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Bedside Reporting Goes Live January 4As the system-wide rollout for bed-side reporting approaches, Barry Swanner, RN, (Children’s Emergency Department) (below left) can be rec-ognized as the founder of WakeMed’s new Bedside Report Guidelines. Through the acronym BEDSIDE, Swanner created an easy way for incoming and outgoing nurses to remember how to conduct a bed-side report together during shift change in a time-effective, convenient and efficient manner. In summary, BEDSIDE stands for:

Begin with introductions, and be sure to “gel in” as you enter the room.Erase and update the patient’s whiteboard.Discuss patient care.Safety checksInterventionsDisposition updateEnsure understanding, encourage

questioning and exit, making certain you “gel out.”

Swanner worked with his department’s unit council and manager Laurie Cook, RN, to create and implement this new bedside reporting process in the Children’s Emergency Department about a year ago. It covers all pertinent activities for nurses to conduct at shift change.

“We knew we needed to do something about bedside reporting, since it is now required by The Joint Commission, and we also wanted to enhance patient sat-isfaction,” said Swanner, who used the research article “Bedside Shift Report Improves Patient Safety and Nurse Accountability” (Journal of Emergency Nursing, July 2010) for reference. This article shows that bedside reporting is an evidence-based practice to enhance patient safety and staff accountability. It also cites how the bedside report keeps patients and families at the center of their care and all clinical care decisions, and reassures them that the entire team has the information needed to follow the plan of care.

“Since we implemented this process, we have observed many improvements during shift-change: less patient concerns, more confidence from patients and more focus from staff,” added Swanner. “This leads to increased patient safety and better patient outcomes.”

Cook added, “We have learned over the years that patients really only feel uneasy if they are not being informed. Using this process, we are able to keep them informed. I am very proud of what Barry and the rest of our team have accomplished.”

WakeMed will officially implement a modified version of the bedside reporting on January 4, 2012, for all inpatient units, including the Observation Units. Mandatory staff education began on November 8. Bedside reporting is an evidenced-based nursing practice standard that supports the Swanson Theory of Caring, adopted by WakeMed Nursing. It helps nurses deliver care that promotes the dignity, respect and empowerment of patients/families. Contact Jonnie Simmons, RN, director of Heart Center Operations, with questions at ext. 05150.

WakeMed Rehab Earns Three-Year caRF ReaccreditationAs of October, WakeMed’s Rehab programs were reaccredited for three years by CARF International, a human services accreditation agency. WakeMed’s accreditation includes the Rehab Hospital for general rehabilitation and specialty programming in stroke, spinal cord injury care and brain injury rehabilitation, as well as a specialty spinal cord and brain injury day treatment program.

This accreditation is the highest level awarded and demonstrates our commitment to programs and services that are measurable, account-able and of the highest quality. CARF surveyors made no recommen-dations, signifying that the on-site reviewers did not identify any areas of nonconformance. This is an extraordinary accomplishment, as only three percent of CARF surveys result in no recommendations.

“We expected a great survey result because of the scope of services we offer and positive patient outcomes we deliver, but a recommendation-

free survey is beyond expectation,” commented Beth Rud-isill, director, (Rehab Hospital). “I am grateful to the staff and leadership for the hard work they put in every day.”

CARF is an independent, non-profit accrediting body whose mission is to promote the quality, value and optimal out-comes of services through a consultative accreditation pro-cess that centers on enhancing the lives of the persons served. For more information, visit www.carf.org.

On December 16, 1991, Cary Hospital opened as Western Wake Medical Center, an 80-bed hospital designed to replace the former Western Wake Hospital in Apex. But the journey to make Cary Hospital a reality was not an easy one. In 1981, WakeMed (then called Wake Medical Center) and Kentucky-based Humana Inc. filed applications with the state seeking permission to build a hospital in Cary. The state granted WakeMed’s request, but Humana appealed the decision. Court battles ensued for five years. Finally, in 1986, the N.C. Court of Appeals upheld the decision to grant the beds to WakeMed and in 1988, the Wake County Commissioners also approved. Today, WakeMed Cary Hospital is a full-service hospital with 156 beds, 1,053 employees and a 683-member medical staff.

Brier Creek Healthplex will open to the public on January 9. The new, 50,000 square-foot facility will be home to WakeMed’s sixth full-service emer-gency department (ED). In addition to the 24 /7 ED, the healthplex will fea-ture a variety of outpatient services including diagnostic imaging, labora-tory services and physician offices.

Please Join Us for An Employee Open HouseF R I D A Y , J A N U A R Y 6

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Cary HoSpitaL – 1991 Cary HoSpitaL – preSent day

W A K E M E D C A R Y H O S P I T A L

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Years

Veterans Day at WakeMedOn Friday, November 11, WakeMed hosted Veterans Day recognition ceremonies on the Raleigh Campus and at Cary Hospital to honor all WakeMed employees, physicians and volunteers who are veterans or currently serving in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Held in the Andrews Center, the Raleigh Campus ceremony drew 85 participants and included special remarks from dr. Bill atkinson, president & CEO, as well as a keynote presentation by Rudy Rudisill, Jr., major general, retired, N.C. Department of Crime Control & Public Safety, Chief Deputy Secretary - Office of the Secretary (shown with Dr. Atkinson above). The WakeMed Color Guard (shown above) presented the colors before soloist Sheila deBastiani (Heart Center - Invasive Cardiology) sang the National Anthem. A representative from Spiritual Care offered the invocation, and teo eclarinal, TSgt, USAFR, retired, (Telecommunications)

read the President’s Proclamation.

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Cary Hospital Celebrates 20tH anniversary

Throughout December, WakeMed is celebrating the holidays with employee dessert-and-punch socials at locations across the system.

These socials also present an opportunity for employees to donate needed items to the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s BackPack Buddies program. See the WakeMedWeb for dates, locations and details.

WakeMed Brier creek Healthplex Opens January 9

SPOTLIGHT ONWakeMed’s 2011 Circle of Excellence Award RecipientsRead about this year’s Circle of Excellence award recipients profiled inside this edition of Microscope. Nominated by their peers, these employees represent the best of the best at WakeMed. Please help us recognize them for their contributions to our organization.

Holiday Dessert & Punch Socials

In February, the WakeMed Workplace Assessment & Engagement Survey will launch to all employees. This online survey will provide WakeMed leadership with valuable feedback to help us continue to improve our workplace. It is a follow-up to the assessment conducted in previous years, which provided feedback that has guided many new initiatives and programs. Stay tuned for more in early 2012!

t ake the Survey !Employees – We Want Your Feedback!

Supporting the inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s Backpack Buddies program

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WakeMed Physician Practices welcomes Schmett Jones to the Education/Quality Specialist team.

Women’s Pavilion & Birthplace - Raleigh welcomes kayla Brock, RN; andrea penny, RN; and lisa Bailey, RN. The department also welcomes clinical secretary ivette clement-andoney, and recognizes Susan gaskill, RNC, as she moves into the role of supervisor/educator.

Nancy Taylor (Imaging Services) retired from WakeMed on November 23 after 31 years of dedicated service. She has been an asset to the Imaging Services depart-ment and will be greatly missed.

5C Medicine welcomes Elizabeth Mungai, RN and india McRae, RN.

Spiritual Care welcomes Mary ann poythress back to the department as supervisor and a Clinical Pastoral Educa-tion supervisor for interns and residents. Also, the department welcomes six new Clinical Pastoral Education residents: Jamytta Bell, Tawny Bernhardt, Toby Bonar, diane Bower, adrienne keller and patty pace; 11 Clinical Pastoral Education interns: Nathan Blake, lois cavanagh-daley, Richard Hill, allonia Holmes, lydia Malone, Jackie Montague, amanda Rackley, Bryon Taylor, debbie Wall, kody Witt and priscilla Wright; as well as four Urban Ministry Clinical Pastoral Education interns: lamar Reece, Faith dickens, Brian Belting and Jack Mckenny.

The Adult Emergency Department wel-comes cheryl Seagroves, RN; lori Edmund-son, RN; Jennifer gooch, RN; angela Bowman, RN; and nursing assistants Schann Westbrook and Teresa Wilson.

Home Health wishes a fond farewell to Tammy Berg, RN, and Tomica Young, RN. The department welcomes Tammy little, RN.

6C Surgery & Trauma welcomes nursing assistants Rachel dietrich and kimberly adams.

COMINGS GOINGSCOMINGS GOINGS

Comings & Goings

Introducing the New Class of Pediatric Emergency FellowsThe current class of pediatric emergency medicine fellows work-ing within WakeMed’s Children’s Emergency Department (CED) is an impressive bunch, bundling talent, a passion for medicine and a dedicated interest in research related to pediat-ric health care. Each fellow was accepted into the Pediatric Emergency Medicine (PEM) Fellowship program, a partnership among WakeMed; Wake Emergency Physi-cians, PA (WEPPA); and the UNC School of Medicine’s Department of Emergency Medicine, after completing a competitive application process and two to three years of training in an accredited residency program in emergency medicine or pediatrics.

