Kenmore Kronicle (September/October 2015)

September/October 2015

The Kenmore Kronicle A Newsletter for the Nursing Staff at Kenmore Mercy Hospital

Wedding Bells Ring in MRU

It’s a new season.

A perfect opportunity to do something new, something bold, something beautiful!

A Note From Cheryl As fall sneaks up on us, we start to see signs of the season.The leaves are changing, the nights are getting cooler, and the geese are heading south.

While many of us would like to follow their lead and head to warmer temperatures, the actions of geese offer a more valuable lesson about the power of teamwork.

• Geese fly in formation as a group to take advantage of the power of the lift.

• When one falls out of formation it feels the drag of flying alone.

• Geese honk to encourage one another.

• When one falls or is wounded, two geese fly down and stay to protect the goose until it is ready to fly back in formation.

• When the leader gets tired, another goose flies into the lead point position.

The lessons we learn from the geese are: • Stand by one another.

• Go in the same direction.

• Encourage one another, Honk!

• Care for each other.

• Trust each other.

Together, we are the team. ~ Cheryl

The Medical Rehabilitation Unit’s nursing team at Kenmore Mercy Hospital took the patient experience to a new level on September 26. They helped to ensure a stroke patient could participate in her daughter’s wedding.

Upon hearing Judith Boris’ story, the nursing staff got working to ensure she could celebrate with her family.

In less than 48 hours, plans were in place for her to share in her daughter’s special day at Kenmore Mercy Hospital. Registered nurse Mary Jane Lodico, made arrangements so Judith could watch Dawn Boris and Eric Saldanha planned ceremony at St. Joseph University Parish via Facetime with nursing and medical staff close by.

Following the emotional ceremony, Judith’s family joined her in Kenmore Mercy Hospital’s beautiful chapel for photos. Thanks to Mary Jane and nurse attendant Denise Chatt, she was dressed for occasion and her hair and makeup done.

Nurse manager Christine Schwinn also made arrangements for a small reception.

Christine was proud of her staff’s actions. “What a blessing it was for our team to be part of this special day for Judith and her family. We go out of our way for our patients every day. This wedding was just one more way that our staff demonstrated their dedication to Kenmore Mercy Hospital’s mission and values,” she said.

Nursing attendant Denise Chatt helped get Judith ready for the big day.

Mary Jane Lodico sat with Judith as she watched the wedding ceremony.

Judith with her husband and the bride and groom.

Remember to watch Nursing Notes on the Intranet for more news!

Coming & Goings Welcome New Team Members The following individuals joined the nursing team in September and October.

Spotlight on Holly Grimm Registered nurse Holly Grimm began her career at Kenmore Mercy Hospital in 1987. Originally a nurse attendant, then a unit clerk, and a clinical nurse attendant, she has gained significant knowledge and experience and experience that she openly shares with her peers.

Holly currently serves on Shared Governance, the Skin Care Committee, and the Soarian Clinical Team. The latter allows her to keep informed of all the changes in Soarian, how they will impact nursing, and is given the opportunity to provide a voice for nursing within the Soarian Team.

Frederick Rich, UC/TT; Dagmar Lieder RN; Keianne Bautista, RN; Kimberly Ramseyer, RN; and Dominique Jones, NA

September/October Keianne Bautista, RN - Emergency Room Fredrick Rich, UC/TT - 3 East Kimberly Ramseyer, RN - Interventional Radiology Dominique Jones, NA - 2 East/2 South Dagmar Lieder, RN - Ambulatory Surgery Unit Cheryl Schultz, RN - Endoscopy Kathleen DuBois, UC - Medical Rehabilitation Unit Nolan Reimondo, RN - 3 East

Farewell Thank you to Mary O’Connor, RN, who retired in September. Most recently a nurse in the Endoscopy Unit, Mary was with Kenmore Mercy Hospital for 41 years. Also, Mary Zulewski, surgery scheduler, retired in September after 45 years with Kenmore Mercy Hospital.

“Throughout my 28 years at Kenmore Mercy Hospital, I have seen lot of changes. What keeps me here the family type atmosphere that the hospital offers,” Holly noted.

Holly Grimm, RN, currently works the 2 South and 2 East Patient Care Units.

Respect for our nursing leadership has also played a big role in why Holly has chosen to keep her nursing career here. “Cheryl Hayes is a wonderful leader, she has never forgotten she was a nurse and truly supports nursing as a profession.”

Holly’s nurse manager, Mary Hojnacki, stated that “From Holly’s professional life to her personal life, she has a true compassion for healing, she is a nurse through and through.”

