ended, the IS teams had collected a whopping 11,700 food items! The orange team — led by Brian Wells — topped the charts, donating 5,500 food
items. The yellow team, led by Jim Beinlich, contributed a respectable 1,100 food items but came in last. The raffle raised $460 for the ALS Association. At the next IS Town Meeting, the lucky raffle winners got their chance to dump buckets of water and ice on both division leaders and CIO Mike Restuccia, a chilly end for two great causes.
`` Joy Winner and Steve Lewandowski with one of the four skids of food delivered to Philabundance.
A n o t h e r S u c c e s s in Fighting HAIs In 2007, Penn Medicine declared “war” on health-care acquired infections (HAIs), creating Unit-Based Clinical Leadership teams which focused on interdisciplinary coordination — and reduced variations — of care. Since that time, the numbers of HAIs have decreased significantly. For example, central-line associated bloodstream infections have plummeted 82 percent in the past six years! Recently, the combined efforts of Ravdin 7 and Silverstein 8 (Labor and Delivery and postpartum care, respectively) set a new record at HUP: 750 days without a catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI). They reached this “silver” milestone at the end of June and are now steaming toward the 1000-day gold level. As of the end of November, they had gone nearly 950 days without a CAUTI! Marianne Bittle, MSN, RNC-OB, clinical practice leader of Silverstein 8, attributed it to several factors, including partnering with the certified nursing assistants to ensure regular peri-care and avoiding the use of Foley catheters whenever possible. “If it is needed, we remove it as quickly as possible,” she said. “Almost all Foleys are removed by 12 hours post-delivery.” Congratulations to the staff and good luck in reaching the next milestone!
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`` Amy Kramer at a recent Staffing for All Seasons assignment.
Staffing Stages of Life
««
for the
Ebola preparedness
(Continued from page 1)
outpatient services (such as radiation oncology, interventional radiology, and chemotherapy), as well as the PACU, the observation unit on Ground White, endoscopy, and the preadmission area. Unlike temp nursing through an agency, SFAS staff are full- and part-time hospital employees, with benefits and guaranteed hours. Its current roster of over 100 nurses and CNAs each submits a monthly schedule and is assigned based on requests from nurse managers and unit schedulers to fill both advance requests and last-minute call-outs and other unexpected holes in staffing. “We work with charge nurses and clinical coordinators to make sure we fill gaps where they’re most needed,” Murphy explained. SFAS does hire external candidates, but the majority of nurses come from the Penn Medicine entities, ensuring high-quality nursing care. In addition to filling the needs of inpatient and outpatient services, SFAS nurses have also been tapped to help introduce new initiatives, such as Knowledge-Based Charting and Bar Code Med Administration. “Because they go everywhere, they have a broad perspective,” Murphy said. They have also staffed new units — like the Emergency Department Observation Unit (EDOU) — until new nurses can be hired and trained. “We’re like the marines, willing to jump into any situation!” said Maggie Maher, BSN, who has been a part of the program since its pilot. Although unit nurses are glad for the help, she said, “I always make sure to establish a rapport with the unit nurses and CNAs, to know that ‘I’m here to help you.’”
An “Incredible” Resource The program’s popularity is based on more than having a flexible schedule. “This is a wonderful way to try out different areas of nursing and has served as a conduit for the next step in people’s careers,” Murphy said. “SFAS nurses develop a wide knowledge of patient populations. They cross all boundaries and care for all types of patients.”
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And because they are exposed to so many experiences through their daily assignments, “they can showcase their expertise when called upon,” said Paula Pearson, MSN, nurse manager of Rhoads 7, an oncology unit. SFAS nurses can be a big help to new nurses as well. “I often help new-to-practice nurses on a unit find their way around,” Magwood said. “Now that I’ve been doing this for six years, I’ve gotten to know nurses on several units and the different processes in place.” “The SFAS program is an incredible resource that we all benefit from,” Pearson said. “I am constantly impressed with their ability to adapt to ever-changing environments and patient situations.” Although the benefits are numerous, SFAS is not a good fit for everyone. “You have to feel confident and competent in your skills, and comfortable moving to a different unit every day,” Magwood said. “Yesterday I was in the PACU on Ground White and today I’m in the EDOU.” And you have to get to know the physical layout of units. “It’s different on every unit — where can I find a catheter? What’s the code number to the supply room?” Also, it’s harder to establish a relationship with a patient. “I don’t often see a patient through. Yesterday I cared for a patient with a traumatic brain injury and I would love to see the outcome but I’ll probably never know,” Maher said. “And many nurses want to tune in to just one population, such as oncology, to master one area.” Still, most in the program love it. Murphy said that, once hired, most SFAS nurses stay in the program. “The longevity is incredible,” she said. “I get calls every day asking if I have an open position and, when I do, 20 applications come in the first week.” “This is the best job in the city,” Maher said. “I wouldn’t work anywhere else.”
at penn medicine
As you know, preparations for the possibility of caring for a patient with Ebola have been underway for several months at HUP. We were among the first in the nation to offer our special expertise in this global public health crisis. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently announced that HUP is part of an elite group of 35 hospitals nationwide — and the only adult hospital in Pennsylvania — capable of safely caring for patients with Ebola. As always, we encourage all staff to continue to check for updates at http://pennpoint.uphs. upenn.edu/sites/ebola/default.aspx. As a reminder, two phone lines are available to assist clinicians and staff around the clock: •C linicians with patient-related questions should call 215-614-0524. A physician will answer and handle calls about screening, isolation and, if necessary, lead arrangements for patient transport to HUP from another entity. •G eneral questions not pertaining to direct patient care can be directed to 215-615-2929.
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Administration
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