Volume 3
WHAT’Snew
Number 25
December 12, 2014
Pennsylvania Hospital
Advanced Practice Providers — P ivotal to the Fut ure of Health Care When we think of advances in medicine and health care, the first things to usually come to mind are research breakthroughs and technological developments. But what about staffing?
Best wishes
for a healthy and safe holiday season from What’s New!
Inside Advanced Practice Providers continued...................................2 In Honor of Preemies and Those Who Care for Them.......2 PAH Partners in Patient Advocacy.......................3 Penn’s Way Thank You.............3 Providing a Place to Give Thanks...............................3 What’s Happening.....................4
“When I was in high school, if a student was contemplating a career in medicine, your advisor would only talk about two options — becoming a nurse or a doctor,” said Jenean Lane, MPAS, a physician assistant who works in the acute care setting at PAH caring for patients in Urology and Otorhinolaryngology. Things have certainly changed since Lane was in high school. In 2012, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) officially expanded its definition of medical staff, permitting nonphysician practitioners such as advanced practice nurses and physician assistants to have privileges like physician staff members. The change now allows hospitals to give advanced practice providers more authority to perform duties that they are trained to do within their scope of practice and state law and helps free up physicians to concentrate their attentions on more medically complex patients. According to the CMS, the ultimate goal of the expanded definition is to allow hospitals to explore new approaches to care which, in turn, increases the number and types of practitioners granted hospital privileges.
`` PAH physician assistant, Jenean Lane, MPA
“Pennsylvania Hospital currently has over 60 advanced practice professionals, a combination of Certified Registered Nurse Practitioners, Physician Assistants and Certified Nurse Midwives,” said Rhoda Sulzbach, MSN, CRNP, ANP-BC, FNP-BC, clinical director of Advanced Practice Providers. “While physicians are the overall leaders in the care delivery for hospital patients, enlisting qualified advanced practice providers to assist them in overseeing the health and safety of our patients not only helps with the responsibilities of patient care, but also with quality innovation and improvement and establishing best practices application and professional standards.” Ellen Malone, ACNP-BC, an Acute Care nurse practitioner who works in Vascular Surgery and is also the lead nurse practitioner for the Cardiovascular Service Line Advanced Practice Providers at PAH, agrees. “I think that we’re the matrix of the service in which we work,” said Malone. “We communicate with each other and across services and act as an additional reinforcement to the coordination of care, especially in complex cases. And anytime you improve communication you improve patient care.” Advanced Practice Registered Nurses — nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists, nurse anesthetists, and nurse midwives — have
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Ebola Preparedness..................4
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Advanced Practice Providers —P ivotal to the Future of Health Care education beyond what’s required for a licensed registered nurse. They have completed graduate education and are certified by a nationally recognized professional organization in a nursing specialty, or meet other criteria established by a Board of Nursing. The duties that nurse practitioners can perform does vary by state, but they generally include diagnosing and treating acute and chronic conditions, prescribing medication, ordering and interpreting x-rays and other diagnostic procedures, counseling patients and managing patients’ overall care. Physician assistants are nationally certified and state-licensed professionals who practice and prescribe medicine in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and all U.S. territories, except Puerto Rico. PAs are formally trained to provide diagnostic, preventive and therapeutic services, as designated by a licensed physician. They may also conduct therapy, stitch, splint or cast minor injuries, perform or assist in surgeries.
Together, the Advanced Practice Providers play a pivotal role in the future of health care often functioning as primary care providers and even on the front lines of providing preventative care to the public. According to U.S.News and World Report’s 2014 “100 Best Jobs” ranking, physician assistant is one of the top 15 best jobs in America and the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 30 percent job growth rate for the profession through 2020. “I take care of all aspects of a patient’s care when they are at PAH,” said Lane. “Most notably, I make sure their needs are met, helping them to understand their diagnosis and treatment plan, and making sure they are prepared for their transitions in care — whether that be home or rehab.” “I always knew I wanted to be in medicine,” said Lane who has worked at PAH for ten years, starting in Orthopaedics. It was a chance meeting with a graduating PA student at a university she was touring that made her
/ / / Continued from cover reconsider going to medical school. “This PA said many things about her enthusiasm for her career but what stuck out to me the most was her comment of how she can spend more time with the patients and delivering patient care. As I pursued shadowing and interviewing more PAs as I was trying to plan my career path, this became a common theme and really helped me to decide this is what I wanted to do.” Malone was similarly influenced by others around her when it came to redirecting her career path. She spent her first nine years after nursing school working as an ICU nurse. “When I first started out, I was around all really smart co-workers who were going back to school. They inspired me to do the same,” said Malone. “I saw what they were doing and thought it was really interesting but then I left to spend two years as a travelling nurse. When I came back and discovered that Penn’s School of Nursing had started an acute care program, that’s when I knew it was time to go back.”
