System News

Volume 11

Issue 3

February 2012

SYSTEMnews CONNECT ON THE SQUARE www.PennMedicine.org/TheSquare

CEO’s corner RALPH W. MULLER

CEO, University of Pennsylvania Health System

Penn Medicine is a learning organization.

Our support for knowledge acquisition takes many forms: creating a favorable climate for our brilliant physician-scientists and researchers, encouraging and funding training opportunities for our extraordinary staff members, and educating patients on ways to stay healthy.

We recognize that our staff have a lot they can teach us as well. That’s why we regularly provide opportunities for your voice to be heard. For example, our unit-based clinical leadership model relies on the expertise of our own care deliverers. And as we embark on our strategic planning process, staff members can help shape the future of Penn Medicine by visiting www.med.upenn.edu/strategy. (To learn more, see article on page 2).

We also invest in tools that can help us learn new ways to enhance the overall staff experience and strengthen our position as a great place to work.

Most recently we partnered with the Advisory Board, a global consulting firm that helps health-care organizations serve their patients better. We were interested in finding out how engaged our staff feel. In other words, to what degree do they think of themselves as involved in and enthusiastic about their jobs and Penn Medicine in general. (continued on page 2)

INSIDE Shaping the Future of PennMedicine: Open to All......2 Penn Medicine@Work..............3

As David Casarett, MD, MA, chief medical officer of Wissahickon Hospice, well knows, building an integrated palliative care program across a complex health system is a daunting task. “Everyone comes to the table with different visions of what palliative care is.” So when he needed to communicate with participants coming to a Palliative Care Retreat, Casarett decided to try a new approach: The Square.

The Square is Penn Medicine’s new private, professional social networking website. It is a way for faculty and staff of Penn Medicine to connect to one another — sharing ideas, discovering opportunities, and creating solutions to our shared challenges.

Casarett formed a “Group Page” in the “Groups & Discussions” section of The Square. The threaded discussions on the Group Page, similar to those in Yahoo! Groups or Google Groups, allow many people from throughout Penn Medicine to contribute to a conversation, and organize the discussion in a clear, chronological fashion.

It was just what was needed to connect people around a shared goal. “The Square facilitated introductions, fostered dialogue, and generated a sense of community quickly,” he said.

Newsmakers..............................4 A Focus on Quality & Patient Safety........................ 5 Awards and Accolades.............6 Penn Data Store Certified for ‘Meaning Use’ Program...........6

What is The Square Designed to Do? The Square connects people who care about the same things.

It can bring together colleagues who are working on similar projects, but, due to geographical or time-related barriers,

don’t communicate often enough or perhaps don’t even know each other. By creating a profile, similar to sites like LinkedIn or Facebook, employees can let the Penn Medicine community know more about who they are and what they have to offer.

For example, someone working in an outpatient facility in Woodbury Heights, NJ, can make contact with someone in a very similar role in Radnor, PA, and share tips and information that previously would have been very difficult to do. “Before our team wrote a single line of code on the website, we conducted interviews with hundreds of employees from all walks of life at Penn Medicine,” said Aaron Johnson, director of Innovation Technologies. “Because the people of Penn Medicine are such a diverse group, we needed to gain a real understanding of what challenges exist for everyone.

We all share the desire to have a voice — to have our ideas heard. And we all want to connect with our peers — to share information, and, our ideas for making Penn Medicine an even better place. By employing the latest communications technologies, we can better serve the employee community and help to facilitate important conversations.”

Penn Medicine is not the first professional organization to use technologies like The Square, but we are ahead of the curve. A growing number of businesses and organizations — including Lockheed Martin, Kaiser Permanente and the Department of Defense — are building social media sites that allow their employees to contribute their ideas and collaborate with one another in new ways. (continued on page 2)

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SHAPING THE FUTURE OF PENN MEDICINE: O P E N TO ALL • •

H ow do we measure the quality of results in complex patient cases?

•

H ow can we provide access to those most in need of our clinical resources?

What should Penn Medicine look like in five years?

These are some of the questions being considered as part of Shaping the Future — Penn Medicine’s strategic planning process.

Strategic planning — also known as long-term planning — is an exercise organizations use in deciding their priorities for the coming years.

Six Penn Medicine work groups are examining current and future activities and opportunities in patient care, biomedical research, medical education, faculty life, and community and global health. Over 130 faculty and staff members and administrators from all three hospitals in the Health System are formally taking part. They will produce individual reports offering findings and recommendations in each group’s area of expertise. These will be consolidated into a final plan that sets the direction for the full organization for the next five years or more.

“When done well, strategic planning addresses some of the most crucial questions a health-care institution can face,” says 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. “By helping determine priorities for the future, the process can define the identity of an organization and distinguish it from others offering similar services.”

