Inside Inspira Newsletter - July 2022

July 2022

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Inspira Physicians Named Jersey’s Best Magazine Top Doctors in Cancer Care At Inspira, our mission is to provide a safe and compassionate experience to patients, and ultimately improve the health and well-being of our community. As a team, we are committed to providing exceptional, personalized care and we recognize and congratulate several of our physicians who have recently been named as a 2022 Top Doctor in Cancer Care by Jersey’s Best Magazine. All 11 doctors serve across our hospitals including Inspira Medical Center Elmer, Mullica Hill and Vineland, and range in specialties from urology to medical oncology.

As an organization, we understand the uncertainty and overwhelming feeling that comes with a cancer diagnosis – for both patients and family members – which makes it a tremendous honor for our team to be recognized for their clinical expertise and compassionate care. Compassion and empathy are two of the core values at Inspira, and we take pride in creating exceptional experiences for patients and their loved ones, no matter the journey.

Castle Connolly Top Doctors, the nation’s preeminent health care research and information company, conducts the rigorous Top Doctors selection process for Jersey’s Best Magazine. Each doctor being honored should be proud of their impact and commitment in delivering the best possible care to patients. Congratulations to these doctors for their achievement.

Please click here to view Inspira’s physicians that were honored.

SJ Magazine Honors Top Female Doctors

Inspira is dedicated to providing compassionate and high-quality care to every patient across our services and the community to build a happier and healthier South Jersey. We recognize and congratulate several of our doctors across our hospitals and specialties who have been named a 2022 Top Female Doctor by SJ Magazine.

The annual SJ Magazine Top Female Doctors list is compiled of those who have made sacrifices and shown their commitment to keeping South Jersey safe and Inspira Health is proud to once again have doctors recognized on this prestigious list.

Their recognition is a reflection on our entire organization and the work every person here does on both the clinical and non-clinical sides in offering South Jersey residents safe, high-quality health care.

Please click here to see Inspira’s list of honorees.

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Spirit of Women Hypertension 360 Event

On June 14, Inspira Spirit of Women hosted an educational program titled, "Hypertension 360" at Bogey's in Sewell. Over 70 attendees networked with one another and learned about various lifestyle changes to help manage blood pressure from providers Sarah Davis, M.D., Jody Beach, RPh, PharmD, Ashley Wright, D.O., Rachel Spayd, D.O., and Jessa Hernandez, M.D. To view photos from the event, click here.

Donna Patane, respiratory therapist, provided blood pressure checks to attendees during Inspira’s Spirit of Women 360 event.

Employees Honored with I.P.S.A Scholarships Four employees were honored with I.P.S.A (Inspira Physician Scholarship Awards) on May 25. Recipients included Tia Sheck, M.S.N., R.N., CCRN, CNML, manager, Magnet & Pathway to Excellence, Quality and Nursing Research (pictured left); Sheetal Stewart, R.N., BSN, 2 East, Elmer (pictured center); Matti Donoflio, teacher’s assistant, IMPACT Center (pictured right); and Donald Noblett, cancer grants manager, Cancer Services (not pictured).

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Speak Up for Safety Great Catch of the Month

Reliability

Kenneth Rozzell, Transporter, Inspira Medical Center Mullica Hill The following Great Catch reinforces the importance of applying a questioning attitude when you think something might not be right.

While training another employee in an equipment room, Kenneth Rozzell, transporter at Mullica Hill, observed the SAGE Chlorhexidine wipe warming machine to be almost full of wipes. He thought he remembered that the packs of wipes weren’t supposed to be in the warmer for more than three days. Ken applied a questioning attitude and removed a pack of wipes from the warmer to read the instructions. He used validate and verify to determine that his concern about packs expiring after three days was indeed correct. Upon reading the instructions, he also identified that the temperature settings on the machines were higher than what was printed on the wipes.

Ken led with safety first in decision and shared his concern with Julie Powers, director of Nursing at Mullica Hill. Ken’s questioning attitude identified that the process for warming the SAGE wipes needed improvement. This prompted an evaluation of the warming machines from biomedical engineering and to bring in the SAGE sales representative to educate staff on usage of the wipes.

