Volume 4
WHAT’Snew
YES Photo credit: Daniel Burke
Yes You Can con’t................................ 2 Great Save in PAT................................ 2 Penn Medicine Patient Experience Week................................ 3
YOU CAN! Sharing Wisdom and Guidance with Newest Class of Penn Med Students
Please Welcome................................. 3 Quality & Patient Safety Award Submission Time.................................. 4 Papal Visit and World Meeting of Families Update............................... 4 PUBLIC NOTICE: Magnet Site Vsit.................................. 4
On August 14th, the 156 students of the med school’s entering class of 2015 came together with family members and loved ones as witnesses at the Annenberg Theater to kick off their medical school journey. As part of the ceremony, students received their first “white coats” — the one article of clothing so symbolic of the practice of medicine — along with a stethoscope and iPad. The event ends with the class reciting the Hippocratic Oath, originally written by Hippocrates but updated to meet today’s standards. The oath is still held sacred by physicians and is the moment when students jointly and officially pledge to
…if you keep in perspective the
nobility of your profession and your ability to make a difference, I can assure that when you look back you’ll be able to state, without a doubt, that you have had a great and fulfilling life.
September 4, 2015
Pennsylvania Hospital
Pennsylvania Hospital’s own Jack Ludmir, MD — chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology at PAH, vice chair of Obstetrics and Gynecology for Penn Medicine, and a professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine — was the keynote speaker at the Perelman School of Medicine 20th annual white coat ceremony.
INSIDE
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uphold the practice and art of medicine with honor, treat the sick to the best of their ability, preserve a patient’s right to privacy and pass along their knowledge of medicine to the following generations. Ludmir gave an impassioned talk titled, “Yes you can!” to a packed house, during which he shared and explained six principles that continue to guide him through his career today: being a doctor is a privilege – one that must be used well; professionalism is not about the physician but the patients; intellectual curiosity and the continuous pursuit of new knowledge are crucial; always fight health inequalities and advocate for patients; accept that you’re only human and will make mistakes — but can overcome them with honesty and dedication; and lastly, the necessity of finding you own methods to sustain resilience and perseverance. “You are the millennium generation, unselfish and with a great social conscience,” Ludmir said when addressing students about the importance of patient advocacy. “Yes, you can make a difference by getting involved, not only during your first year, but keeping your ideals and professionalism throughout your education and career.” Ludmir clearly practices what he preaches. He co-founded Puentes de Salud, a model for immigrant health and wellness primarily / / / Continued on page 2
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YES
YOU CAN! Sharing Wisdom and Guidance with Newest Class of Penn Med Students
The Philadelphia Inquirer (and FOX29) covered the event and ran some fun facts about our nation’s first medical school which celebrated its 250th anniversary this year. Here are some: »» Before Penn had a medical school — doctors were “made” through apprenticeships.
serving the Latino community and is the president of Women and Children’s Health Services, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the care of women in the surrounding community. Ludmir, who completed his residency and fellowship training at Penn, has been a dedicated clinician and educator for the past 28 years and is a founding member of the Penn Medicine Acacdemy of Master Clinicians. His clinical and research areas of interest include high-risk pregnancy, cervical function and preterm labor, medical complications of pregnancy, and prenatal care for vulnerable populations.
»» November 1765: First medical school classes start at Penn – the only medical school in the U.S. at that time.
“Welcome to the best profession in life,” Ludmir said. “Your journey will be long and sometimes frustrating, but if you keep in perspective the nobility of your profession and your ability to make a difference, I can assure that when you look back you’ll be able to state, without a doubt, that you have had a great and fulfilling life.”
»»$5: Cost to matriculate a med student in 1765, plus about $8 per course.
»»141: U.S. