Hospital Updates

Q I Hospitals

The Nationwide Search for Effective COVID-19 Treatments: Methodist joins Mayo in searching for successful therapies for COVID-19 patients.

Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare is now participating in Mayo Clinic’s Expanded Access Protocol for Convalescent Plasma Program for treatment of patients with COVID-19. The antibodies in plasma from recovered patients may have the ability to help those infected with coronavirus recover more quickly.

Fully recovered COVID-19 patient makes first plasma donation. On April 21, Dr. Daniel Wakefield, a 30-year-old radiation oncology resident in Memphis, became the first fully recovered COVID-19 patient to donate plasma to the program. Wakefield got tested when he developed a cough after working at a COVID-19 testing site in Memphis. Wakefield is now fully recovered and hopes his story will inspire others to donate plasma.

You can be a hero too. Plasma from fully recovered COVID-19 patients is incredibly important in the search to find a treatment for COVID-19 patients. To donate, you must be symptom free, be fully recovered for at least 14 days, and have a negative nasal swab test.

For more information or to find out how you can donate plasma, visit www.methodisthealth.org/plasma.

Baptist starts Right Care podcast to keep providers informed about COVID-19

On June 9, Baptist Memorial Health Care aired its Right Care at Baptist podcast to cover timely clinical information on COVID-19 for the medical staff. This weekly conversational update on COVID-19 topics, such as convalescent plasma therapy, ICU management, remdesivir, lab testing and current treatments, has proven to be a convenient way to get pertinent information to providers when the time is right for them to listen.

“The idea of receiving hits of needed COVID-19 information in a 15-minute format on your drive to the hospital or drive home is vital,” said Dr. Henry Sullivant, vice president and chief medical officer for Baptist Memorial Health Care. “It’s easier for our audience to receive the information on their time-table.”

These days, providers have travel constraints and distancing rules that prohibit normal meetings and seminars, but they still want the latest information on health care system findings and plans. To accommodate their needs, Dr. Jake Lancaster, vice president and chief medical information officer, suggested the podcast. Dr. Sullivant and Dr. Lancaster co-host the podcast, which attracts guests from across the region to share their knowledge and internal resources.

Right Care at Baptist is sent to a network of 3,768 physicians and 1,100 advanced practice providers through e-mail and can be found on Spotify and in Apple Podcasts. This has led to the broadening of the podcast’s listening audience, which includes Tennessee and Mississippi, Georgia listeners who rank third, and listeners from Europe and the Philippines have been captured. This method of using a podcast to reach providers has been so successful that the application may eventually address other important issues in the future. 6

Q I Hospitals

Regional One Health Offering New Incisionless Focused Ultrasound Treatment

Regional One Health is now offering a new, incisionless treatment for medication-refractory essential tremor and tremor-dominant Parkinson’s patients. The treatment uses focused ultrasound technology developed to treat deep within the brain with no surgical incision, implants, anesthesia, or ionizing radiation. The incisionless treatment is performed by Aaron Bond, MD, neurosurgeon at Semmes Murphey, exclusively at Regional One Health’s East Campus Imaging Center.

“Focused ultrasound guided by magnetic resonance imaging provides patients suffering from debilitating tremor with an incisionless treatment option, which can be performed on an outpatient basis with short recovery time,” said Tony Edwards, director of imaging and radiology services at Regional One Health. “This noninvasive technology gives our patients more treatment options as they decide with their physicians the best course to get back to a more independent and active lifestyle.”

The treatment uses sound energy to target and precisely treat a small spot in the thalamus, considered to be responsible for causing tremor. The result for many patients is immediate improvement in their hand tremor with minimal complications reported.

“Patients often assume their tremor is a sign of old age, and they don’t realize there are treatments out there, which can potentially eliminate their tremors,” said Dr. Bond. “I have been involved with focused ultrasound since the early days of the first research cases. Medical technology has advanced greatly, and we now have several years of data that shows this treatment to be a safe and effective option for many patients.”

Saint Francis Hospital - Bartlett has added new offerings to its robust robotic program

In August surgeons performed the hospital’s first spinal procedures with the Globus ExcelsiusGPS. Designed to use robotics and navigation for a personalized plan of care for spinal implant patients, based on their anatomy, Saint Francis Bartlett is proud to be the first in the community to bring the ExcelsiusGPS to the area.

Saint Francis Hospital - Memphis has expanded its structural heart program to include Transcatheter aortic valve replacements (TAVR). Offered as an alternative procedure for patients at risk for open heart surgery, the TAVR program at Saint Francis Memphis offers patients in the community more options to receive continuity of cardiology care in one location.

The USPI Surgery Center at Saint Francis Memphis is the first in the Memphis area to offer a new solution to the millions of people who suffer from incontinence. The first Interstim™ Micro System - a rechargeable neurostimulator for bladder and bowel control, was implanted in the Memphis area by Dr. Rusty Shappley. The Interstim Micro System by MedTronic is FDA approved and can offer relief for urinary frequency, urge incontinence, incomplete bladder emptying, and fecal incontinence.

The presence of a family member can have a positive impact in the healing process of patients. Saint Francis now has limited visitation for patients. One visitor may accompany patients for outpatient visits and surgery and each inpatient may have one visitor per day during visiting hours.

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