Meet the Fellows: Second-year fellow Scott Connelly, MD, grew to love the Triangle area while completing his pediat-ric residency at Duke University Medical Center. He earned his doctor of medicine degree at the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey. He heard great things about the WEPPA PEM Fellowship, so he applied. His research is on patient simulation to benefit patient safety.

Neva Howard, MD, a first-year fellow, completed her residency in pediatrics at Columbia University Medical Center/New York-Presbyterian Hospital. She earned her doctor of medicine degree at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She chose the PEM Fellowship to gain a strong clinical background. Dr. Howard’s research is in the development of deliberate practice and application of medicine.

First-year fellow Neil Jain, MD, arrived at WakeMed from Yale-New Haven Hospital in Connecticut where he completed his residency in emergency medicine. He earned his doctor of medicine degree from The University of Tennessee College of Medicine. He chose the PEM Fellowship for its research flexibility and supportive environment. Dr. Jain’s research interest is in ultrasound.

Davis Miller, MD, second-year fellow, earned his doctor of medicine degree at East Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine and completed his pediatric residency at the University of Florida at Jacksonville. After working at Jacksonville’s

B r e a S t C a n C e r a w a r e n e S S M o n t H The Surgical Services - Operating Room team gathers on the helipad to promote Breast Cancer Awareness month in October. Their pink gloves and hats were donated by Medline, a health care product vendor.

Wolfson’s Children’s Hospital in emergency medicine, he applied for the WEPPA PEM Fellowship. Dr. Miller’s research interest is in developing a medical delivery system for children suffering from severe asthma.

About the Fellowship: Started in the sum-mer of 2008, the WEPPA PEM Fellowship was the idea of

the late Marilyn Hicks, MD, former pediatric emergency medicine physician and medical director of WakeMed’s CED. Dr. Hicks believed that WakeMed needed an infrastructure that would allow for the future employment of subspecialists for the care of children. Today, the fellowship program has graduated two classes of fellows and can hold four fellows at a time. The supportive training environment it offers, coupled with an outstanding patient population to learn from (WakeMed’s CED sees the highest volume of pediatric patients in the state), have quickly made it one of the nation’s premier PEM Fellowships.

“The growth in pediatric care at WakeMed has been impactful for our fellows,” commented Courtney Mann, MD, program director for the PEM Fellowship since

September 2010 and WEPPA physician. “They gain tremendous clinical exposure from the WakeMed CED and the pediatric specialists at WakeMed Children’s, including the Level IV Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, pediatric radiology, and pediatric surgery with Dr. Phillips and Dr. Wadie, among others.” J. Duncan Phillips, MD, is the surgeon-in-chief and director of Pediatric Surgery for WakeMed Children’s Hospital, and pediatric surgeon George Wadie, MD, joined Dr. Phillips in October.

Dr. Mann also noted that the program’s relationship with the UNC School of Medicine’s Department of Emergency Medicine has been beneficial as well as the fellows’ access to the WakeMed Center for Innova-tive Learning, a primary resource for learning resuscitative care medicine. WakeMed’s attending physicians, who bring a variety of medical backgrounds to the table, are also a huge asset.

“As emergency care for children has become a popular subspecialty, our fellowship program continues to evolve. From simulation to subspecialists to research, we offer invaluable learning opportunities to our fellows,” added Dr. Mann. “We are excited to have Scott, Neva, Neil and Davis as a part of our team.”

at WakeMed Foundation Society of 1961 Gala

To celebrate WakeMed’s 50th anniversary this year, Jay Leno, one of the country’s premier comedians, gave a live performance at the WakeMed Foundation’s Society of 1961 Appreciation Gala, held on Saturday, December 10, at the Raleigh Convention Center. Over the past 20 years, Leno has performed hundreds of comedy shows around the United States and has been known as America’s late night TV leader. In the 2009 Harris Poll, he was named America’s favorite TV personality.

The annual Society of 1961 gala provides the opportu-nity for the Foundation to thank members of the Society of 1961. Named after WakeMed’s founding year, the society was established to recognize donors who annually contribute $1,350 or more to the Foundation.

Cary Hospital’s ceremony, held in the Conference Center, drew 44 participants. All were invited to sing God Bless America and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. david Coulter, senior vice president and adminis-trator of Cary Hospital, gave remarks and read the President’s Proclamation. An invo-cation was given by staff chaplain diane Cox (Spiritual Care).

Veterans Day at WakeMed (continued from page 1)

a TERRiFic TOuRNaMENT!(above) Tom gettinger, executive vice presi-dent and chief operating officer; kristi Sund-berg (Physical Therapy - Cary Hospital); Jackie Tunis (Administration - Cary Hospital); and david coulter, senior vice president and administrator of Cary Hospital, enjoy a great day of golf.

Congratulations to Susan Alvey and her Volun-teers at WakeMed Cary Hospital Golf Commit-tee for another spectacular charity golf outing.

More than 110 golfers took to the greens at MacGregor Downs Country Club on a beautiful day in October for the 13th annual event. Spe-cial thanks to the event’s Ace Sponsor, Miller-Motte College, and Eagle Sponsors, Riley Contracting and Jani-King, as well as addi-tional sponsors Kangaroo Express/The Pantry, Sterling Capital Management LLC, VALIC, SRI Surgical, Brasfield & Gorrie, WakeMed Cary Hospital Volunteer Board, Overstreet Signs, Hampton Inn, Carolina Hurricanes, RR Donnel-ley, Carolina RailHawks, Panera Bread and Compass Group.

The volunteers raised $32,000, which will benefit programs and services through The Volunteers at WakeMed Cary Hospital.

JayLenoPerforms

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Focus On NursingNEWS, RECOGNITION AND INFORMATION FOR WAKEMED NURSESSett ing a new s tandard of excel lence in the art and sc ience of nurs ing care and caring.

www.wakemed.org

wakemed NURSING NewS

N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 1

[ Enhancing Patient Care ]

On October 17, a new patient transport program was officially implemented on the Raleigh Campus, positively impacting patient care. The new strat-egy, which began as a Wellspring Road to Excellence initiative, was developed after the need for an enhanced patient transport process was identified as a top non-nursing task. Last spring, a special workgroup, including Gail Sturtevant, RN, executive director of nursing at Cary Hospital, and Jennifer Lee, manager, (Imaging Services - Administration), reviewed the expan-sion of the current transport team as a way to keep more nurses and nursing assistants on the unit caring for patients.

New Patient Transport Program

“The nursing care team is so excited to have this valuable support for our patients at discharge,” commented Cindy Boily, RN, MSN, NEA-BC, senior vice president and chief nursing officer. “It helps keep our nurses and nursing aides on the units, focused on the acute care and service needs of our patients.”

The transporters are mobile throughout their entire shift and keep a pager with them at all times. They usually complete two to three jobs every hour, depending on patient acuity and travel distance. Under Lee and supervisor Aimee Guy (Imaging Services), all patient transporters must be CPR certified and have strong customer service skills. Often, they are former WakeMed volunteer Guest Ambassadors, nursing students or X-ray students.

at the Conference:top photo: daniel Corbin, RN, (5A MIC); Kellie Babson, RN, (STICU); and Stacey Clapp, RN, (5B NIC)

Bottom photo: parrish Mills, RN, (Surgical Services - OR); dianna Knight, RN, (6A CVIC); Meghan Kuebler, RN, (CV Testing); donica o’Leary, RN, (Heart Center Observa-tion Area) and Susan Gutierrez, RN, (NICU)

Thanks to the WakeMed Foundation Skills Scholarship Program and financial support from various nursing departments, WakeMed was able to send several nurse leaders and staff nurses to the 2011 National Magnet Conference of the American Nurses Creden-tialing Center (ANCC) in Baltimore. Drawing over 6,000 nurses, the confer-ence was themed Magnet: Honoring the Past, Creating the Future. Objectives were:1. To describe the impli-cations of a changing health care delivery system on nursing delivery of care.2. To discuss the art and science of nursing as it relates to leader-ship, practice and outcomes.3. To synthesize the understanding of nursing history, current trends and the impact of Magnet on nursing’s future role in health care.4. To describe new research findings on patient and nurse outcomes in Magnet hospitals.

“I truly didn’t understand what Magnet Designation meant for nursing, but thanks to this conference, now I know. It’s all about excellence,” commented Pauline Stillman, RN, manager, (5A Medicine). “I left the conference believing that we can do this, and WakeMed deserves this designation!”

Honoring the Past, Creating the Future

2011 National Magnet Conference

he last ten years have been full of challenges and changes that have called on us to consider new processes and approaches, and the potential for a dramatic redesign of the health care industry. Patient care delivery

systems are considering various stages of evaluation and redesign to reduce variations of care, increase efficiency, control costs, improve the patient experi-ence, and improve clinical outcomes across an ever-expanding continuum. The work often features interdisciplinary teams at our core, multidimensional approaches to our roles, empowered and involved employees, and results- oriented performance measures to ensure we are improving over time. Incor-porating these challenges and changes into our patient-care delivery settings, especially in acute care hospitals, may represent a fundamental redesign of processes, even a fresh look at our roles and relationships, and often involves greater interdisciplinary and collaborative work.

The team is considered to be a basic unit of work performance in this new paradigm with many redesign efforts focused around work teams. But, work teams do not equal teamwork. Teamwork cannot be forced; it must be devel-oped and nurtured. Effective teamwork reflects collaboration. Collaboration by definition is a “process of joint decision making among interdependent parties, involving joint ownership of decisions and collective responsibility for out-comes.” Collaboration calls upon skills that respect individual contributions and constitutes a capacity and means for achieving outcomes, such as an enhanced patient experience, physician and employee satisfaction, safer environments and quality results. Other skills include listening with an open mind to each other and our patients and families; acknowledging and utilizing differences and conflict productivity; leading by facilitating; redesigning systems; and appreciating new relationships and points of view.

Teamwork through collaboration. Thank you for considering these concepts as we tackle current challenges and position ourselves for future success.

Cindy Boily RN, MSN, NEA-BC

Senior Vice President & Chief Nursing Officer

S P E A K I N G O F N U R S I N G : A N O T E F R O M O U R C N O

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“This new transport program is absolutely wonderful,” commented Melissa Craft, RN, manager, (Neuro ICU). “The transporters are lifesavers – we don’t have to take as many nurses off the unit to complete transports, workflow is increased, there is less stress for our nurses and everything is done a lot faster.”

Some night coverage was also estab-lished for patients who need CT scans or other tests from 7 pm to 7 am. While a critical care nurse often needs to stay with these patients, the patient trans-porter frees up the nurse manager who had to accompany the transport before. And while inpatients are the priority, there is an opportunity for the transport program to expand to the Emergency Departments.

Above: Patient transporters are easily identified by their green uniforms.

“We talked about this for a couple of years, and even piloted a day-shift program on 3A CVIC, 6A CVIC, 5B NIC and 5C Medicine,” said Lee. “Part-time employees were hired for patient trans-port, instead of relying on nurses and nursing assistants. We had always wanted to expand this program.”

To expand the program this October, the workgroup determined peak hours for discharge, 2 to 7 pm, when patient trans-porters would be most helpful, and they staffed to those hours. The patient trans-porters are a critical part of the automated Teletracking process, which allows Patient Access staff to know what patient beds are full, empty and ready to be cleaned for the next patient. When a patient transporter is called by the unit to transport a patient for discharge, he or she contacts Environmen-tal Services immediately to clean the patient’s room, instead of relying on some-one on the unit to make the call. By having transporters perform more patient discharges, there is a much quicker turnover of beds, leading to a positive impact on patient placement through Teletracking.

nurse Unit Council at Zebulon/wendell outpatient & Skilled nursing Facility

Meeting to improve patient outcomes, the Council has concentrated on decreasing falls, hand hygiene compliance, creating a new report form and developing new ways to recognize staff.

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2011 NC Nurses Association Annual Convention

Below: erica Saunders, RN, (1 East Chest Pain Center - Cary Hospital) and Sara Griffith, RN, (3E CVIC and Clinical Adminis-trators - Cary Hospital) at the NCNA Convention

Several WakeMed nurses participated in the 2011 North Carolina Nurses Association (NCNA) Annual Convention, including Paula Bird, RN, director of Medical/Surgical Nursing Services at Cary Hospi-tal; Cindy Boily, RN, MSN, NEA-BC, senior vice president & chief nursing officer; Brenda Clatworthy, RN, manager,

(STICU); Sara Griffith, RN, (3E CVIC and Clinical Adminis-trators - Cary Hospital); Kelly Johnson (Nursing Administra-tion); Janice Neff, RN, (Nursing Administration); Erica Saunders, RN, (1 East Chest Pain Center - Cary Hospital); Jonnie Simmons, RN, director, (Heart Center Operations); and Betty Woodard, RN, PhD, director, (Nursing Research & Evi-dence-Based Practice). The convention was held in October in Durham and featured keynote speakers Kevin Sowers, RN, MSN, president of Duke University Hospital, and Rich Bluni, RN, motivational speaker and author of Inspired Nurse.

NCNA is the professional organization for all registered nurses in North Carolina. Their mission is to serve the chang-ing needs of its members, address nursing issues, and advo-cate for the health and well-being of all people. Through NCNA, nurses can become powerful advocates for patients and the nursing profession. Bird, Neff, Simmons and Saun-ders have all served as NCNA delegates. The NCNA House of Delegates passes amendments to the association’s bylaws, ref-erencing proposals that focus on NCNA and nursing issues.

August & October Recap

New SNC Leaders Elected

Join Nursing Education staff for a group discussion. Register via Learning Link: code NE014-11086. Participants must obtain a copy of the book and read it completely prior to the class. 3.0 contact hours awarded. Contact Nursing Education at ext. 08024 for details.

a charge Nurse’s guideB Y C A T H Y L E A R Y & S C O T T A L L E N

NEd a - Raleigh campus Thursday, January 12 8:30 to 9:30 am

Wednesday, January 18 1 to 2 pm

N u R S i N g p R O F E S S i O N a l d E V E l O p M E N T

Book SerieS

This August, the WakeMed Staff Nurse Council (SNC) reintroduced nurse members to evidence-based practice (EBP) as it relates to patient care. Prior to the meeting, each SNC member was assigned a research article highlighting EBP to read. During the meeting, members gathered into workgroups to discuss and analyze each article.

“As one of our members said, when it comes to EBP, you can’t argue with the facts or research,” commented Jennifer Myers, RN, (Women’s Pavilion & Birthplace - Raleigh), current SNC chair. “At the August meeting, we reminded all of our nurses how important EBP is to the care of our patients.”

They also discussed the professional image for nursing – how the image of nurses can be enhanced, for example, through nursing attire, to positively impact patients’ perceptions of their caregivers. Dianna Knight, RN, manager, (6A CVIC) is cur-rently leading a WakeMed task force on this effort. Stay tuned for more details.

At the October SNC meeting, elections were held for the next round of SNC leaders. Sandee Jene Hales, RN, (Emergency Department - Cary Hospital) was elected the new SNC chair after running against Helen Voss, RN, (Rehab Hospital) and Eleanor Valentine, RN, (Heart Center Observation Area). Voss and Valentine were tapped to become co-chair and Raleigh Campus SNC liaison respec-tively. All three nurses will begin working with SNC leadership (including Myers and Cary Hospital SNC liaison Lorilyn Heinig, RN, of Cary Hospital’s 3 West Medical/Surgical unit) in January 2012, with their official positions beginning in January 2013. Making this year’s election unique, Hales will become the first SNC chair who works at a location other than the Raleigh Campus.

Also discussed at the October meeting was the 2011 Nurse Engagement Survey – an anonymous, online survey taken in November by direct care nurses, including non-management RNs and LPNs. This year’s goal for participation was 80 percent, with a stretch goal of 85 percent.

STAFF NURSE COUNCIL

[ Raleigh Campus Emergency Department ]Working to Improve Patient ThroughputArticle contributed by Ed Keating, RN, Clinical Educator/Supervisor, Raleigh Campus ED

Emergency departments (EDs) across the nation are faced with many challenges – increased volumes, acuity, wait times, elopement rates and throughput issues. The combination of these issues can ultimately extend the length of stay in the ED.

WakeMed ED volumes and acuity have also steadily increased. In July 2010, a planning team formed in the Raleigh Campus Adult ED to create a throughput strategy to better serve ESI 3 patients who make up about 60 percent of the total ED volume and traditionally have the longest wait times. ESI stands for the Emergency Severity Index, which determines the level of patient acuity on a scale of 1 to 5. A dedicated strategy was needed for ESI 3 patients, who fall in the middle of the scale, so they could be seen in a more timely manner.

The team knew a successful strategy could not include facility expansion or increased staffing. The team also recognized that many patients could be “vertical,” meaning they did not need to lie in a bed, but could ambulate to the provider. Therefore, a team of providers and a process were established to allow patients to move from room to room to receive services.

Central to the plan was the creation of a waiting room where patients could wait if the next care room was in use. They could also await services (such as radiology) provided outside the ED, and results and disposition.

Two underused overflow triage rooms and three Minor Care rooms were dedicated to the new provider team. After four trials, the ESI 3 team was deployed on January 1, 2011, from 11 am to 11 pm, including a physician, a physician’s assistant, two RNs and a nurse tech as staffing allowed. The overall impact of the new strategy can be measured in several ways:

• The Minor Care area sees nearly twice the number of patients per day than they did previously.