Dean Jameson stressed that Shaping the Future is a participative, faculty- and staff-led affair. “These proceedings are entirely open — in both senses of the word. First, those who aren’t taking part in the meetings can keep up with the work groups’ efforts online and in various in-person settings across campus.

The deliberations will be entirely transparent, and available for everyone to see. Second, the chance to have a say in shaping our future is open to each member of the Penn Medicine community.

We want the plan to reflect the insights, best thinking, and passions of some of the most highly regarded physicians and staff members throughout the organization.”

>>>

There are many ways to participate. A dedicated website, www.med.upenn.edu/strategy, features news, schedules, and regular updates from the work groups; blogs are available for commenting and offering ideas. Interviews, surveys, forums, focus groups, and panel discussions with Penn Medicine personnel, university leaders, patients, and outside experts will also take place. Periodic reports will be published in employee, alumni, faculty, and student publications.

Ralph Muller, CEO of the Health System, urged all members of the Penn community to become involved in the planning activities. “The dean and I are committed to a thoroughly open course of action. We want people to know what’s being discussed in the work groups and give us their best ideas and recommendations for moving ahead. All ideas will be read and carefully considered.”

Shaping the Future is being coordinated by an executive planning council of department chairs, center and institute directors, and senior administrators. The co-chairs are Deborah Driscoll MD, chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and Jon Epstein MD, chair of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology.

“This effort is pivotal to the future of the organization,” says Driscoll. “The last strategic planning process, which took place in 2003, helped bring about the thriving, vibrant place that Penn Medicine is today. Based on the enthusiasm and creativity I’m seeing, I’m confident that the 2012 plan will be equally visionary and just as fruitful in its results.”

Epstein calls attention to the themes and questions that have emerged. “The work groups are examining sophisticated, powerful topics that have no easy answers — but they’re ones top academic medical centers have to meet head-on if they want to stay in the front line of leadership. A particular focus is on identifying areas in clinical care, research, and education where we can be world leaders.”

In June Penn Medicine leaders will review the work groups’ recommendations. Dean Jameson and his associates will present the final version of Shaping the Future to Penn Medicine’s Board of Trustees for its approval in September.

CONNECT ON THE SQUARE

CEO’s corner (continued from cover) We used a web-based survey to find out.

Key goals of the questionnaire, which was administered at the end of last year, were to assess (and build on) our strengths and identify areas that needed improving.

The response rate for this voluntary survey was outstanding. More than 13,000 staff members, or 85 percent of the targeted participants from UPHS and the Perelman School of Medicine, took part. Remarkably, every unit exceeded the 80 percent participation rate. (Since the Advisory Boarddeveloped survey wasn’t designed to measure physician or resident workplace engagement, they weren’t included in the process).

Overall, our results were very encouraging.

Forty-four percent of Penn Medicine staff can be classified as “highly engaged,” compared to 35 percent in comparable organizations nationwide. At the point of care, we also scored above the national benchmark, with nurses and clinical directors registering well above average. Physician assistants and nurse practitioners scored a full 27 percent above the norm.

We’re currently providing more detailed data from the survey to individual departments and units. Managers will soon be discussing the results with their teams, and together they’ll develop plans for addressing areas that need improvement or enhancement.

Another major learning initiative is also now underway. We’re excited about Your Big Idea, a fun and participative ideas-competition that kicked off in early February. (See article on page 3).

Our goal is to identify great ideas for improving the patient experience at Penn. I urge you to visit www.pennmedicine.org/YourBigIdea and submit your ideas on the website. Then, through a series of rounds, we’ll narrow the ideas down to a final few that will receive funding and other resources needed to be put into action. In future issues of this newsletter, we’ll let you know the results of this exciting new initiative.

In all these cases, we’re committed to finding new ways to improve patient care and make Penn Medicine an even better place to work.

Your voice does indeed matter.

(continued from cover)

“One of the most important actions we can take as an organization is to enable employees to do what they do ‘best’ each and every day. Leveraging our strengths to improve the overall patient experience is what attracts men and women to Penn Medicine — and keeps them here,” said Judy Schueler, VP Organizational Development and chief Human Resource officer. “The Square serves as a virtual tool for turning an idea into reality and connecting with those who share a passion for making our organization a better place to work— and a better place for patients and our families to receive care.”

While Lauren Johnson and Scheib had never previously met face to face, The Square provided an opportunity to connect and share ideas. For Johnson, being able to connect with a senior leader on The Square was a valuable experience. “Having a leader like Garry recognize my simple idea made my day, perhaps even my year,” she said. “Being able to share an idea on The Square has given me a say in what I think is important. By sharing the Suits and Scrubs idea, I felt that I was not just speaking for myself, but also on behalf of other professionals who work in office settings but want to connect with patients. It promotes a deeper connection to my work and what I do every day.”

Turning ‘Ideas into Reality’ Let’s say you have an idea for how to do something better, or smarter, or more safely.