In Honor of Preemies and Those Who Care for Them The Intensive Care Nursery (ICN) Family Advisory Council of PAH hosted a “Purple Play Date” in honor of World Prematurity Day, November 17. Purple has been adopted as the color for prematurity advocacy & is the color of the March of Dimes. Over 30 former patients and now forever friends of the ICN dressed in purple and gathered at Nest in Center City and participated in open play — a coordinated movement activity — created artwork for display in the Family Center of the ICN, and listened to two stories — “Purplicious” and “Good Things Come in Small Packages: I Was a Preemie” before sitting down for lunch together.
R e s i l i ence
The families enjoyed getting to see their children play with other former preemies and reminisce over how far they have come. “It was an amazing event to honor World Prematurity Day with our former patients,” said Betsie Quigley, MSN, RNC-OB, nurse manager, ICN. “It is heartwarming to see how well our patients have grown and developed. They are amazing kids who have already been through so much in their short lives.”
HOPE
All purple items in the boutique at Nest were on sale with a portion of the proceeds donated to the ICN Family Advisory Council to provide education, advocacy and support to the families of the ICN and to host more activities in the future.
M iracles
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Day of Gratitude Premature birth is the leading cause of newborn death worldwide. In recognition of Premature Awareness Month and to thank PAH — with whom they’ve partnered with for decades — for the exceptional care of the most precious of patients, representatives from the Southeast PA Division of the March of Dimes hosted a “Day of Gratitude” at the hospital on November 21. PAH has a level III (the highest) Intensive Care Nursery with 50 bassinets and four nurseries including intensive and transitional care.
PAH Partners in Patient Advocacy Every fall, staff, family and friends came to honor colleagues and loved ones being honored as partners in patient advocacy. At this year’s 6th Annual PAH Patient Advocacy Recognition Program and Reception, 12 outstanding staff were recognized as individuals who have partnered with the PAH Patient & Guest Relations Office and the Office of Patient Affairs in the pursuit of patient satisfaction, patient advocacy, and furthering the Penn patient experience.
Congratulations to the 2014 PAH Patie nt Advocacy Award Recipients: Gabriel Branch, RN Nursing
Eileen Murphy Volunteer Services
Darlene Brown Orthopaedics
Monique Neault, MSN, CRNP Palliative Care
Meg Garrett, RN, BSN, OCN Radiation Oncology
Frederick Nunes, MD Gastroenterology
Arley Johnson, MS, OTR/L Physical Therapy
Maria Sokolowski Admissions
Maria Cattafesta Radiology
John J. Stern, MD Infectious Diseases
Michael Melvin, MS, RD Food & Nutrition
Lisa Verseput, MSN, RN, CEN Emergency Department
Penn’s Way Thank You
Providing a Place to Give Thanks The Chicago Tribune recently ran an article, “Drama at the holiday table: It’s not about the food,” that made the rounds to newspapers all across the U.S. in anticipation of Thanksgiving, the official kick-off holiday of the season. The story explores the source of drama behind so many meals as families gather together to break bread. For all those whose resentments may boil over into fights at the dinner table this Thanksgiving, perhaps they should focus on being thankful instead of griping. Focusing on the less fortunate can really put things into perspective, such as the more than 315 folks who were fed November 24, at the Hall-Mercer Community Behavior Health Center of Pennsylvania Hospital’s 20th Annual Thanksgiving Luncheon. The free meal is open to members of the surrounding community, and members of the community the Center serves: outpatients living with mental illness or developmental disabilities, their family and friends.
Together, the University of Pennsylvania Health System and our University partners are proud to announce that the 2015 Penn’s Way campaign, “Giving is Penn’s Way,” has raised over $1.6 million dollars exceeding the goal of $1.5 million.
The noon luncheon is truly a community affair, both internally and externally. Hall-Mercer and McGoldrick Leasing, a vendor of the Center, provided the funding for the turkeys served. The PAH Department of Food and Nutrition Services cooks and carves the turkeys and provides all the traditional tasty side dishes: mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, stuffing, cranberry sauce (the real stuff too — not the congealed gunk in a can), salad and rolls. The PAH Women’s Auxiliary provided funding for desserts, 30 pumpkin, pecan and apple pies, and beverages.