While the temperature setting of the warming machines was appropriate, Ken identified that many packs of wipes had been warmed for too long and were now expired. These wipes, which are crucial to prevent infections in our most at-risk patients, could have been used on patients, and would not have had their antimicrobial effects.

Professional Achievement

Al’Asia Powell, Director of Quality and Patient Safety at LIFE,

was honored with the 2022 New Jersey Hospital Association (NJHA) Innovation in Elder Services Award. This award recognizes multi-displinary leadership in elder services that advances, innovates or transforms service delivery. Inspira LIFE aims to help senior participants stay at the home they love, while receiving the care they need. The LIFE program, and Al’Asia’s work, was especially critical throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, as senior residents were at a high-risk.

Nicole Bock, PharmD, MTM-C, PGY-1 Mullica Hill Pharmacy resident, and Laura Korz, PharmD, BCPS, Mullica Hill Staff pharmacist, were acknowledged as 2022 Philadelphia’s Finest honorees by the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Delaware Valley Chapter. This award honors the Delaware Valley’s Finest Young Professionals; those who show exemplary leadership, are active in their communities, and who have excelled in their profession or business.

Nicole Bock

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Laura Korz

DAISY Award Winners

MaryAnn Harris, R.N. Intensive Care Unit, Elmer

“My wife was rushed into emergency surgery to treat her ruptured colon and was then treated for a serious septic infection. Many extraordinary doctors, nurses, and hospital staff deserve to be commended for the skillful care they gave my wife.

Among dozens of the wonderful people involved, there is one who deserves the greatest recognition, credit, and thanks for my wife’s recovery. For her knowledge and training, her skill and experience, and her innate qualities of empathy and compassion, nurse MaryAnn Harris has the eternal gratitude of my wife, myself, and our family. Six hours after she was taken into surgery, I was taken to the intensive care unit at Elmer hospital to see my wife. There was nothing any doctor or nurse had said that prepared me for what I saw. My wife was connected to tubes and wires and to more machines and devices than I could count or comprehend. She was unconscious, intubated, and fighting against a raging septic infection. I was immediately overwhelmed by what I was seeing and overcome by the fear I would lose her. From the first day MaryAnn was a stand-out. We spent seven days in the ICU and a total of 28 days in the hospital. As good as all of the nurses were, none would ever surpass MaryAnn. MaryAnn’s knowledge of her job, and the training she must have received over the years as a nurse were immediately clear to me. While all of the hospital staff were certainly competent with equipment, medications, and techniques, MaryAnn was a well-practiced master in the knowledge and art of medical care.

MaryAnn took her time to treat and care for my wife, but also took time to help and care for me as an extension of my wife’s health. In all the care my wife received that led to her healing and continued recovery, the most vital and indispensable part came from MaryAnn. A thousand thanks could not begin to express my gratitude for her and would just be a beginning of the thanks she deserves. She is an undimmable and brilliant light of excellence at Inspira, and an example to be emulated by healthcare professionals everywhere.” – Patient’s Spouse

Steve Fox, R.N. 2 East, Vineland “Steve is a great nurse and I received the very best of care from him. He checked me over from head to toe each night before I would go to sleep. He made sure I did not have any sore spots and he would put a pad on my backside and on my heels so I wouldn’t get sore. He always kept my heart monitor wires untangled and checked if I needed to use the bathroom before he left my room. Steve has a super personality and kept me smiling the whole time he was in my room. When I woke up in the morning he was always back again smiling and making sure I was ok. Steve is one of the most kind and super nurses/caregivers one could ask for.