“Ideas to Reality” is the section of The Square that lets you share your idea with the Penn Medicine community and start a dialogue that can help make your idea even better. It first provides a private space to document your idea and then craft it until you feel comfortable sharing it with your colleagues.

Lauren Johnson, program specialist in Talent Acquisition, used this section to share Suits and Scrubs, her idea to give non-clinical employees an opportunity to feel more connected to patients by establishing a program for non-clinical workers to shadow clinical workers. The idea sparked a good deal of commenting and dialogue on The Square, including comments from Garry Scheib, the Health System’s COO. He not only acknowledged her idea, but also took it to the next level.

On The Square, Scheib commented, “I had the opportunity to discuss this idea with the HUP senior management team this morning. We all appreciate you reminding us of the need to keep engaged with all areas of the organization, especially those which have patient contact. So here is what we will be doing: At tomorrow’s Hospital Department Directors Council [HDDC], I will inform all HDDC members of your idea. I will also inform them that the HUP senior team will be role modeling a ‘shadowing’ or ‘walk in your shoes’ effort. We will begin with each of the areas under the responsibility of each senior team member.”

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How Can I Sign Up? www.PennMedicine.org/TheSquare Penn Medicine employees can join The Square in two ways. A member can bring another employee onboard via the “Invite a Colleague” function on the site. Or, an employee can simply request membership on the home page of the site, www.pennmedicine.org/TheSquare. Click the “Request Membership” link under the heading “Become a Part of the Square.”

The site is accessible anywhere — from work or at home. And joining is completely voluntary. We seek to grow and nurture an online community of Penn Medicine employees who are interested in connecting with others, sharing ideas, and contributing to a thoughtful dialogue online.

After your membership is activated, you will be sent an email with your login credentials and a link to “Six Simple Steps to Getting Started on The Square” which will guide you through creating a profile, adding contacts, joining groups, and other important site activities. Whether you want to use The Square to voice ideas, meet people, or just stay better connected to the pulse of Penn Medicine — it’s your opportunity to contribute your voice toward how Penn Medicine delivers care to our patients and their families.

For more information, contact Aaron Johnson at aaron.johnson@uphs.upenn.edu

penn medicine

work

>>>>

A Free Tobacco Cessation Program for UPHS Employees As part of the initiative to build a healthier workforce, UPHS Benefits offers a free 13-week tobacco cessation program from Health Advocate, a health-care advocacy and assistance company. It is free for all UPHS employees plus any dependent covered under a UPHS medical plan. Participants will get free Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) products such as the patch, gum or lozenge as well as unlimited telephone `` Logan Johnson (c), referred to this painting – which his father, Bernett Johnson, created especially for him – as his pride and joy. Shown here with (l. to r.) Judy Schueler, VP, Organizational Development and chief HR officer; Logan’s mother, Mary-Martha, and sister Susanne; and CEO Ralph Muller.

“Celebration OF Art AND Life”

A NEW

access to a quit-smoking coach from Health Advocate. There is no co-pay for smoking cessation medications and over-the-counter NRT products with a prescription from your doctor. Visit www.uphshrandyou.com and go to Wellfocused “My Health” to find out more information about the program or contact Health Advocate at 866.695.8622 or www.HealthAdvocate.com/uphs.

The second “Celebration of Art and Life” opened last month, showcasing the many talents of our faculty, staff, students and patients. The juried art exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Bernett L. Johnson, Jr., MD, who was HUP’s former chief medical officer and an accomplished artist. “Bernie was the soul of Penn Medicine,” said Ralph Muller, CEO of the Health System. “He showed us how art and medicine came together to heal.”

At the opening reception, Johnson’s son, Logan, shared a work his father had painted based on a photograph Logan had taken while in college. “It is one of my pride and joys.” He went on to tell a story of when his father visited his second grade class, and they worked on a painting together. “I was so excited to share his talents with my class.”

Over 100 contributors shared their talents in the exhibition, which can be seen on the Penn Tower Bridge and in the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine. It will run through the end of the year.

Employees who received “Best in Show” designations were: »» Brandon Ku, HUP resident in Neonatal ICU »» Charles Aitken, HUP Administration »» David Lentz, PAH Oncology »» J. Christopher Edgar, PAH Radiology »» Barbara Ginsburg, UPHS Physician

`` 3 Winds by Anne Ravdin Taylor.

Billing Office »» Guray Erus, HUP Radiology »» John Hansen-Flaschen, MD, HUP Pulmonary, Allergy, & Critical Care »» Morris Swartz, MD, PPMC Pulmonary, Allergy, & Critical Care »» James Mullen, Penn Home Infusion Therapy »» Jamille Nagtalon-Ramos, HUP Women’s Health »» Nazanin Mobhbeli, MD, PAH Cardiology »» Anne Ravdin-Taylor, HUP Surgery »» Stephen Kimmel, HUP Medicine To view full slideshow, visit www.News.PennMedicine.org.