“Holly is an exceptional nurse. The nursing care she provides comes from her heart, implemented with her experience and great skill. She is both a strong patient and nurse advocate, respected by physicians, her peers and leadership. We are very fortunate to have Holly practice here at Kenmore Mercy Hospital for 28 years delivering her special care to our patients,” added Cheryl Hayes, vice president of Patient Care Services.

Holly is currently enrolled in the RN to BSN program at Niagara University. She will graduate next year. Holly enjoys advancing her education to enhance her nursing career Kenmore Mercy Hospital.

Thank you Holly for your 28 years of service at Kenmore Mercy Hospital, you truly are an asset to our team.

Kenmore Mercy Recognized Heart Failure Care

Kenmore Mercy Hospital recently celebrated receiving the Get With The Guidelines®-Heart Failure Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.

Mary O’Connor, RN, and Linda Butski, RN, nurse manager of Endoscopy.

Mary Zulewski

Additionally, it was recognized as a recipient of the Association’s Target: Heart Failure Honor Roll, for improving patient care and reducing hospital readmissions.

Catholic Health and Heart Association leadership commended the staff of 3 East for their efforts to help reduce heart failure readmissions.

This marks the third year that Kenmore Mercy Hospital has been recognized with a quality achievement award for its Congestive Heart Failure program.

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This recognition honors Kenmore Mercy’s commitment to high-level, consistent care of its heart failure patients using the latest clinical and scientific, evidencebased guidelines supported by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology.

Patient Safety Reminders MAK Reminder

Patients Keeping Score on Cleanliness

Nurses, please log out of MAK, in order for respiratory therapists to document their medications as they are administering them.

Enhancing the patient experience is an ongoing effort across all of Catholic Health. One specific area of concentration at Kenmore Mercy Hospital is room and bathroom cleanliness. In recent Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) results, the hospital saw a dip in scores for the question “During the hospital stay, how often was your room and bathroom kept clean?”

Upon discharge, nurses are to unlock the patient’s medication lock box in the room to ensure the newly admitted patient is not inadvertently given the previous patient’s medications.

The national average is 72.2 percent, and Kenmore Mercy scored 62.2 in June. This has been a gradual drop since January.

If you are using a personal alarm for patients, you must also use a bed or chair alarm. The personal alarm cannot be used alone.

Staff are tackling this issue by establishing of a culture of engagement and accountability, rethinking the patient perspective, and improving communication about cleanliness with patients and staff.

While the work of the environmental services staff is vital to helping prevent the spread of disease, all staff should be accountable for the look of a patient’s room. Nurses and nurse attendants can help “tidy” up patient rooms by asking if they are done with their meal trays and paper media when rounding. If a room does need cleaning, call environmental services to ensure the room is on their list. Also, to avoid clutter, only bring in what you need into a room.

Patient evaluations of cleanliness are based on their perceptions. This differs from those perceptions of nurses or managers. Put yourself in the patient’s shoes. They spend a lot of time in the same small space. As a result, they begin to evaluate our rooms as they would their own homes. That spider web in the corner, spot on the floor or broken window blind start to stand out.

One response that resonated on the survey was that garbage was overflowing in the bathroom. Housekeepers are now being asked to round back to patient rooms to empty this trash later in the day. This also provides an opportunity to interact with patients and tell them what they are doing. When a patient isn’t in their room, the patient experience team has suggested leaving a card noting that the room was cleaned and when.

Remember, every member of the hospital staff plays an important role in patient satisfaction. While cleanliness is not an indicator of hospital quality, it is a dissatisfier that can negatively affect perceptions of an otherwise satisfying hospital stay. Together, everyone can make a difference and make Kenmore Mercy a top rated hospital.

Nurses assistants Amy Whalen and Delores Watkins prepare a “Picture Perfect Room.”

Through this ongoing Patient Experience program Environmental Services and Nursing Departments staff ensure that all patient rooms are set up in a standard look and meet specific cleaning protocols.

Medication Lock Boxes

Patient Alarms

Patient & Visitor Event Reporting

There is a new link on the intranet for occurrence reports. This will take you directly to the electronic event reporting page. Passwords are not required, nor do you need to enter your name. However, the department must be entered. Patient information is automatically entered. Events may also be entered regarding visitors. You do not need to print the form. It will automatically be sent to Quality & Patient Safety.

Med Reconciliation All patients are required to have a completed home collection of medications. Be sure when entering this to include strength, form, dose, route and frequency.

This will assist the providers with their discharge summary and ePrescribing any medication. It is important that the patient’s pharmacy is also entered.

