Follow Jerry’s cardiac surgery on Twitter!
Accreditation: Getting the Word Out
Health Ethics Week Events in March
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Feb. 26, 2014
News. Events. Achievements.
From the heart: A mother’s appreciation for her child’s care Our baby girl was born at 6:13 pm at Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington. In what would turn out to be a life changing decision for our daughter, I decided to stay an extra day to recover. During a routine examination on the babies, we were told our daughter had a heart murmur and the pediatrician noticed her nails were slightly off-color.
twice and said they were not in the normal range. The doctor ordered a few tests which came back fine but we were told to transfer our daughter to McMaster Children’s Hospital to do a heart ultrasound.
The nurse checked our baby’s oxygen levels
The doctors brought us into a small room to
hear the results of the ultrasound. The cardiologist explained to us how a normal heart functions and showed us a picture of our daughter’s heart. She had transposition of the great arteries (TGA) with ventricular septic defect (VSD). The doctors performed a procedure that would allow our daughter to be stable and grow before her open-heart surgery, which would take place when she turns two months old. Everyone involved in
the care of our daughter treated us as family. I can’t even recall the number of times I have called McMaster in the middle of the night with concerns. Now, our daughter has yearly follow ups at McMaster. At her appointments, the doctors and nurses play with her to distract her from what they need to do. That level of care helped us feel more at ease. Thank you for allowing our daughter to live a healthy and happy life just like every child deserves to live.
CHEDOKE • CHILDREN’S • GENERAL • JURAVINSKI • McMASTER • ST. PETER’S • WEST LINCOLN
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Heart Transformation On Feb. 27, Jerry Walczak will undergo heart surgery to correct a condition that’s prevented him from living his life to the fullest. Jerry has agreed to share his journey through Hamilton Health Sciences’ very first surgery live tweet. CHEDOKE CHEDOKE •• CHILDREN’S CHILDREN’S •• GENERAL GENERAL •• JURAVINSKI JURAVINSKI ••McMASTER McMASTER •• ST. ST. PETER’S PETER’S •• WEST WEST LINCOLN LINCOLN
3 3 Hamilton General Hospital is the #1 provider of cardiac surgeries in Ontario
In the next year, more than 1800 cardiac surgical cases will be performed at HGH
Provincially, HGH is a top provider of cardiac catheterizations
Jerry Walczak has a lot to live for. A husband and father to three adolescent daughters – two in university and one in high school – he has an active family life and dreams of the day he will become a grandfather. In his native Poland as a young adult, Jerry was a competitive rower. In recent years, he’s taken up cycling and hopes to one day complete a 120km route. Annual family vacations are also action-packed But recently, a heart condition has prevented Jerry from feeling and living like himself. A blockage in his aortic valve, atrial fibrillation (an abnormal heart beat) and the looming risk of stroke has made even daily tasks seem daunting. Simply walking up the stairs in his home brings on shortness of breath and heart palpitations. “Jerry’s heart is having to work hard against a blockage,” says Dr. Richard Whitlock, cardiac surgeon at Hamilton General Hospital, who will be performing Jerry’s operation. “So, we have to go in, put him on a special machine that takes over his heart and lungs, cut out his valve and sew in a new one, thereby releasing the blockage.”
Dr. Whitlock and his surgical team will also “reorganize” the electrical system of Jerry’s heart to treat the atrial fibrillation (AF), helping his heart to work better. Finally, a unique procedure known as a left atrial appendage (LAA) occlusion will reduce Jerry’s risk of stroke, which is higher in patients with AF. In this procedure, the sac-like LAA within the heart is closed off, eliminating the risk of dangerous blood clots forming there. Although he admits that the thought of heart surgery is nervewracking, Jerry is looking forward to its transformative effects, and to getting back to living an active life. “With three daughters who are still relatively young, hopefully I’m going to be a grandfather one day – and not a grumpy one, because my heart’s going to be healthy, and I can take the abuse.” Click here to meet Jerry and his cardiac surgeon, Dr. Richard Whitlock.
Tune in to @HamHealthSc on Friday, February 27 to follow Jerry’s heart transformation live from the OR at Hamilton General Hospital!
Click here to follow the Live Tweet. No Twitter account required!
CHEDOKE CHEDOKE CHEDOKE •• CHILDREN’S CHILDREN’S • CHILDREN’S •• GENERAL GENERAL • GENERAL •• JURAVINSKI JURAVINSKI • JURAVINSKI ••McMASTER McMASTER •McMASTER •• ST. ST. PETER’S PETER’S • ST. PETER’S •• WEST WEST LINCOLN LINCOLN
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Extra! Extra! Accreditation team uses newsletter to share knowledge Accreditation: what is it, and what does it mean to you? As we move through our current Accreditation cycle – a process that helps us examine and improve our quality of care and service - there are many questions around the subject and how it affects staff across the organization. Enter: the neuro surgery &spine program (units 6 West and 6 South) Accreditation team at Hamilton General Hospital (HGH), who developed a newsletter to help their fellow staff members better understand the Accreditation measurement process, how to interpret the results, and prepare for the upcoming review this June. “After reviewing the Self Assessment Questionnaire (SAQ) results for
You’re Invited!
Accreditation 2015 we looked at various ways we could layer education for staff to understand what, how and why Accreditation is done,” says Lisa Ironside, education and development clinician at HGH. “Clearly we saw that staff may have interpreted the SAQ questions differently, or were unaware of the processes that take place behind the scenes or in other areas across the continuum of care. Our team sought to increase staff awareness and help them realize that much work had been done since the last Accreditation survey in 2011, and the positive changes made to improve patient care.”
cycle, Lisa and her colleagues have noticed a dramatic improvement in employee engagement. “It’s increased staff knowledge of Accreditation and ROPs (Required Organizational Practices), says Lisa. “Staff are beginning to ask questions about things they were unfamiliar with when answering the SAQs and understanding some of the work that happens beyond the inpatient unit.” Every four years, HHS’ medical practices and day-to-day operations are reviewed against Accreditation Canada’s healthcare standards. This year’s on-site Accreditation survey will take place between June 8-12, 2015.
Since implementing the “Bellies and Bones” educational newsletter following the last Accreditation
Visit the Accreditation site on the HHS Intranet for more information and resources.
Health Ethics Awareness Week
March 2-8, 2015 Stop by the following locations to Meet members of the Clinical Ethics Committee and Ethics Consultation team and to learn about ethics resources and events at HHS. WHERE HGH Main Entrance, SPH Cafeteria, MUMC Cafeteria, JH Nora’s WHEN March 3, 4, 5 from 11 am - 1 pm
Join us for Ethics Grand Rounds on Wednesday, March 4 from 12 - 1 pm featuring Andrea Frolic, Julija Kelecevic, Sandy Andreychuk and the Ethics Consultation team. TOPIC
“ Who are you calling ‘difficult’? a fresh perspective on challenging relationships in healthcare”
We welcome your feedback and suggestions! Public Relations & Communications 905-521-2100 ext. 75387 publicrelations@hhsc.ca
CHEDOKE • CHILDREN’S • GENERAL • JURAVINSKI • McMASTER • ST. PETER’S • WEST LINCOLN