`` Aspire – The Wave by Brandon Ku.

> > Discounted Breast Pump Program Many wonderful health benefits are linked to breastfeeding. It helps the baby fight disease and infection early in life and decreases the risks of developing lower respiratory infections, asthma, diabetes, and obesity. Breastfeeding is also linked to a lower risk of Type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, and postpartum depression in women.

UPHS Benefits offers employees two models of Medela Breast Pumps at a discounted rate. Visit www.uphshrandyou.com and go to Wellfocused “My Work Life Balance” to find out more information about the program and additional resources.

Help Improve the Patient Experience at Penn Medicine Do you have an idea that could help our patients and their families have a better experience at Penn Medicine? Submit it in Penn Medicine’s Innovation Tournament and you might see it put into action!

Innovation tournaments help identify the best ideas. Think of it in terms of American Idol which begins with numerous performers and ends with the best.

“Your Big Idea: Penn Medicine’s Innovation Tournament” will start with a large pool of submissions from our employees and, through a series of rounds, will be narrowed down to a final few that will receive funding and the resources to be put into action.

All employees are welcome — and encouraged — to submit their ideas. The best solutions often come from those closest to the problems. The idea doesn’t have to be clinically based or even complex. “No idea is too small,” stressed Neil Ravitz, COO of the Office of the Chief Medical Officer, who’s leading the initiative. “We’re looking for a diverse range of suggestions.”

The first round of the tournament — submitting ideas — started earlier this month and has already drawn in a large influx of suggestions. Faculty and staff can submit ideas in one of three ways: online, via email, or in drop boxes located at each entity.

All are invited to view and provide feedback on all submitted ideas. The deadline for round one is Friday, March 23.

The most promising ideas will move on to the next round, a facilitated workshop in which the employees who submitted the winning ideas will work together to narrow the choices down to the top 10 and then form teams to create proposed budgets and cost/benefit analyses. In the last round, the ideas will be pitched to Penn Medicine leadership, who will choose the best.

For more information about Penn Medicine’s Innovation Tournament, please visit us at www.PennMedicine.org/YourBigIdea.

REMEMBER: Improving the patient experience starts with you!

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Penn Medicine

NEWSmakers / / / Discover Magazine Names Penn Medicine Research as Year’s Biggest Breakthroughs Discover magazine named two Penn Medicine immunotherapy research advances among the top 10 science breakthroughs in its annual list of 100 best science stories of 2011. The magazine highlighted infectious disease research using molecular scissors to render an HIV entry protein non-functional, which increases the levels of HIV-resistant cells in patients, with the goal to obviate the need for daily HIV drugs.

The other breakthrough cited was an Abramson Cancer Center gene therapy trial involving the modification of chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients’ own T cells which successfully eradicated their tumors. The research was conducted by a team led by Carl June, MD, director, Translational Research in the Abramson Cancer Center and professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.

/ / / MyHeartMap Challenge Gets Underway to Locate Philadelphia’s Lifesaving AEDs The MyHeartMap Challenge — a city wide scavenger hunt for automated external defibrillators (AED) — is underway. As reported by The Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphians will compete to locate the most AEDs around Philadelphia using a cell phone app. The winner will get $10,000. “We’re asking people to use their cell phones to take pictures of the AEDs and send them to our database. And we hope that through that process, they actually become more aware of where these are located in their environment,” said Raina Merchant, MD, MS, an assistant professor of Emergency Medicine, who led the initiative.

In a related story, CBS3 reported on Tod Streets, a man who suffered a cardiac arrest in the 30th Street Station earlier last month. Following the quick action of a SEPTA station manager and a passenger who jumped into action to perform CPR, the man’s heart was shocked with an AED. Streets was then brought to HUP, where he received therapeutic hypothermia and cardiac bypass surgery.

The story captured the reunion between the HUP cardiac patient and the two people who came to his rescue.

/ / / What We Give Up for Health Care Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, PhD, vice provost for Global Initiatives and chair of Medical Ethics and Health Policy, discussed efforts to control cost in the era of health-care reform in a recent column published by The New York Times. To save cuts to public education and buoy wages among the middle class, he suggests speeding the process of looking within medicine for savings. “There is an inevitable trade-off between rising health-care costs and things liberals really care about, like access to college and good wages for working Americans.

We cannot have it all.” Emanuel believes that by changing how physicians and hospitals are paid and by delivering better care to our most expensive patients, the health reform act can help deliver on the American dream. He calls for speeding up the implementation of payment reform, stop Medicare payments for tests and treatments that provide no benefit, and endorse competitive bidding for medical goods and services.