If I have to return to the hospital, I hope Steve will be one of my nurses.” - Patient

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LEADING RELIABLY TO Zero HARM LEADING RELIABLY TO Zero HARM

LearningBoards

Inspira Medical Group Primary Care Sicklerville Julia Collaretti, manager of Inspira Medical Group Primary Care Sicklerville, holds her department huddle each morning. Following the huddle, Julia sends a summary of the huddle in the Microsoft Teams chat for all to reference. During huddle, the team completes a look back and look forward on patient safety, quality, patient experience, workforce safety and employee engagement. Staff are encouraged to bring concerns to the huddle and add items to the department Learning Board.

A recent item that landed in the Green (solved) section of the Learning Board titled “Voicemail” focused on patient experience. This item was added to the Learning Board following feedback from a patient regarding the office front desk voicemail. The patient shared that he attempted to contact the office numerous times but was unable to reach anyone. Julia, applying a questioning attitude, checked the mailbox to validate and verify the voicemail was not full. As the voicemail was not full, she called the office to listen to the voicemail to ensure it was working properly. She identified that the automatic voicemail on the mailbox was a recording asking patients not to leave a voicemail.

The message on the voicemail box was changed to a more user-friendly message encouraging patients to leave a message for a call back within one hour. This change has helped with the number of incoming calls and the mailbox is continuously monitored. The new mailbox is also set up for referrals and overflow calls to schedule appointments.

Julia shared, “By having a Learning Board in our department, our team can identify issues that are causing frustration, extra unnecessary time or waste, or are a risk to employee safety, patient safety, quality or patient experience. Staff can use the Learning Board to identify areas of opportunity and present ideas for innovation!

We added a ‘Quote Board’ next to the Learning Board for

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Pictured left to right: Brenda Keever, receptionist; Alice Bachowski, medical assistant; Carmelita Lugo medical assistant; Liz Cruz, medical assistant; Tracey Enders, receptionist, Tracey Rosado, receptionist; and Edward Lee, M.D.

staff to add additional inspiration for the week. On Fridays we keep it light with a Friday Funnies post! Once issues are posted to the Learning Board, as a team we take ownership to resolve the concerns and then celebrate the resolution!

This board does not replace safety event reporting in RL6.

We also post improvement projects we are doing in the unit here as well (action plans, committee projects, etc.)!

Brenda Keever, receptionist,

“I like the Learning Board because it lets me see where things stand that our employees care about. So many things that we are concerned about are placed on the board and we get to follow them to completion. For example, safety and security was an issue and as a result of the Learning Board we have new locks, lights and cameras outside of our staff entrance.

We also have our schedule and lots of information posted - like the telephone/ cell phone policy, meal/rest periods policy and helpful information like the phonetic clarification tip sheets.”

LEADING RELIABLY TO Zero HARM LEADING RELIABLY TO Zero HARM

Pictured: Michele Freed-Madrack, R.N., Infection Control Professional, Inspira Medical Center Vineland (left); and Deborah Braida, R.N., manager, Infection Prevention & Control, Inspira Vineland, Elmer & Bridgeton.

Infection Control As a High Reliability Organization, the safety of our patients, and one another, is placed at the center of all we do; it requires a sustained effort from each of us, every day, all day. By working together and putting our HRO tools, tones and behaviors into practice, we continue to further our momentum in attaining our health system’s goals of achieving zero harm and eliminating heath care-associated infections (HAIs).

Meredith Spena, manager of Infection Control for Mullica Hill, Woodbury and Ambulatory, along with Debi Braida, manager of Infection Control for Bridgeton, Elmer and Vineland, both added a stickie note to the Red (new) section of their department Learning Board titled “Electronic Hand Hygiene Monitoring System”.

This stickie note was added in early 2020 when Leapfrog increased its hand hygiene requirements, including the number of observations each month. As the team adjusted protocols to meet those requirements, they identified a number of operational inefficiencies. One year later, Infection Control celebrated moving the stickie note to the Green (solved) section of the Learning Board when the organization merged two of Inspira’s core tenets – safety and innovation – to improve and monitor hand hygiene compliance through Intelligent Observation (IO).