• The average length of stay for ESI 3 patients has decreased by about one hour.

• The peak daily wait time in the main lobby typically runs at less than 50 percent of the peak daily wait time prior to implementation, and the number of patients who leave without being seen (elopement) dropped by one-third.

• In September 2011, the PRC key driver, Overall Quality of Care, achieved the 100th percentile for the first time ever, with 70.6 percent of respondents giving an excellent rating.

• Staff satisfaction has increased with increased patient satisfaction. Physicians have nearly unanimously endorsed the new strategy.

Evaluation of the new strategy continues, but the initial results of this program have transformed Raleigh Campus ED wait times, elopement rates and total lengths of stay.

attendees at the october SnC Meeting:

Top - SandeeJene Hales, RN, (Emergency Department); Gary Jenkins, RN, (CV Testing); and Steph Hurley, RN, (Staffing Resources - Cary Hospital)

Far Left – Jamie yates, RN, (3E CVIC) and Vickie Garner, RN, (3E CVIC)

Above – An SNC work group discusses current topics.

Left - wendy Hanks, RN, (2 West ICU - Cary Hospital); Heather Smith, RN, (Staffing Resources); Sharon ogrodnick, RN, (Staffing Resources); and Marissa Stevenson, RN, (2 West ICU - Cary Hospital)

“This survey is so important because it reflects our voice as nurses,” said Myers. “It gives us a chance to anony-mously express our opinions about what is going well and what can be improved upon.”

Lastly, it was announced that the new discharge time-out sheet, created by the SNC, would officially roll out system-wide on December 6. After looking at patient satisfaction data earlier this year, the SNC decided that nursing could directly enhance the patient discharge process. They moved forward with creating a new process and piloted it on certain units. This

new method of discharging patients was described in detail in the August issue of Microscope.

WakeMed DAISY Winners Now Featured on WakeMedWeb!

To see pictures of each month’s WakeMed DAISY Award winner and read more about why they were nominated, go to the WakeMedWeb and click Departments, then Nursing Administration, then DAISY Award Winners. Please join us in congratu-lating these extraordinary nurses!

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WakeMed 2011 Circle of Excellence

Award RecipientsSandra Bullock Emergency Department At the front desk, Sandra provides quality service to patients, families and coworkers. Sandra volunteered to help make follow-up calls to patients to address their care and concerns, and she also created a guide on taking care of pregnant patients.

Erlinda chavez 6A CVIC No issue is too sensitive or difficult for Erly to approach. She values timely, open and honest communication in a professional and nurturing manner. As a member of the 6A Unit Council, Erly recognizes needed process changes and is quick to make improvements.

Bettielou conerly Emergency Department Bettielou is involved in several quality improvement initia-tives, such as the clinical operations committee, the sepsis team and trauma performance improvement. She has helped teach staff and physicians how to use a new non-invasive monitor that has the potential to improve care for patients with severe infections.

Melinda cooper Infection Prevention Melinda has gained tremendous respect across WakeMed for her efforts toward hand hygiene. She works tirelessly with Environmental Services to promote a cleaning protocol with emphasis on cleaning certain objects in patient rooms. This protocol won second place in a national contest.

Beth drossmanHealthworks Also a recipient for Workforce Excellence and Unsurpassed Service, Beth is a driving force behind quality improvement for Healthworks and implements new technologies for moni-toring patients. She streamlined the documentation required for the Cardiac Rehab program and was essential in helping create another program at the Kraft YMCA.

gloria garrison Environmental Services Also a recipient for Workforce Excellence, Gloria cleans all patient rooms with care, efficiency and precision. She is self-motivated and seeks out materials to help educate her peers. Gloria never hesitates to teach staff or family members about proper hand hygiene.

Sieglinde Holland Pharmacy Sieglinde voluntarily acts as facilitator for controlled sub-stance distribution. She trains staff, retrieves documentation for regulatory compliance and works with nursing to ensure medications are ready in a timely manner. She also devel-oped a process regarding patient orders for controlled substances in Pyxis.

angie JonesImaging Services -Nursing Also a recipient for Unsurpassed Service, Angie is a champion of the Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter (PICC) service. She drives the service by placing the most lines, making recommendations, educating on best practices and communicating changes. She also does the PICC stats and presents at system-wide forums.

Mary krizay Clinical Analysis A vital resource for information and tools that enhance patient care in terms of quality and safety, Mary reviews patient cases and how they meet publicly reported quality measures. She devised a new process to communicate with nurses and physicians about cases needing attention. She facilitates the monthly Public Reporting meetings and advocates for evidence-based practices and processes.

linda Mayo Rehab Nursing Administration As an active member of the Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) skin care initiative team, Linda helped develop new orders and a new process for rounding on high-risk SCI patients with skin breakdown. Since the implementation of rounding, no SCI patients have developed further breakdown, and patients with breakdown have experienced healing.

kristin Merritt 2 West ICU - Cary Hospital Also a recipient for Workforce Excellence, Kristin strives to raise the standard of care in the ICU. She worked to increase competencies and ensure evidence-based practice standards. She also increased resources by developing a cross-training program in intermediate care, and she helped implement open visitation on her unit.

Jackie Mihm Women’s Pavilion & Birthplace - Raleigh As unit secretary, Jackie is vigilant about double- checking orders and making sure the right papers are matched with the right chart. She reminds nurses to observe the WakeMed Red Rule for patient identifica-tion and efficiently keeps the team informed about changes in orders.

Francy Moseley Observation Unit 1 As chair of the Behavioral Health Holding Area com-mittee, Francy offers recommendations for the best care for behavioral health patients. She volunteered to give in-services to Food & Nutrition Services staff on the safe delivery of food to these patients and has also been active in soft alarm and constant observer education.

annette Smith Environmental Services Also a recipient for Workforce Excellence, Annette goes above and beyond to increase hand hygiene awareness. She approaches team members, including physicians, to offer feedback. She has even rounded to other units with Quality & Patient Safety to share about the importance of hand hygiene.

Julia Strickland Observation Unit 1 Julia recently had concerns about her patient’s periph-eral IV because it was in place for eight days. She spoke with the physician, charge nurse and clinical adminis-trator before looking up the WakeMed policy on the practice and contacting Infection Prevention. Julia dedicated herself to finding a solution for her patient.

Tammi Tomkinson 2 East Medicine - Cary Hospital Also a recipient for Workforce Excellence, Tammi is always one of the first to respond to bed alarms, even if the alarm is not for her patient. She is a resource on her unit and a mentor for students. Patients praise Tammi and request her because of the caring service she provides.

Sheila Veeder 5C Medicine As clinical educator/supervisor, Sheila has been instrumental in 5C’s participation in the NC CAUTI Collaborative, creating a plan to provide staff educa-tion with minimal impact to the budget. As a member of the Road to Excellence Medical-Surgical Supply Team, she worked to improve patient outcomes while facilitating fiscal responsibility.

Randy Vest Respiratory Care Services - Cary HospitalRandy promotes patient and staff safety. When he recognized an inconsistency in non-invasive ventilator support, he implemented changes in protocol. He also took corrective action on an unplanned change in patient supplies to preserve the highest level of patient care.

Theresa amerson, Md Wake Specialty Physicians - City Center Medical Group Dr. Amerson is a role model for her staff and makes herself available to help teach employees or assist with customer service issues. She spends time with her staff individually to discuss ideas for enhancements within the office, and she always finds ways to reduce her team’s budget by staying aware of operations.

Ron Bentley Information Services As a Web developer, Ron resolves issues quickly and puts safeguards in place to ensure an issue does not reoccur. He has been a leader in meetings for the development of a physician portal with members of the Medical Staff, and was instrumental in the success of the WakeMed Faculty Physicians Operations Manual site.

david Blackmon Emergency Department - Cary Hospital David’s compassionate, calm demeanor helps soothe nervous patients. He will stay with patients if they are sent for a scan to ensure the Imaging Services staff have the assistance they need. He is always doing something to help his team.

Brian BroushStaff Development & Training Also a recipient for Workforce Excellence, Brian was instrumental in the implementation of a revised Learning Link system, answering questions and meet-ing with groups to ensure everyone was educated. He also helps with other programs for his department, such as facilitating staff orientation and teaching classes.

Janis Brown Disaster Planner/SMAT II Janis’ friendly attitude is always noticed and appreci-ated by her coworkers and regional partners. She con- sistently keeps customers top-of-mind, especially when planning grant deadlines. In the most recent hospital preparedness grant cycle, she worked with an external partner to ensure their project was completed on time.

karen Brown Therapy Services Supplemental Pool Karen approaches her supervisor with methods for seeing patients efficiently and consistently. She actively listens to patient concerns, and takes it upon herself to help educate and train other caregivers on how to address concerns.