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/ / / Sleep Apnea: A Hidden Illness for Women Grace Pien, MD, assistant professor of Medicine in Pulmonary, Allergy & Critical Care, told ABC World News Tonight that sleep apnea was initially believed to only affect men. However, more recent findings show many women also suffer from this condition. The symptoms most often associated with sleep apnea are snoring and daytime sleepiness, which were first described in men.

Women complaining of these symptoms often receive medical tests for “hyperthyroidism, for inactive thyroid, or for depression before somebody says ‘maybe this woman has sleep apnea,’” said Pien. This is especially the case for menopausal woman.

/ / / At Philly Barbershops, Penn Med Students Give Health Checkups Hypertension affects African-American men at a much higher rate than the rest of the population. To help with this major public health issue, Penn medical students partnered with local West Philadelphia barbershops to screen customers for high blood pressure as they wait for haircuts. The student-run program is directly engaging black men, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

Sheriff Akinleye, in his third year at the Perelman School of Medicine, started the program last year after seeing a demonstration at a Student National Medical Association meeting. In some cases, barbers are also trained to take blood-pressure readings. Perhaps 40 - 50 percent of the readings taken at the shops indicate high blood pressure, said Kenji Taylor, a second-year medical student who took over the program from Akinleye. He won a Schweitzer fellowship, given to graduate student projects that target unmet health needs, and he plans to expand the program.

/ / / Penn Medicine Maps out Digital Health Priorities for 2012 Penn Medicine is increasing use of electronic medical records (EMR) in its health system, as reported by the MedCity News syndicate. Initiatives led by William Hanson, MD, chief medical information officer and professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, include the further development of our EMR system. Some additions to our system involve inputting data to the EMR from medical devices monitoring vital signs.

Hanson cautioned that digitizing outpatient records and inpatient records presents challenges. “In the outpatient environment, response times are usually not so critical — you can see a patient and then update the records on a patient’s next visit, which might not be for months or a year,” said Hanson. “For inpatient records, where you have doctors from a variety of disciplines involved, everything needs to be communicated in real time, from a minute-to-minute basis. There are a lot of moving parts and they have to mesh very well.”

/ / / Some PMS Symptoms Improve With Antidepressant A Penn Medicine study showed that antidepressants prescribed to treat premenstrual syndrome (PMS) can only help women depending upon their specific symptoms. The study, led by Ellen Freeman, PhD, research professor of Obstetrics & Gynecology, found that those with mixed symptoms of multiple physical and psychological symptoms were the most likely to see an improvement using sertraline (Zoloft) for PMS. However, women with mainly physical PMS symptoms didn’t get much relief. “There are an enormous range of PMS symptoms and an enormous range in how severe they are,” said Freeman. “The physical symptoms seemed truly not to respond, unless they had severe bloating or breast tenderness.” The article was picked up by 20 media outlets including The Chicago Tribune and Reuters.

/ / / Java for Premature Babies?

Study Suggests Caffeine May Help A Penn Medicine study published in JAMA and reported by national Canadian television found that administering caffeine to premature infants in medically supervised situations helps lower their risk for developing cerebral palsy, sleep apnea, and other motor function disabilities.

The study is part of ongoing research led by Barbara K. Schmidt, MD, MSc, director of Clinical Research in Pediatrics, Neonatology and Newborn Services. “I think clinicians should continue to use caffeine to reduce apnea, to improve regular breathing and to wean babies off artificial ventilator support, “said Schmidt.

/ / / Multiple Procedures Linked to ADHD in Young Children Kids who undergo multiple procedures requiring anesthesia could be at higher risk for developing ADHD later on, according to a new study published this week.

Researchers analyzed records of more than 5,300 children previously enrolled in other studies. They found that children younger than two years old who underwent more than one procedure that called for anesthesia were more likely to develop ADHD. The researchers stressed that the study only found an association and that the potential effects on the developing brain are still unclear.

It’s not normal for a child “to have two surgeries before the age of two, so maybe there are some underlying conditions that leads them to have surgery [and later ADHD],” said Roderic Eckenhoff, MD, vice chair of research, Anesthesia and Critical Care, in an interview with ABCNews.com. An editorial accompanying the study urged that the known benefits of surgery in infants and young children should outweigh an unproven risk. Still, Eckenoff said, “We need to start looking carefully and think about trying to develop drugs that don’t have the potential to have effects on the brain.”

Is Being on Medicaid Worse Than Having No Insurance at All? Karin Rhodes, MD, MS, director of Emergency Care Policy Research, is quoted in an article in The Atlantic about a new study showing that Ohio Medicaid patients with cancer have shorter survival times after their diagnosis than people with private or no insurance.

Her previous study showed that children covered by Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program must wait twice as long as those with private insurance to see a specialist. What seems to be happening is that many patients get treatment too late. “You are putting a lot of resources at the end of life — that is where most of our expenses are — as opposed to doing prevention,” Rhodes said. Increased reimbursement rates promised with health-care reform might shift the balance to better preventive care and earlier treatment, she added.