IO is an electronic hand hygiene monitoring system that automatically captures hand hygiene compliance rates and efficacy – for both soap and hand sanitizer – when staff enters and exits a patient’s room. Installation of this technology started in early May, in all inpatient, observation, surgical, and emergency nursing units in the Vineland, Elmer, and Mullica Hill hospitals.

Once installation is complete, the roll out will begin to distribute badge reels to personnel in nursing, including RNs, LPNs, nurse aides, unit clerks, transporters, and monitor and scrub techs; after a few weeks, other employees in the clinical area (e.g., physicians, dietary, physical and occupational therapy, EVS) will receive a badge reel as well. Please note that each badge reel is assigned to a specific employee for the purpose of assessing their hand hygiene performance. As employees enter rooms within the aforementioned areas, their smart badge reel will automatically connect to the sensor above the patient’s room, allowing our organization to capture accurate hand hygiene compliance data in real time. This technology will allow us to not only drive improvements, but also measure the effect of interventions, ultimately reducing the number of HAIs and improving patient safety and experience.

For any questions regarding this new technology, please contact Meredith Spena at spenam@ihn.org or 856-508-1000 x81381.

Michele Freed-Madrack, R.N., Infection Control Professional

“Hand hygiene is truly the cornerstone of infection prevention. I'm excited to see how using IO will help to improve us across the network. I'm also looking forward to seeing an increase in our compliance as we continue to raise the bar in safe patient care. Our patients deserve the best of us and that starts with clean hands.”

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Congratulations

Employees of the Month!

Teamwork Martina Thompson-Mitchell, counselor, Child/Adolescent Mental Health Unit, Bridgeton

Teamwork Lori Stecher, R.N., Infection Control, Mullica Hill "Lori is an incredible asset to our team.

She keeps us laughing and brings so much positive energy into our office. She is always asking to help and is actively engaged with our department, as well as all units in the hospital. She runs the network hand hygiene committee completely by herself. She made that committee hers, and she does an amazing job interacting will others across the network and getting them to be active participants in the committee.”

Innovation Cynthia Donapel, medical sonographer, Imaging, Haddon Township “Anticipating problems before they occur, and taking steps to avoid them, is one of Cindy’s greatest strengths. She is an outstanding employee and makes a positive impact on our team. Cindy’s patient care skills are exemplary. She is one of the friendliest people that I know and is always willing to go above and beyond for her patients and co-workers. Her daily efforts not only benefit the entire department, but also set an example and inspire her co-workers to stay proactive in the care we give our patients.”

Compassion Lisa Davis, program aide team lead, LIFE

“Lisa is hard working, kind, and very helpful. She is our team leader and treats everyone with respect. I enjoy working with her. She represents all of the qualities that make our Inspira family so great, and she deserves this recognition.”

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“Martina is an exemplar employee and patient care advocate. She goes above and beyond for her team. Her commitment to patient safety, health and wellness is unmatched. Over the past few months, Martina has stepped up to the plate and responded to the call for a change agent among her peers. She has risen to the challenge of improving our culture in Children's Behavioral Health. Her positive go-getter attitude is contagious on our units. She has pushed her limits and provided unmatched insight and ideas into unit projects. She has rallied her peers to follow suit in the most autonomous way.”

Teamwork Marc Roch, pharmacist, Pharmacy, Vineland “Marc goes above and beyond to ensure our patients get the best possible care out on the floors! He works quickly and efficiently to get us the STAT medications and double checks our orders to ensure our patients are always safe. He questions medications that don't sound right and will reach out to our residents to confirm orders when needed. He is so helpful and pleasant - always willing to go that extra mile. Our whole unit recognizes Marc as someone we can rely on!”

Reliability Heather Marich, medical assistant, Inspira Medical Group Obstetrics and Gynecology West Deptford “Heather is a star medical assistant. She goes above and beyond her daily duties each day to help the offices run smooth and is a true asset to our team! Recently, she had a good catch moment when she discovered one of our light sources getting too hot and brought it to her manager's attention which resulted in the discovery that all our light sources were a safety hazard. Heather is an asset to our team and we truly appreciate all her hard work each day.”