New Medication Education Please keep in mind the following checklist when educating a patient about new medication.

1) Name of the medication 2) What the medication is being used for and how it works.

3) How and when to take the medication.

4) What to do if a dose is missed.

5) Possible side effects and what to do if patient experiences them.

6) Empower patient to always ask any questions they have about their medications.

Smart Pumps Did you know that the most common reason for the administration of the wrong dose of intravenous medication was an error in programming IV infusion pumps?

Be sure you are following the IV line to the patient and label your lines.

Smart pump guardrails are mechanisms that are preprogramed to ensure the patient doesn’t receive their medication at too high of a rate.

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Nursing Tips & Reminders Blood Sugar Make sure you dock glucometers right after blood sugar is completed to ensure is can download into electronic medical records.

Pain Assessment

Be sure to reassess and document pain score 30 - 60 minutes after a pain relief intervention.

Flu Vaccine

Please be sure you are offering patients their flu vaccine. Prior to administering the vaccine, please be sure to SHAKE it well.

Mentor Program Please contact Amber Mazurek at 447-6334 if you would like to volunteer as a mentor for our newer nurses. Your help is needed.

Weight Measurement When a patient’s weight deviates five percent from previously documented weights, the nurse will receive an alert. Please reweigh the patient and document the new weight. Medical treatments can sometimes vary based on a patient’s weight, therefor it must be accurate.

Goals on Whiteboards

At the beginning of your shift, be sure to ask your patient, “What is your goal for your hospital stay?”

Please be sure to write their goal on the white board.

At the end of the shift, ask the patient how did we do in achieving their goals?

POC Results

If a physician gives an order to not confirm a POC result (that is not to draw a venous glucose within 30 minutes per policy) you will need to select a comment, “MD conf canceled” in the glucometer drop down comments.

Wound Vac

Please be sure to return would vacs to SPD. Do not place them in a red bag.

Comfort Quilts If you have a patient who is comfort care or hospice care, you may select a comfort quilt for them. They are located in the Intensive Care Unit. Check with the unit clerk or charge nurse.

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Nurses Address Professionalism in Essays

What does nursing professionalism mean to you? Registered nurses Kristyn Durick, Intensive Care Unit; Alan Chittley, 2 East/2 South; and Mary Willis, 3 East; recently answered that question as part of an Nurse Practice Committee essay contest.

Kristyn, who was awarded first place by her peers, noted in her essay that, “Nurses have proficient knowledge, moral standards, good communication skills, kindness, respect for all people, and a remarkable attitude toward selfless care.”

She added, “Respecting your patients, families, colleagues and ancillary staff is a large part of professionalism. Communicating effectively is a large part of how we exemplify respect. A professional nurse speaks clearly and directly to people.”

Heather Telford, Kathy Vitthuhn, Kristen Parisi, and Cheryl Hayes, congratulate Kristyn Durick, center.

Alan, who was awarded second prize, noted in his essay, “Professionalism is also shaped by why we chose this Mary Hojnacki and Mary Willis profession. If we chose just to get paid, Alan Chittley. and an end to a means for money, then that is all the profession will mean to that person. But if we chose as a means to help others with our God given skills, and desire to do our best for the patient and be pleasing to God, then we will enter the realm of being a professional nurse.”

Last, but not least, Mary, was awarded third prize. In her essay she noted, “Professionalism in nursing, to me, begins in the heart and the mind of a nurse.

Once you have passed your boards to practice as a registered nurse that does not automatically make you a professional. Professionalism is a choice that can make a profound impact on patient care and job satisfaction. It also creates a healthy work environment.”

Thank you to all of the nursing staff who participated in this essay contest. You can reach these essays in their entirety on Nursing Notes located on the intranet.

New Hires Pass Boards Congratulations to our graduate nurses who recently passed their New York State Registered Nurse exam.

Stephanie Hartung, RN - 3 East Emily Glasgow, RN - Intensive Care Unit Bridget Gregory, RN -3 East Kayla Kandefer, RN - 2 West Courtney Kessel, RN - 2 East/2 South Jamie Kohl, RN - 2 West Samantha Kulu, RN - 2 East/2 South Shanna Li, RN- 2 West Brooke Little, RN - 2 West Joy MacNeill, RN - 2 West Candace McCulloch, RN - 2 East/2 South James McQuade, RN -2 West Isabel Mendoza, RN - 2 East/2 South Thomas Parsons, RN - 2 West Emily Rotolo, RN - Intensive Care Unit Chelsea Sperazza , RN - 3 East Janine Swiantek, RN - 2 West Elizabeth Weinrib, RN - 3 East