To reach the Penn Medicine news website, go to www.PennMedicine.org/news

A FOCUS ON QUALITY & PATIENT SAFETY The 2011 UPHS Quality and Safety Awards present an opportunity for teams to formally document their achievements in quality and patient safety over the last 12 months. The Award acknowledges UPHS departments that have exhibited leadership and innovation in activities that ensure high quality clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction, patient safety and cost efficiency. This year we had 110 submissions. Congratulations to our 2011 winners!

Operational Award Winners UPHS Standardizing Identification

of Patients’ Covering Provider Throughout UPHS Hospitals to Improve Communication and Patient Safety

CCA Penn Medicine Bucks County: Team Based Self Management Goal Setting

To see all of the submissions, go to http://uphsxnet.uphs.upenn.edu/ceqi/ and click on ‘2011 Quality and Patient Safety Award Winners.’

Quality & Patient Safety Award Winners UPHS The Impact of Computerized

Decision Support on Indwelling Urinary Catheter Use

PPMC Striving Toward Perfect Care in the Operating Room: An Interdisciplinary Look at Missing Instrumentation

• Jeremy Souder, MD • Joel Betesh, MD, FACP • Jim Hollingsworth, BSN, RN • Mary McCann, MSLIS,

MBA, RN

• Nikkisha McCrea, MD • Donna Quinn, BFA • Gordon Tait, BS

• Caroline Reinke, MD, MSPH • Rhoda Sulzbach, MSN, RN,

CRNP • Craig Umscheid, MD, MSCE • Christine Vanzandbergen, MS, MPH, PA-C • Kendal Williams, MD, MPH • Lydia Witman, MLIS

• Betty Anne Knowles • Lynne Lackey • Susan Keller

• Lance Wilson, MD • Harvey Goldberg, MD • Front desk staff, check out

staff and clinical staff

CPUP Nurse Access Center: Improving Acute Care Access to General Internal Medicine

HUP Surgical Specimen Handling Process Improvement Project

• Mika Epps, MSN, RN • Robyn Strauss, MSN, RN • Bridget Major-Joynes,

MSN, RN • Terese Kornet, MSN, RN • Robert Sunday, MSN, RN • Neil Fishman, MD • Ingi Lee, MD, MSCE

• Katie Green, MSN, RN • Raymond Sutter • Debra Gilbert • Jennifer Nunez • John Salmon • Craig R Kean, MS • Craig A Umscheid, MD,

MSCE

HUP A Novel Risk Reduction Initiative: Surgical Critical Care Outreach Program Improves Transition of Care and May Reduce Mortality of Patients Readmitted to the SICU

• Kevin Fosnocht, MD • John J BianRosa, MD, JD • Latif Loveless • Michael Becker, MSN, RN • Steven Chapman, MS, RN • Cynthia Joseph, MS, RN • Finnah Pio, MS

• Madelyn Bullard, BSN, RN • Vernice Perry, MSN, RN • Myra Cain-Houston,

CCA “Bridging The Gaps”: Improving Inpatient-Outpatient Care Transitions

• The Staff at J. Edwin Wood Clinic • The Pennsylvania Hospitalist Associates • Matthew Robertson, MSN,

CRNP • Jason Saucier, MSN, CRNP • Corinna Sicoutris, MSN, CRNP CRNP • Michael Pisa, MSN, CRNP • Patrick Reilly, MD

CRNP

BSN, RN • Robin Hetrick, RN • Cetta Mason

• Tara Collins, MSN, CRNP • Benjamin Kohl, MD • Amanda Martin, MSN,

• Donna Woolard, RN • Angela Starnes • Brenda Martinez • Sheila Sweeney • Craig Wynne, MD • Susan Southard, MSN,

CPUP Virtual Visits with Nurse Practitioners to Improve A1C Control and Self-Management for Diabetes

• Gillian Lautenbach, MD • Randy Wagner, RN • Susan Day, MD • Veronica Fraser, MS • Janecy Daly • Tiffany Smith

HOME CARE Wissahickon Hospice: Improving Pain Assessment in the Hospice Dementia Patient HUP PeriOperative Services • James L. Mullen, MD • Alyson Getty Cole, MPM • Carolyn Grous, MSN, RN, CNOR • Gregory Passanante, MBA, BSN, RN • Joyce Stengel, MSN, RN, CNOR • Dietra Evans, MSN, RN, CNOR • Ann Marie Morris, MSN, RN, CNOR

HUP Surgical Pathology • Mary Ellen Reilly, MS, MT • Virginia Livolsi, MD • Hamid Moattari, MBA • Chris Mignogna, MPH • Carolyn Culin, PA (ASCP), HT (ASCP) • Antonia R. Sepulveda, MD, PhD • Ketan Patel, MD, MBA