Joanna Burgess Clinical Nursing Resource Services When Joanna recognized that ostomy patients needed pre- and post-hospitalization education and care, she began researching how WakeMed could provide these services, progressing to an outpatient clinic in the near future. She has taken a leadership role in educating nurses and physicians on the care of ostomy patients.

laurie cook Children’s Emergency Department As manager, Laurie is the force behind her team’s cus-tomer service program, helping implement initiatives such as hourly rounding, bedside reporting and using music for comfort. Laurie supports programs like Good Catch and SAFE Kids, and she led an effort to place nitrous oxide in the CED to support best practice.

cindy Flannagan Administration - North Healthplex Cindy always tries to improve the customer experience – by bringing a waiting child coloring supplies, walking lost patients to their destination or even purchasing newspapers for the ED waiting area out of her own pocket. She rallies the facility to participate in system-wide initiatives and is a master at service recovery.

angel Holloway Rehab Nursing Angel leads her fellow nurse techs in their daily huddles and ensures that everyone can meet patients’ needs. She goes above and beyond and does anything to help her unit thrive. For example, she is a valuable contributor to her unit’s Optiflex Committee for cost savings.

paul Howard Environmental Services Since joining WakeMed in 1990, Paul has maintained perfect attendance. He never misses work and often arrives 30 minutes early to check the schedule and make adjustments if needed. He is always willing to fill in for a coworker and has an outstanding work ethic.

Jenna Huggins Pharmacy Also a recipient for Quality Outcomes and Workforce Excellence, Jenna helped bring pharmacists to the units. She initiated many best practices related to customer service – medication monitoring form guidelines, MedSmart program calculations and educational presentations on cardiac medications, among others.

Whitney Hughes Physical Therapy Also a recipient for Workforce Excellence, Whitney has outstanding clinical skills and compassion. She par- ticipates in the Pediatric Spinal Fusion Committee to ensure therapists are giving the best care. She also chairs the Pediatric Committee, which helps with the transition of services and makes enhancements.

portia Johnson Pharmacy Portia volunteered to be a resource for the discharge pilot bedside prescription delivery on 3E CVIC, educat-ing others and helping work out the kinks. Always willing to address opportunities for improvement, she developed an orderset for a medication with a high risk of infusion reactions to improve patient safety.

Quality Outcomes

Unsurpassed Service

Sandra lloyd WakeMed Faculty Physicians - General Surgery/Trauma Also a recipient for Workforce Excellence, Sandra helps maximize performance. She trains new employees and allows them to shadow her, she created a GE Training Manual and serves as the GE system resource for many areas of WakeMed Faculty Physicians, and she assists the GE analyst with testing for new programs and implementations.

Miriam loughry Outpatient Rehab Miriam offers ways to enhance patient care, such as resource management and a team therapy approach. She is often requested by patients and takes it upon herself to clean the unit if an aide is not available. Miriam is one of only 16 certified functional manual therapists in the state.

lisa Martinez Imaging Services - Cary Hospital Lisa is a true patient advocate and puts patients at ease, offering a blanket or taking time to chat about their con-cerns. She is quick to help when needed, without being asked. She always makes herself available for patient transport and to assist techs so studies can be expedited.

Mary Murdock Outpatient Rehab Also a recipient for Quality Outcomes, Mary goes above and beyond to help patients, even when a task stretches outside her realm of responsibility, such as helping a patient bathe. As an aide in the Health Park, Mary is often the go-to person for patients who have concerns. Her com-passion attracts them and makes them feel at ease.

lori Neff Human Resources - Operations Lori is open to creative ways to address challenges. She answers calls and e-mails promptly, adding informa-tion to her responses that provides help with problem solving. She initiates contact where HR/Compensation is involved and when she knows an impact will be felt.

perry perdue Facility Services Also a recipient for Workforce Excellence, Perry is the zone mechanic for 4E Pediatrics. When he receives a call, he always says, “I will be there in a minute.” He is a master at turning a negative into a positive, and when he is on the unit, he asks other nurses to see if they need anything.

priscilla Raasch-Mason Outpatient Rehab Also a recipient for Workforce Excellence, Priscilla initiates excellent documentation standards to ensure appropriate reimbursement. She spearheads form changes to help her coworkers, and her documentation skills are known as the “gold standard” for others to follow.

cheryl Reilly Pharmacy Cheryl makes improvements to ensure issues do not happen again, for example, with medication supplies in Pyxis. She will be instrumental in achieving compliance with a new orderset for vented patients in the ICU since she educated others on the process. She also reviews patient charts for errors or opportunities for improvement.

Jamie Roush Pharmacy As a tech, Jamie goes the extra mile to deliver medications in a timely manner. An asset to the Pharmacy, she takes on quality improvement projects to enhance protocols. She developed a manual explaining the responsibilities of a pediatric pharmacy tech and the workflow of her team.

annah Schwartz Heart Center Observation Area Annah never wavers from her commitment to service excellence. She treats her patients as if they are her own family members and is naturally kind, respectful, pleasant and humble. She touches the lives of her patients and becomes the reason they want to return to WakeMed for care.

Barbara Wells Environmental Services Barbara’s work ethic and customer service skills are invaluable. She is proactive about checking in with different clinics, departments and buildings to see what they need and how she can assist. When her team’s leader was out for two months, Barbara took on extra responsibilities to ensure all the work was covered.

Nominated by their peers, the employees spotlighted in this issue of Microscope represent the best of the best in our organization. These are the men and women who have made a measurable difference in one or more of our five Strategic Plan Goals:

Quality Outcomes Unsurpassed Service Workforce Excellence Fiscal Responsibility Market Development

5 a red star denotes a recipient’s recognition in more than one category.

luan White Outpatient Rehab - North Healthplex LuAn develops great relationships with physicians, creating methods to facilitate better communication between physicians and staff. She ensures patients are seen in a timely manner and will stretch her hours to enhance patient care.

Erin allender Pharmacy Erin is a problem solver and worked to provide a large amount of research and data regarding platelet func-tion testing when the affect of a certain medication was questioned. She also identified an outdated policy and process for epoprostenol patients and worked to revise both with step-by-step instructions.

Tammy Baker CICU Tammy facilitated training on many new processes, including venipuncture and Soft ID, and was essential to the CICU starting online nursing documentation with Soarian Critical Care. In addition to committee participation, Tammy is a resource for new equipment and processes. She collaborates to develop education.

Helen Best Heart Center - Invasive Cardiology Helen created many policies and templates to simplify charging for services. Last year, she volunteered to complete a project on Current Procedural Terminology codes. A significant financial impact would have been felt if the changes were not made. She participates in the Speaker’s Bureau and is eager to share knowledge.

Monica Bock Pathology Labs - Phlebotomy Monica created helpful, easy-to-understand literature for patients and has visited doctors’ offices to help their staff prepare patients and families for a visit to the hospital. Her patience and positive attitude are appreciated, and she is diligent about communication.

Ruby Brown-Herring Wake AHEC Administration As associate director for Mental Health, Ruby has worked to analyze the program and make changes that are consistent with state guidelines. She volunteered to become an instructor for the statewide initiative to teach direct care workers in mental health and was selected to chair the Mental Health Directors group.

debbie Bryant Observation Unit 1 Debbie always volunteers to be a superuser on her unit for new processes and equipment and is currently her unit’s Soarian and MAK representative. She serves as both charge nurse and preceptor, and is the driving force behind the creation of the Guide for Professional Success (GPS) Mentoring Program on her unit.

Elisa castro Women’s Pavilion & Birthplace - Raleigh As a member of the Charge Nurse Committee, Elisa has helped with many activities that enhance her depart-ment. She encourages advanced education and even took a Spanish class to better understand her patients and be more flexible with her assignments.

cindy crist STICU Cindy strives to improve processes that can enhance patient care. When she finds an opportunity to make something easier or safer, she acts. She is her unit’s representative on the diabetes committee and is a superuser for the Point-of-Care lab printer. She is a go-to person on the STICU for equipment and processes.

Brenda denning Administration As executive assistant to the chief nursing officer (CNO), Brenda has been instrumental in familiarizing two CNOs with WakeMed. When the CNO role was new, she played a key role in establishing a structure for nursing councils, meetings and retreats. She also plans and schedules hundreds of executive meetings.

Sue doligalski Pathology Labs - Apex Healthplex Sue was vital to the implementation of new chemistry analyzers, writing procedures and guidelines for all pathology labs. She trained on the new analyzer to share her knowledge with coworkers. A cross-trained med tech, she often helps resolve staffing challenges.

lueShandra Mcknight Food & Nutrition Services - Cary Hospital LueShandra works hard to make improvements in her department. She was active in creating a new food ser-vice initiative in the Women’s Pavilion that improved the relationship. She is known for her sense of duty, integrity, caring attitude and attention to detail.

Janis Mclaughlin Outpatient Rehab As manager, Janis is highly regarded by her staff. She works hard to provide a comfortable work environment, boost morale and enhance the work/life balance for her team. Janis has been known to jump in and take shifts at Healthworks if there are staffing challenges.