PAH had the highest rate of participation — 85 percent — out of all health system entities and raised $103,496, helping UPHS exceed its goal of $750,000 and raise $851.574
Hall-Mercer and PAH staff — from administrative assistants to top administrators — served guests and assisted in setting up and cleaning up at the Thanksgiving Luncheon.
All funds raised for PAH, HUP and PPMC in this year’s campaign are designated for our Pharmacy Assistance Programs which provide prescription medications upon discharge to the most-in-need populations we serve. “Despite how tough times are and the fact that we had a slight decline in participants for this campaign, donations were higher than last year,” said Daniel Feinberg, MD, PAH chief medical officer and Penn’s Way Administrator. “I’m so moved by and grateful for the immense generosity and selflessness of our employees.”
Folks tend to come early for this anticipated meal — often hours in advance. “We get so many people we have to do multiple seatings,” said Patty Inacker, LCSW, MBA, director of Operations who has been working at Hall-Mercer for the past 23 years. “Once we know everyone has been served, we invite back in all who are waiting in the hall and lobby. Then we just keep serving until all the food is gone. It’s clear that for many of our guests this is the only Thanksgiving, perhaps any holiday meal, they will have.”
S pe cial thank s to the P e nn ’ s Way volunte ers — the captains, coordinators, and campaign administrators. Your efforts are truly appreciated.
To read the full story about Hall-Mercer’s 20th Annual Thanksgiving Luncheon, visit the Penn Medicine News blog at: http://bit.ly/1yl3zig.
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WHAT’S H a p p ening
Your r e sourc e for e v e nts and happ e nings throughout PA H and P e nn M e dicin e
For complete events listing, please visit What’s New on the Inside Penn Medicine web site at: http://news.pennmedicine.org/inside
Winter > January – March 2015
Winter Penn Mindfulness Programs
Share News of Your Holiday Activities!
January 3-4, 2015
NEW! Annual Penn Youth Baseball Camps Winter Penn Mindfulness Programs
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) if possible — to the Penn Medicine Department of Communications at pennmedicinecommunications@ uphs.upenn.edu by December 22. We may feature you in an upcoming issue of our newsletters!
Ebola Preparedness at Penn Medicine 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. Our dedicated teams of specially trained clinicians and administrators will continue to train and work closely with health officials at the city, state and federal level to be ready in the unlikely event we should receive a patient. The isolated Special Triage and Treatment Units at HUP where a suspected Ebola patient would be evaluated and cared for will remain ready, and we will continue screening outpatients throughout the Health System as recommended by the CDC for at-risk travel and symptoms. The ongoing intensive training and preparations have been undertaken with the paramount goal of maintaining the wellbeing and safety of our staff while providing the highest level of care for all our patients.
Penn Museum Advance Calendar of Events Free Admission to all Penn Medicine Employees with ID!
WHAT’Snew EDITORIAL STAFF Editorial Staff Olivia Fermano
Sally EditorSapega and Photographer Director of Internal Communications Pamela Furches Design Olivia Fermano Graphic Design Editor and Photographer Barry Ogburn Pamela Furches Design Photography Graphic Design
ADMINISTRATION
Staff are encouraged to continue to check for Ebola updates at http://pennpoint.uphs. upenn.edu/sites/ebola/default.aspx.
Barry SusanOgburn E. Phillips Photography Senior Vice President, Public Affairs
Two phone lines have been established to assist clinicians and staff around the clock:
Administration Director of Communications
> Clinicians with patient-related questions should call 215-614-0524 where a physician is available to handle calls about screening, isolation and, if necessary, lead arrangements for patient transport to HUP from another entity. > General questions not pertaining to direct patient care call 215-615-2929. > For Ebola guidelines and further information about preparedness, visit the PAH Intranet homepage.
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January/February 2015
Holly Auer
Susan E. Phillips Senior Vice President, Public Affairs Sally Sapega Director of Internal Communications Contact Contact What’snew What’snew at: at: Department Department of of Communications Communications Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Hospital Hospital Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA PA 19106 19106 phone: phone: 215.829.6799 215.829.6799 email: email: olivia.fermano@uphs.upenn.edu olivia.fermano@uphs.upenn.edu WHAT’Snew WHAT’Snew isis published published biweekly biweekly for for PAH PAH employees. employees. Access Access WHAT’Snew WHAT’Snew online online at at http://news.pennmedicine.org/inside/whats-new/. http://news.pennmedicine.org/inside/whats-new/.