PAH Increasing Infant Security on

Labor & Delivery & Intensive Care Nursery

• Amy Corcoran, MD, CMD • Mary Ersek, PhD, RN • Marge Bowen, CRNP

• Jennifer Savon, MS, BSN,

RN, CHPN

PENN MEDICINE RITTENHOUSE The Stop Light

System: Communicating Level of Supervision Needs for Brain Injured Patients on an Acute Rehabilitation Unit

PAH Increasing Medication Core

Measures Compliance Using Unit-Based Clinical Pharmacists

• Pamela Power, RN, MSN, • Susan C. Day, MD, MPH • Monica Ferguson, MD • Barbara A. Boland, MSN,

CRNP • Paula Gray, MSN, CRNP • Charlotte O’Brien, MSN, CRNP • Lindsay I. Varga, PharmD,

BCPS • Elizabeth Marino, PharmD, BCPS • Jim Bobyak, RPh • Anita Doyle, PharmD • Thanh Pham, RPh, MBA • Tracy Miller, RPh • Miriam Gonsky, PharmD • Michael Bringhurst, RPh • Veasna Ieng, RPh • Tanisha Perez, RPh • Cynthia Ingram, PharmD • Leslie VanTassel, PharmD • Lauren Willard, PharmD

• Linda Palmquist, MSN, CRNP • Amanda Parent, MSN, CRNP • Susan Southard, MSN,

CRNP • Danae DiRocco, MPH

• Patricia Massey, RN, BSN, APRN, BC RNC-MNN • Stacy Giles, RN, MSN • Annette Kirlin- Jones, RN, • Tanya Carmichael, RN, MSN MBA, RNC-NIC • Janine Pantalone, RN, BSN • Janet Creely, RN, CPHQ, • Susan K. Meyers, RN, MSN, CCM, CPSO • John Wierzbowski, MS, MPH CRNP • Ann Schwoebel, RNC, MSN, • Jim Kelley • Darryl H. Beard, MA, CST CRNP

• Kelli Williams, PhD • Joe Muniak, MS/OTR • Heather Dillon Anderson,

PT, DPT, NCS • Miriam Segal, MD

• Michael Rhee, MD • William Kupchunas, MSN,

MBA, RN, CRRN

• Jaqueline von Vital,

PharmD

• Valerie Stea, RPh, BCPS • Suzanne Y. Brown, MS, RPh • Mina Ricciardelli, PharmD • Dennis Constan, PharmD,

BCPS

• Karen Belfi, RN • Anne Arnold, RN, BSN • Paris-Anne Foerst, RN, BC • Dorothy Counts, RN, MA,

CPHQ • John Regan, RN, BSN, MSN • Janice Gasho Brennan, RN, MSOM, MSN, CPHQ • Scott Gilyard

HOME CARE Penn Home Infusion: The Impact of an Interdisciplinary Approach to 30 Day Readmissions

PPMC Improving Communication Regarding Patient Medications

• Anne Norris, MD • Kris Zborowski, PharmD • Rex Smith, RPh • Mary Beth Ruckelshaus,

PharmD • Rebecca McCarron, RN, MSN • Danielle Halladay, MS • Nancy Tang, RPh • Becky Ireland, RN • Steve Sandhaus, RPh • Lynne Friscia, RN • Denise Som, PharmD • Lisa Masterson-Hobson, RN • Anna Crossgrove, RN • Jim Wolfe, RPh

• Patty Baroni, RN, MSN • Cynthia Joseph, MS, RN • Laura McNally, RN, MSN,

CCNS, CCRN-CMC

• Maureen Kirby, RN, BSN • Debra Patella, RN, BSN • Katherine Dimedio, RN, BSN • Neil Levin, MD

5

AWARDS AND ACCOLADES MERKEL NEW RHEUMATOLOGY CHIEF Peter Merkel, MD, MPH, has been named HUP’s new chief of Rheumatology. Merkel is an internationally recognized translational investigator with expertise in vasculitis and scleroderma.

As director of the Vasculitis Center at Boston University and associate director for its General Clinical Research Center, he led research in translating basic discoveries to the care of patients with various forms of vasculitis. Merkel’s active areas of research include clinical epidemiology, outcome measures development, clinical trial design and implementation, biomarker discovery, and genomics. He has published over 140 peer-reviewed articles, is as associate editor of Arthritis and Rheumatism, and a dedicated research mentor.

SANDRA JOST JOINS PENN HOMECARE Sandra Jost, MSN, RN, has been named chief nursing officer and associate executive director at Penn Homecare and Hospice Services. In this newly created position, she will lead its Blueprint for Quality initiatives, including transitions in care and integrating efforts within Penn Medicine. Jost will also be responsible for service line and program development and will provide nursing leadership to its three agencies: Penn Care at Home, Wissahickon Hospice, and Penn Home Infusion Therapy.