Jennifer Mclucas-ingold Clinical Resource Management Jennifer is active in enhancing Case Management Substance Abuse Services and the Behavioral Health department, including an improved referral system that resulted in more efficient patient transfers. As tempo-rary supervisor for Behavioral Health Services, she put new systems into place that enhanced team stability.

cathy Meacham Case Management For improved workflow, Cathy wrote a proposal to change the process of physician advisor referrals for Chest Pain Observation patients. It is currently under review by leadership. Cathy serves as a mentor for her coworkers, educating them on proper procedures.

Neha Mehta Pathology Labs - Cytology Neha’s top goal is maintaining her department’s high level of patient care. She was a resource in a recent change in molecular testing. She researched and evaluated the new test, provided training to techs and continues to monitor progress.

Brigit piercy 5C Medicine A member of the Medical-Surgical Supply Committee and nursing expert on peritoneal dialysis, Brigit enhances patient care products, nursing policy and pro-cedure, and education. As a member of the Mental Health Workgroup, she collaborated to improve processes result-ing in the creation of the Behavioral Response Team.

dollie Reed-Boling Heart Center - Invasive Cardiology Dollie has a wealth of knowledge and passes it on to her peers to ensure their success. She proactively takes time with management and staff when she sees opportunities for improvement, and she willingly moves out of her comfort zone to learn new equipment.

Vickie Riddle Infection Prevention Vickie created the Infection Control Resource Nurse program so units can have a direct contact in Infection Prevention. She presents at hospital and nursing orientations to educate on hand hygiene and infection prevention practices. Vickie is diligent about communi-cating infection prevention processes and changes.

daniel Schmidt Heart Center - Invasive Cardiology Daniel is considered a clinical expert on his depart-ment’s new equipment and procedures. He enjoys learn-ing new things and is eager to share knowledge. He volunteers to train staff and has the ability to teach others in a way that is easy to understand.

Stacey Sliger MPDC An inventory control specialist, Stacey looks for ways to reduce waste, improve ordering and monitor stock. For example, she realized that her department’s method for managing surgical inventory was inadequate, so she worked with Supply Chain Management to create a system that brought annual inventory accuracy up to 99.4 percent – a department record.

Melissa Sparks Pharmacy Also a recipient for Unsurpassed Service, Melissa is involved with implementing new technology for Pharmacy and Nursing, and even created a training manual for computerized physician order entry (CPOE). She also organized 24/7 Pharmacy coverage and training for CPOE go-live cycles. Melissa is a go-to resource for many systems, and goes above and beyond to ensure patient safety and communication.

Holly Warner WakeMed Faculty Physicians - Pediatric Intensivists As a member of the Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) Committee, Holly helped create the withdrawal assessment tool (WAT) for children with prolonged intu-bations in the PICU. With the WAT, providers can better care for patients with withdrawal symptoms. Holly also helped create discharge standing orders for several pediatric conditions to enhance patient flow.

Workforce Excellence

F iscal Responsibility

Thanks

Market Development

leighann Flanagan Emergency Department As clinical educator/supervisor, Leighann is constantly teaching classes and making rounds to help teach nurses processes and procedures. She is her depart-ment’s stroke liaison and sepsis “guru” and is leading the way with her work on non-invasive hemodynamic monitoring.

lisa Forte WakeMed OneCall Also a recipient for Unsurpassed Service, Lisa is a natural leader and communicator, always willing to share her knowledge. In fact, she shares information about the OneCall program, which she helped to build, with other hospitals and vendors so they can learn from our model.

carrie Fraser STICU Also a recipient for Unsurpassed Service, Carrie takes the time for the emotional side of her patients – wash-ing their hair, helping them shave or chatting. Carrie also developed a new communication tool to leave on patient clipboards that details the patient’s history, hospital course and family phone numbers, etc.

Eleanor goodrow Emergency Department - North Healthplex Eleanor teaches many certification courses for the system and a splinting class for new ED staff. She also helps ensure that orientation materials for new nurses remain current. As charge nurse, Eleanor is always supportive of her team and communicates gratitude for their work.

SandeeJene Hales Emergency Department - Cary Hospital SandeeJene is often used by department management as an example of good customer service. She is chair of her unit-based council, which helped add white boards to patient rooms to promote bedside reporting. She is active in the Emergency Nurses Association and works to stay current on nursing issues.

keathren HewettWound Care Also a recipient for Unsurpassed Service, Keath does things for the therapists to make their jobs easier, such as helping apply wound vacs. He takes pride in his role as aide and recently surveyed therapists to find out the strengths and weaknesses of his team. On his own, he met with other aides to come up with enhancements.

Janice Horner Quality & Patient Safety Passionate about employee wellness, Janice is working on a stress reduction pilot project to help keep staff focused. She also volunteers frequently to help with wellness screenings and is active in the readmission task force, surgical care improvement team and Quality & Patient Safety committee.

Oxana kamneva Pharmacy Oxana’s positive attitude and professionalism set her apart. She volunteered to precept the next generation of pharmacists and was quick to help with a project to validate the adjustment nomogram for a certain medi-cation, getting the research off the ground and building a data collection sheet.

Virginia “ginny” kellum Children’s Asthma Program Through staffing transitions and the implementation of the Electronic Health Record (EHR), Ginny helped develop new strategies to manage the change. She took on new responsibilities, such as processing new patient referrals, to ensure things continue to run smoothly. She also developed a method to communicate scanned EHR documents to providers.

lindsay kimbrellPathology Labs - Microbiology Also a recipient for Unsurpassed Service, Lindsay served as the very first laboratory ambassador at WakeMed and was assigned to trial the program with NICU management. She has been praised for her efficiency, thoroughness and enthusiasm and has shown how collaboration among departments can greatly enhance patient care.

amber lewis Outpatient Rehab Also a recipient for Unsurpassed Service, Amber has assisted, on her days off, with shifts at other rehabilita-tion sites when staffing challenges arise. She provides outstanding leadership and has developed creative solutions to assist with scheduling at other sites.

Matthew Mccain Facility Services As electronics supervisor, Matt ensures the tube system, nurse call bell system and fire alarms are functioning. Recently, when the tube system shut down, Matt went beyond the repair to resolve the issue. He consulted with the manufacturer and spent hours troubleshoot-ing to find a solution. The manufacturer is now using this solution across the country.

a red star denotes a recipient’s recognition in more than one category.

Billie Wilson Compliance & Audit Services Billie is known to work beyond her responsibilities to determine how processes can be improved, and she presses for improvements until they are implemented. She drills into hot topics to develop her expertise and is a trusted resource within her department.

Meredith Wise STICU For STICU, Meredith serves on the unit council, is the infection control resource nurse and is the Work-Life Committee chairperson. She can be counted on to help with quality improvements and recently planned her unit’s first recognition picnic. Meredith has also been instrumental in helping promote hand hygiene.

Jeff armstrong Mobile Critical Care Services Jeff has done an outstanding job of negotiating prices with vendors, suppliers and mechanics to ensure WakeMed is maximizing our vehicle lifespan while reducing costs. He was also instrumental in researching a camera and drive monitoring system that was success-fully implemented in all ambulances.

Janette castro Pharmacy Also a recipient for Unsurpassed Service, Janette went above and beyond to research and implement lower cost medications. She helped the Pharmacy change providers for certain medications to save WakeMed over $30,000 annually. To save even more, she helped implement a process for order entry that helps check for a generic equivalent of each medication.

Sara Reichardt Surgical Services - Inpatient PACU Sara led her department’s implementation of Optiflex supply management. She identified areas of waste, supply overstocks and patient charging practices that could be enhanced. With MPDC, Sara created a lean stock of supplies and educated staff on entering charges cor-rectly. As a result, in April through June, her department’s Optiflex compliance was 100 percent.

kathy Tigner Respiratory Care Services - Cary HospitalWhen Kathy realized that certain rentals in her depart-ment were exceeding the budget (potentially delaying critical ventilator therapies for patients), she pushed for the expansion of the Radar Find inventory management tool to include rental equipment and implemented a competitive pricing process among vendors. As a result, rental expenses are down by 40 percent.

Susan Evans Milk Bank Susan is instrumental in increasing donations to the WakeMed Milk Bank and stays in contact with com- munities and hospitals nationwide that need assistance. Because of her dedication and knowledge, the WakeMed Milk Bank is ranked number 10 in the nation and has been recognized by HMBANA as one of the most progressive and successful milk banks in the United States.

angela Newman 3 West Medical-Surgical - Cary Hospital Angela helped create a Joint Center of Excellence to enhance and grow orthopaedic services at Cary Hospital. Exceptional at building relationships, she also helped open Cary Hospital’s successful Medical Treatment Unit and was the driving force behind the project.

