November 15 by Penn Medicine

Volume 24

Number 23

November 15, 2013

Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

`` Thanks to perseverance and the UPHS Tobacco Cessation Program, Erich Hall has not smoked in almost two years!

addictive as heroin and cocaine, said Frank Leone, MD, MS, medical director of Penn’s Comprehensive Smoking Treatment Program. Joe Lallier, associate director of Retirement Programs and Benefits Economics, knows exactly how strong the pull is. He has smoked on and off for more than 20 years. The first time he quit lasted nearly five years but stress brought the addiction back into his life. Lallier is now back on the non-smoking wagon, thanks to a renewed determination to quit and help from the UPHS Tobacco Cessation Program, available to employees and dependents covered under a medical plan. “The free nicotine patches and knowing that I’ll be speaking with the counselor have kept me onboard,” he said.

WANT TO

QUIT SMOKING? UPHS CAN HELP! INSIDE New Pass Program Helps Keep HUP Safe...............2 OncoLink’s Treatment Binder...2 One Step at a Time....................3 A Purr-fect Match......................4

Tobacco use is the single mostpreventable cause of disease and premature death in the United States. It’s responsible for nearly one in five deaths in this country. “Despite massive efforts to eradicate tobacco addiction — and some significant successes — tobacco dependence continues to be a major public health problem,” said Caryn Lerman, PhD, deputy director of Penn’s Abramson Cancer Center, whose research focuses on the genetic underpinnings of nicotine addiction. Many people who smoke want to quit — and indeed, have tried to — but they can’t seem to break the hold that nicotine has on them. It’s not surprising. Nicotine is as

Lallier’s past attempts at quitting have also taught him a few things. For example, he sets short-term, smaller goals. “In the morning, I tell myself, ‘I’m going to try not to have a cigarette before my shower.’ Then, I’ll try not to have one between then and lunchtime,” he said. “I find that it’s easier that way and less stressful. Suddenly I’ve made it through the day without smoking.” In addition, he avoids places which are linked to smoking, for instance, changing his commute to avoid a route he took when smoking. “I don’t think about if I smoked yesterday or if I’ll smoke tomorrow. It’s all about right now.” Erich Hall, Business Systems analyst in HR, has also experienced nicotine’s strong hold, since he was 17. “Over the years, I tried quitting at least six or seven times,” he said, “but always went back.” Until February 2012, when he quit, he hopes, for good. While quitting is never easy, Hall said that Penn’s smoking cessation program helped (Continued on page 3)

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FREE UPHS TOBACCO CESSATION PROGRAM through Health Advocate, call 1-866-695-8622. Check out additional resources on www.uphshurandyou.com under the Wellfocused link.

“ On any given night, between 60 and 70 patients have a support person at the bedside overnight.” CCU, and Rhoads 1, which “helped us streamline and simplify the overall process in many ways.” The updated program kicked off in all patient care units earlier this week, when Forte distributed the overnight visitation passbooks to all nursing units.

NEW PASS PROGRAM HELPS KEEP HUP

SAFE

As part of its transformation to a patient- and family-centered organization, HUP changed its visitors policy in April 2011 to allow 24/7 visitation. While improving the patient experience, the change presented a challenge for members of Security: how to differentiate people who had permission to be in the hospital during overnight hours … from those who did not. And the number is not small, said Mary Walton, MSN, MBE, director of Patient/Family Centered Care. “On any given night, between 60 and 70 patients have a support person at the bedside overnight.”

Now, a new initiative — the Care Partner Pass program — will clearly identify overnight visitors, with passes that are color-coded according to building (ie, Rhoads is blue, Silverstein is yellow, etc), and have the date, visitor’s name, and patient room number. According to Security director Joe Forte, who worked with Walton and Mauri Sullivan, MSN, RN, clinical director of Medical Nursing, to create the program, it was first piloted in the MICU,

Here’s how it works: If a patient wants a visitor to stay overnight, the patient’s nurse writes the pertinent information on a carbonless sheet in the pass book and the information transfers to the pass beneath. The nurse then gives the pass to the Care Partner (visitor) but the top sheet remains with the pass book, serving as a visitor’s log for Security. Similar to employee IDs, the pass will clip to a person’s clothing for easy visibility. To help educate staff on the floors, Nursing created new huddle sheets highlighting the “important role of both clinical nurses and unit secretaries as they welcome and orient Care Partners to the night shift routine,” said Walton. At 8 pm, an overhead announcement notifies visitors that all outside doors — except the main entrance on Ravdin and the emergency entrance — will be locked. With the Pass program now in place, “visitors remaining at HUP should have a Care Partner Pass or a pink pass from Women’s Health,” Forte said. “I am confident that, working collaboratively, we have established a solid foundation that will help create a safer environment for everyone for years to come.”