Jost previously served as HUP’s associate chief nursing officer. For the past year, she has been pursuing her PhD at Penn’s School of Nursing where she is studying the impact of clinical decision support systems on nursing knowledge work.

Joan Doyle, RN, MSN, MBA, executive director of Penn Home Care and Hospice Services, was chosen to serve as a member of the incoming Board of Commissioners for 2012 for The Joint Commission. She will represent the home care field on the Board.

Susan Mandel has received the H. Jack Baskin, MD, Endocrine Teaching Award from the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists in recognition of her many accomplishments and contributions in the field.

Thomas Sollecito, DMD, of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, was inducted as a Fellow of the International College of Dentists, USA Section. The College is an honorary organization that awards fellowships to dental professionals for outstanding and meritorious service to the profession and the community. He was also appointed to the Council on Scientific Affairs of the American Dental Association (ADA). The CSA provides recommendations to the ADA’s policymaking bodies on scientific issues and also promotes, reviews, evaluates and conducts studies on scientific matters.

Daniel Sterman, MD, director of Interventional Pulmonology, received the Pasquale Ciaglia Memorial Lecture Award in Interventional Medicine. The award honors physicians well known for their work in interventional medicine, including economic impacts, research opportunities, and critical care.

Penn Data Store Certified for ‘Meaningful Use’ Program As part of the Economic Stimulus program, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has implemented the Electronic Health Record “Meaningful Use” program. The overall goal of this program, which has three stages of implementation over the next five years, is to bring the entire country to the point of using standardized Electronic Health Record systems with a focus on improving healthcare quality and effectiveness. Part of this new program entails electronic calculation and submission of specific hospital quality measures.

Penn Medicine hospitals are prepared to meet this quality measure requirement with the recent federal certification of the Penn Data Store system. PDS is our virtual data warehouse containing highly detailed patient information from many systems, including the six systems that contain the data required to calculate the Stage 1 quality measures.

Unlike most hospitals, Penn was able to capitalize on its existing clinical data warehouse system rather than purchase a new, already “certified” system, said Lucy Molfetas, IT director of Clinical Systems. “Obtaining the certification of our own warehouse saved Penn millions of dollars — funds that can be re-directed to patient care initiatives .” In addition, using our existing system facilitates data collection

6

MARSILIO NEW GSPP EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Lisa Marsilio has been named the new executive director for Good Shepherd Penn Partners. Marsilio will oversee the continued growth of Good Shepherd Penn Partners and its inpatient and outpatient post-acute care network, with an emphasis on increasing operational efficiencies and building relationships with referral sources throughout the region.

Good Shepherd Penn Partners manages the Penn Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine and the Specialty Hospital at Rittenhouse, a long-term acute care hospital, in addition to 10 outpatient centers. GSPP therapists also provide care for patients at Penn Medicine’s three hospitals as well as at its three skilled nursing facilities. Reducing readmissions to these types of acute care facilities is essential to Marsilio’s mission of excellence in care, as well as meeting government mandates.

Marsilio joins GSPP following 16 years with Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network. Most recently, she served as vice president of the cardiopulmonary/complex medical service line as well as administrator of the Good Shepherd Specialty Hospital. Under her leadership, the Specialty Hospital saw yearly growth in operating margin. Marsilio will hold the dual appointment of interim administrator of the Specialty Hospital at Rittenhouse.

SYSTEMnews

for research and enhances the data base for use in managing patient care through the development of clinical dashboards of information.

EDITORIAL STAFF:

Penn Data Store will now be used to electronically report the 15 specific Hospital Quality Measures — known as eMeasures. They include six measures related to venous thrombolytic embolism (blood clots), seven measures related to stroke, and two measures calculating the throughput of patients admitted to the hospital from the ED.

Trissy Harding Graphic Design

Certification and “Meaningful Use” is currently a voluntary program that can bring monetary reimbursement to the organization, but if hospitals do not comply to standards and requirements by 2015, their Medicare reimbursements will be reduced.

Susan E. Phillips Senior Vice President, Public Affairs

“Expanding and standardizing the use of electronic health record systems provides our organization, and the entire country, with a powerful opportunity to improve the processes associated with monitoring outcomes and public health initiatives,” said Michael Restuccia, vice president and chief information officer for Penn Medicine. “By 2015, systems similar to our newly certified warehouse will be in place across the entire country. This, in turn, will strengthen the national health care system and lead to advancement of clinical systems and a higher level of meaningful use of patient data.”

Sally Sapega, M.A. Editor

ADMINISTRATION:

Marc Kaplan Director of Communications

LET US HEAR FROM YOU: 3535 Market Street, Mezzanine Philadelphia, PA 19104 phone: 215.662.4488 fax: 215.349.8312 Please feel free to share your thoughts and ideas for improving System News! E-mail the editor at sally.sapega@uphs.upenn.edu.