Julie Stauss Pharmacy Julie coordinated the creation of the Mobile Pharmacy Unit (MPU) for deployment during disaster. She worked with community groups to obtain support, and met with the N.C. Board of Pharmacy and Drug Enforcement Administration to develop policies and procedures. Julie also serves on the N.C. Association of Pharmacists Emer-gency Preparedness Team to learn about best practices across the state.

A Special Thanks to Our 2011 COE Committee Members

Anna Baird-Hensley, Human Resources Bob Boss, Environmental Services Dot Eldreth, Women’s Pavilion & Birthplace - Cary Cynthia Gwathney, Imaging Services Administration Susan Hester, Community Services Susan Jackson, WakeMed Physician Practices - AdministrationCristina Krasny, Interpretation & Translation Services Jessica Marchand, Food & Nutrition Services Skip Roy, Acute Rehabilitation Services Coleen Smith, Public Relations Grover Smith, Pathology Laboratories Cindy Wells, Wake AHEC Administration Oral Wise, Ambulatory Services Administration

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WakeMed Leaders Named Women ExtraordinaireMichele Casey, MD, director of Primary Cary at WakeMed & medical director at Wake Specialty Physicians - Falls Pointe Medical Group; Georgia Sumiel, vice president of Operations & Logistics; and pamela young, director, (Staff Develop-ment & Training) each received a 2011 Women Extraordinaire Award from Busi-ness Leader. This award is given to exceptional female leaders in the Trian-gle. The honorees are selected for their professional achievements and efforts to make a difference for the Triangle’s business community and organizations.

Ambulatory pharmacy manager Alex Jenkins, PharmD, tries out the Pharmacy’s new automated dispens-ing system in its new location.

n October 25, the WakeMed Outpatient Pharmacy, formerly located on the first floor of the Andrews Center, reopened as The Pharmacy in a newly renovated space on the first floor of the Raleigh Campus (near the C Elevators, next to the newly renovated and relocated Gift Shop). This new location is a convenient stop on the way out of the hospital, if you are leaving toward the P1 visitor parking deck, or during your lunch break. They accept all major insurance plans.

Hours of operationMonday-Friday: 8 am to 11 pm Saturday: 8 am to 4 pm Closed Sunday

The Pharmacy at WakeMed provides all prescription medi-cations and a wide variety of over-the-counter products. If they don’t have it on the shelf, they will order it for you.

Within the pharmacy, an automated dispensing system allows for faster prescription processing and a greatly reduced risk of medication

errors. This way, they have more time for medication counseling and other direct interactions with patient and employee customers.

For more information, contact any of the Pharmacy team members at ext. 08196.

safety firstSafetyFIRST

Reducing At-Risk DaysAlerts & RecallsAlerts, recalls or hazardous notices come to WakeMed from government agencies, manufacturers, distributors, etc. When notices are received, it is important that they be immediately directed to the department coordinating the required corrections so that any risk of harm is kept to a minimum. WakeMed alert and recall coordinators help manage this process. Once notified of an alert or recall, department managers are responsible for leading the process to secure, report and take action. Alert and recall coordinators are:

Environment of Care: barb bisset, RN, PhD, (Emergency Services)

Food: Jessica Marchand (Food & Nutrition Services)

Medical Equipment: bhavesh patel (Clinical Engineering)

Medical Products: peggy lassiter (Supply Chain)

Pathology Lab: phyllis Cheeley (Pathology Labs)

Pharmaceuticals: alex Jenkins (Pharmacy)

Transfusion Products: Melanie rice (Pathology Labs)

Vehicles: Maggie Kane (Patient Safety/Risk Management)

A new electronic process was developed that uses SharePoint and Outlook to manage the alert/recall process by automatically sending e-mails to the appropriate recipients with alert/recall information and requested actions, including when the recall or alert has ended. This process is being piloted

in the Pharmacy with a plan to implement it system-wide. To reduce the number of days a defective product is potentially in the system, employees should take the follow-ing actions:

• IfyouknowofanalertorrecallbuthavenotalreadyseenaWakeMednotice,andyou do not know who the coordinator is, contact peggy lassiter (Strategic Sourcing) at plassiter@wakemed.org.

• Whenyoureceiveane-mailnotice,itwill be titled UrGent. Make it a pri-ority and take the actions requested.

• Completethedocumentationformthat is linked in the e-mail, and submit it to the alert and recall coordinator.

On your own, you may notice that a product or piece of equipment has poor instructions, has defective packaging or is not functioning properly. When this happens, save the product/equipment or, when applicable, the packaging; notify Lassiter at plassiter@wakemed.org; and, when feasible, return the item to Strategic Sourcing, who will report the issue to the manufacturer and proper authorities.

Should anyone (patient, staff, visitor) be injured from a product or piece of equip-ment, take the measures necessary to respond to the person’s medical needs; remove the item from service and secure it; and notify the clinical or site administrator and Patient Safety/Risk Management.

Barb Bisset, RN, phdExecutive Director & Safety Officer, WakeMed Emergency Services Institute

Wake Specialty Physicians Adds Pulmonology PracticeAbove: Sanjay Patel, MD, MPH, and Sangeeta Joshi, MD

On November 14, Wake Specialty Physicians (WSP) established a new Pulmonology practice located behind Cary Hospital. Featuring two expert pulmonologists, Sanjay patel, MD, MPH, and Sangeeta Joshi, MD, the practice sees private patients several days a week, while also treating inpatients at Cary Hospital through the intensivist program. For more details, visit their new website at http://www.wakemedphysicians.com/pulmonology. Call (919) 350-2700 to make an appointment.

Helping Teach WakeMed Surgeons & ResidentsA mobile cadaver lab came to the Raleigh Campus in late October to teach surgeons and residents about different ortho-paedic expo-sures and anatomy. Oper-ated by Synthes, the lab was parked behind the Andrews Center. Once inside the lab, surgeons and residents could perform dissections on the lower and upper extrem-ities of cadavers to get a detailed look at the anatomy. They also had the opportunity to practice using different implants.

Vendor Compliance System Changed from Status Blue to Reptrax To protect patient safety, the WakeMed compliance policy mandates that all vendors meet certain criteria before entering any WakeMed facility. That said, WakeMed has converted its vendor compliance system from Status Blue to Reptrax as of November 30.

Employees will now see two differ-ent vendor badges. A horizontal badge means that the vendor has registered but they cannot enter any clinical area, while a vertical badge means the vendor has met all the requirements stipulated for access to clinical areas.

Please help enforce this policy – all vendors in a WakeMed facility must be registered in Reptrax (formerly Status Blue) and should display a badge at all times.

Raleigh Campus Outpatient Pharmacy Relocates

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Thrills & ChillsOn October 26, the Center for Innovative Learning, in collaboration with other depart-ments, hosted the annual Patient Safety House of Horrors event, an opportunity for nurses and caregivers to tour a simulated environment where patient care situations are full of safety hazards. Over 260 visitors toured the attraction, with 222 employees success-fully finding the required 50 safety errors (in fact, there were well over 100) in exchange for nursing contact hours. Pictured is event volun-teer Annie Brito, RN, (Adult Acute Care Nurs-ing Services) as she demonstrates everything a clinical secretary should not be doing.

PAT i e n T S A f e T y

House of Horrors

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Welcome to the WakeMed family, all new brides, grooms and babies!

courtney Oktyabrsky (6C Surgery & Trauma) and husband Alex welcomed Kaitlyn Rose on August 11.

Shelley Frye (Therapy Services Supplemental Pool) and husband John welcomed son Jackson Dennis on August 29.

kim Burton (Pathology Labs - Specimen Processing) married Daniel Wimbush on September 24.

xuan Seepolmuang, PharmD, (Pharmacy - Cardiology Team) and her husband wel-comed son Paxon Tang on September 30.

Miel arcari (Acute Rehab Services) and Scott Binford, a PA with Raleigh Neurology, were married on October 1.

ashley parker (Pathology Labs - Core Lab) was married to Derek Stevens on October 1.

Michelle Strickland, RN, (6C Surgery & Trauma) and husband Jimmy celebrated the birth of Ansley Denise on October 5.

Whitney Hughes (Acute Rehab Services) and husband Jamie welcomed son David Andrew on October 11.

cassandra Bolduc (Administration) married Bryen Lester on October 15.

Queensley Okoro (2D Rehab) recently celebrated the birth of son Prince George Okauru.

New Additions and Attachments

at cary Hospital, trees were recently removed and aerial marker balls were added to nearby power lines so the hospital can once again open its helipad and transport patients using WakeMed air Mobile.

Okechukwu Nwoko, Md, and casey Jenkins, Md, of Wake Orthopaedics

cary Hospital Helipad Reopened

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dr. CaSey SUMieL yoUnG

Microscope is a newsletter written by and for

the employees of WakeMed. Our goal is to provide

employees and friends of WakeMed with the most

up-to-date news on all of the hospital system’s activi-

ties. The Public Relations department thanks all of the

employees who contributed to this publication.