OncoLink’s Treatment Binder: An Easier Way to Educate Patients

OncoLink has always been a great source of information for cancer patients and their families but nurses have also discovered its usefulness as a way to educate their patients. Indeed, according to Maggie Hampshire, OncoLink managing editor, “We thought nurses represented 25 percent of our visitors but it turns out to be closer to 50 percent.” Now, nurses have a simplified way to get the information they need for their patients, complete with a personalized cover sheet. Previously,“nurses had to search for relevant articles on the site and print them out individually,” Hampshire explained. “Now they simply click on ‘Treatment Binder’ and check off all the information they want to give the patient. OncoLink pulls it all together and prints it as one document.” It also prints a cover sheet, which contains the names of the patient, physician, nurse practitioner and nurse, as well as a daytime phone number to call and after-hour instructions. Hampshire stressed that OncoLink is updated daily to ensure that all information is current and accurate. “We research everything – changes, new practices – to make sure it’s evidence-based before we add to the site.” To learn more about this new feature, go to oncolink.org and click on ‘Treatment Binder.’

`` Volunteers in Best Foot Forward Philly include (l. to r.) Cassie Strohl, Baheejah Mahdi, Delia Sattin, Sara Porter, Monica Duffy, Kara Cohen, and Kate Gruber

“The holistic aspect of treating the whole person, emotional, psychological, and physical, it is a restorative experience.”

ONE STEP AT A TIME

For many of us, feet can be among the most neglected parts of the body, but for homeless men like Steve Wilkins, a simple foot soaking and podiatric examination is a vital step in the right direction. Wilkins joins approximately 35 other homeless men living on the street along with residents of the Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission shelter in North Philadelphia at “Best Foot Forward Philly,” a free monthly clinic that goes well beyond a foot examination. The year-old program invites those living at the shelter and visitors to a foot soak, where they’ll receive sanitized nail clippers, foot examination, powder, lotion, new socks, flip flops, a referral to a primary care physician or to a nearby free clinic, and much needed interaction with someone who cares. The all-volunteer staff encounters a lot of blisters, plantar warts, wounds, calluses, and pressure ulcers often created by ill-fitting shoes, but every case is unique. Wilkins came to the clinic experiencing immersion foot, a condition similar to frostbite that can be caused by cold and wet conditions. Soon after he sat down, placing his feet in a bin of warm soapy water, it was clear that interacting with the nurse was as therapeutic as the foot care he received. As the two talked about everything from careers, to personal lives, to health, the conversation was blunt and comfortable for both of them.

“I have no job, girlfriend, and little contact with any of my family right now,” said Wilkins. “I need to love me right now, and this care gives me a chance to do that.” “The homeless experience can be very isolating and anonymous,” said Kara Cohen, MSN, RN, a nurse at Penn Care at Home and founder of the initiative. “To have someone call you by your name and care how you’re doing, that alone makes people feel better about themselves.” Since the group started offering services in August 2012, they have provided more than 900 individual foot clinic sessions to nearly 600 individuals, mostly men. Seeing early success with the program, Cohen recently received a Penn Medicine CAREs grant to pay for foot supplies and provide better foot care. “The holistic aspect of treating the whole person, emotional, psychological, and physical, it is a restorative experience,” said Cohen. “The guys say they feel so much better than when they came in.” Helping along the way is a group of volunteers and executive board members dedicated to that success. Three of those board members, Corinne Holcomb, BSN, RN; Lydia Williams, FNP-BC, CWOCN; and Alanna Dancis, BSN, RN, CHPN, are Cohen’s nursing colleagues at Penn Care at Home. “As is true with many volunteer experiences, I often feel that I get back more than I give,” said Holcomb. “Undoubtedly, thanks to our amazing patients and positive volunteers, I always leave clinic with a thankful, humble, and hopeful spirit.” If you are a podiatrist or nurse interested in volunteering, please contact Kara.Cohen@uphs.upenn.edu.

DO YOU DO COMMUNITY OUTREACH? If so, you may be eligible to receive a Penn Medicine CAREs grant. Click on “CAREs Community Outreach” on the home Intranet page to learn more. The deadline for the next round of grant applications is December 1.

WANT TO QUIT SMOKING? UPHS CAN HELP! (Continued from page 1) a great deal. “Everything is handled for you. During the 12 weeks, I received free nicotine lozenges — which helped me quit — and talked with a coach who provided feedback and answered my questions.” Hall agreed that making changes helped. “I moved shortly after I quit this time so it was a new commute and a new space to establish new patterns.” Hall takes his non-smoking status one day at a time. “I try not to think about it … as much as possible.”

Now’s the Time to Quit! This year’s Great American Smoke Out — on Thursday, November 21 — is a great time to quit! Tables on the Ravdin Mezzanine, from 10 am to

2 pm, will have information to help you quit and a trash can for chucking your habit! In addition, from noon to 1 pm, guest speaker Michael Cirigliano, MD, of General Internal Medicine, will talk about tobacco cessation in the Flyers/Sixers Conference Room on Ground Ravdin. Come listen and be entered into a raffle to win an i-Pad mini! This year you can also earn Healthy Reward points for joining the Great American Smoke Out challenge, either for quitting for the day or supporting a loved one or co-worker who quits for the day. Go to www.uphshurandyou.com under the Wellfocused link and join the challenge!

`` Sophie Vincent bonds with her newly adopted cat, Bitty, as dad Laith looks on.

Celebrate NP WEEK

Nurse practitioners have been a part of Penn’s health-care teams since 1978. Learn more about their roles in patient care on at a special outreach event Friday, November 15, from 10 am to 2 pm, on the first floor of the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine.

Purr-fect A

Match

HUP’s “Pet the Pooch” program brings adoptable dogs and kittens from the Pennsylvania SPCA to help soothe employee stress. At a recent visit, one lucky kitten found a new home. When two-year-old CHOP patient Sophie Vincent (from Charlottesville, VA) passed through with her mother on the way to radiation treatment at the Roberts Proton Therapy Center, she saw the adorable animals and immediately shared an embrace with a kitten named Bitty. The treatments Sophie needed to undergo for the next few weeks prevented her from taking her new friend home right away, but HUP Nurse Heather Matthew, MSN, RN, founder of “Pet the Pooch,” fostered the kitten in the meantime. When Sophie was discharged, she brought Bitty home with her.

Helping People ALL THE TIME

Congratulations to June’s winners in the Helping People All the Time raffle. Do you know an employee who has gone above and beyond? To submit names, simply fill out and submit a Helping People form, located at several locations through HUP or submit online at http://uphsxnet.uphs.upenn.edu/hupse/. Martina Ward. . . . . . . . . . . . . Women’s Health Donna Morgan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Radiology Dave Kauffman. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Radiology Natalie Nicolosi. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Rhoads 7 Sam Schad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rhoads 7 Teresa Scott. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rhoads 7 Lystra Yard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Founders 11 Caren Levine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Radiology Tyron Jordan. . . . . . . . Materials Management Donya Allen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Respiratory Care Dannette Lewis . . . . . . . . . . . Respiratory Care Isaac McNeill. . . . . . . . . . . Transport Services

Linda Gallen. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cardiology Larissa Morgan . . . . . . . . . . Nursing Education Angela Defeo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CICU Felecia Jackson. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CICU Clare Kohler . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MICU Priscilla Ngo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MICU Stevi Adams . . . . . . . . . Emergency Department Sheila Parker. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Founders 11 Jean Flanigan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CICU Colleen McGarry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . CICU Brian Bink. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MICU

All Employee MEETING

Be sure to attend the next All Employee Meeting on Wednesday, December 4, at 5 pm in Medical Alumni Hall. Learn more about HUP and the Health System and get your questions answered!

HUPdate EDITORIAL STAFF Sally Sapega Editor and Photographer Lisa Paxson 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.