We welcome comments and suggestions on this

publication and its content. Call (919) 350-8120, e-mail

microscope@wakemed.org, or write Microscope,

Wake Med Public Relations Department, 3000 New

Bern Avenue, Raleigh, NC 27610.

Coleen Smith, Moira Dutton, Editors

Leslie Keefe, Design

WakeMed Employees, Photos

©WakeMed Public Relations, November/December 2011

ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED

WakeMed Health & Hospitals

3000 New Bern AvenueRaleigh, North Carolina 27610

Non profit OrganizationU.S. Postage

PAIDRaleigh, NC

Permit NO. 1307

O F E V E N T STo help you plan ahead, this calendar lists upcoming system-wide events, training classes and community events. For complete details and fee information, visit the WakeMedWeb. Please send calendar submissions to the Public Relations depart-ment or e-mail microscope@wakemed.org.

CALENDARO F E V E N T S

hroughout the fall, WakeMed hosted many community outreach events to offer

Wake County residents the opportunity to focus on their health and wellness as well as learn more about the WakeMed facilities and services located in their communities. In all, approxi-mately 2,000 residents participated in events such as WakeMed Health Day at the SAS Championship golf tournament (September 30 at Prestonwood Country Club in Cary), the Stand By Your Man men’s health event (Sep-tember 21 at Cary Hospital), the Ladies Day women’s health and wellness event (October 6 at North Healthplex) and the Head to Toe community wellness series (October 11-27 at various WakeMed facilities and Wake County community centers). These events included free health screenings, seminars and informa-tion, as well as other activities related to living a healthier, less stressful lifestyle.

Approximately 850 people attended the semi-nars while 780 received a cholesterol screen-ing, 900 had their blood pressure checked, 554 received a bone density screening, 433 received a flu shot, 73 received a prostate exam and 51 received a vascular screening. These results would not have been possible without the hard work of the Corporate & Community Health department as well as hundreds of staff volunteers from throughout WakeMed.

“Our strategy this fall was to reach as many people as possible in the communities where our hospitals and facilities are located,” commented Deb Laughery, vice president of Public Relations. “We want Wake County residents to know that we are conveniently located near their own neighborhoods, and we are eager to provide the quality care they need to live the healthiest lives possible.”

Head to toe: (top left) Sarah Bright, RN, (Wake Specialty Physicians - Holly Springs Medical Center) administers a flu shot, while physical therapist Courtney Hudson (Outpatient Rehab - Clayton Medical Park) (top right) discusses posture at the Garner event held at White Deer Park Nature Center.

LadieS day: (bottom photo) Women enjoy a healthy lunch during the event at North Healthplex.

REcEiVE a BONuS FOR HElpiNg aN ExpERiENcEd Ed NuRSE JOiN WakEMEdEarn $300 per experienced Ed nurse referral – Let your friends and family know that

WakeMed’s Raleigh Cam-pus is a great place to be a nurse. If they accept a position as an Adult ED nurse, you get a paycheck bonus! For details and instructions, visit the homepage of the Wake-MedWeb.

WiNTER cHill TENNiS cHallENgEBenefiting WakeMed chil-dren’s – Saturday, January 28, (snow date: February 4)

at the Raleigh Racquet Club. Indoor tennis for adults and children (ages 4 to 12). Com-petitive and Just-For-Fun programs avail-able. Dinner will be served - prizes and other activities included. More details and tickets are available at www.childrencantwait.org.

VOluNTEER ORiENTaTiONRaleigh campus – Monday, December 12, from 5:30 to 8:30 pm, and Wednesday, December 14, from 9:30 am to 12:30 pm. Both sessions held in Conference Dining.

cary Hospital – Tuesday, December 20, from 8:30 am to noon. Held in the Conference Center.

STaFF dEVElOpMENT & TRaiNiNgEnroll in any of the listed classes via Learn-ing Link or ask your manager/supervisor to e-mail SDRegistration@wakemed.org with your name and employee number, and course name, date(s) and time(s). For information, visit the WakeMedWeb or call ext. 08306. Please note: Some classes have preliminary requirements.

Employee developmentMyers Briggs for Employees – Thursday, December 15, 8:30 am to 12:30 pm, in the Medical Office Building, SD&T Classroom #3 (Code=SDME)

WakE aHEc Educational credit available for all programs. For details/fees, call ext. 08547 or visit www.wakeahec.org and click Program Listings.

OSHa and North carolina infection control Methods – Tuesday, December 13, 5:45 pm, in the Andrews Center

The Mind Matters: Overview of Mental illness for the certified Nursing assistant – Tuesday, December 13, 9 am, at Cary Hospital

NuRSiNg EducaTiONNursing professional Book Series – When Chicken Soup Isn’t Enough by Suzanne Gordon (NE014-11088), Monday, December 19, 7:30 to 8:30 am, in Conference Dining (Raleigh Campus)

Fall community Outreach Events Touch Thousands

New NICU Respite RoomThe NICU recently created a respite room for unit nurses as well as parents of NICU patients. The room was created by the NICU Retention & Recognition Committee. The unit purchased items for the room, and staff did the shopping.

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What an Employee !Valerie Barlow, PharmD, (Pharmacy) was selected as one of UNC Eschelman’s most notable leaders and will be featured in the Carolina Pharmacy Alumni magazine. Barlow was also elected to the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists Acute Care Executive Committee.

kristin Merritt, RN, (2 West ICU & MSIC - Cary Hospital) was accepted into the AONE Nurse Manager Fellowship Program. Only 25 applicants from across the United States were chosen.

cat colvin (Trauma Services) passed the ATSRCB exam and is now recognized as a Certified Specialist in Trauma Registry.

caroline Elder (2D Rehab) received her Wound Ostomy Certification (CWON).

A proposal by annie Brito, RN, (Adult Acute Care Nursing Services) and Fran powell, RN, (Center for Innovative Learning) was accepted for presentation at the 2012 Human Patient Simulation Network Conference.

Shannon Roberson, RN, (Children’s Emer-gency Department) received her Certified Pediatric Nurse (CPEN) credential.

Benita Smith, RN, (Children’s Emergency Department) was selected to be the facilita-tor for the Pediatric Special Interest Group of the Emergency Nurses Association.

Jennifer curtin, RN, (Staffing Resources) won the female division of the WakeMed Scrub Run 10K, with a time of 41:15.

Becky Roy, RN, (4E Pediatrics) received the November WakeMed DAISY Award for Extraordinary Nurses.

patty Starling (Clinical Analysis) graduated from the University of Phoenix with a bache-lor’s degree in Healthcare Administration and a minor in Health Information Systems.

kimberly Earp, RN, (3B CVSIC) completed her master’s degree in nursing from Walden University.

lori Bristol, RN, (Emergency Department - Apex Healthplex) earned her CEN.

MICU recognizes the following employees: laurel Meadows, RN, received the 2011 Team Support award; Stacey carroll, RN, received the 2011 Clinical Performance award; alisha davenport, RN, received the 2011 Greatest Clinical Growth award; lissa Tassos, RN, was named Best R&R Supporter; and greg anderson, RN, passed the Adult Nurse Practitioner boards. Also, clint dean, RN; Bob McVeigh, RN; Janet Faulk, RN; gloria ilonze, RN; pam pluff, RN; and Sarah Tiffany, RN, had outstanding attendance for 2011.

The following Lactation staff recently became International Board Certified Lactation Consul-tants (IBCLCs): Tracy Weidig, RN, and Joan

Brown, RN. The following Women’s Pavilion & Birthplace - Raleigh staff also became IBCLCs: Jodi Rucker, RN; Susie Reynolds, RN; deborah Woodruff, RN; amy Mccutchin, RN; Tara Roberts, RN; and georgi Murray, RN. Also, Bonny Reid (Birth & Parent Education) passed the International Board of Lactation Consultants Exam and is now a registered lactation consultant.

As of November 8, 6c Surgery & Trauma went 55 days without a patient fall and 47 days without a patient being placed in restraints. The unit’s management team hosted pizza parties for staff to celebrate.

Mike Ross, RPh, and angela Smith, PharmD, (both of Pharmacy - Cary Hospital) earned the title of Board Certified Pharmacotherapy Specialist after passing the board exam in Pharmacotherapy.

In November, a serious incident was avoided by the quick actions of christine O’Neil, RN, (Center for Innovative Learning), detective david Brock (Cam-pus Police & Public Safety) and gregg colvin, MD, (WakeMed Faculty Physicians - Hospitalists). They all worked together to assist a patient who was trying to park his car in the parking deck when he became sick and dizzy and crashed into one of the pillars. The patient is okay thanks to their assis-tance until the Code Blue team and EMS arrived.

alex Jenkins, PharmD, (Pharmacy) was named the new ambulatory pharmacy manager. He will also serve as interim medication safety officer, his former position, until the position is filled.

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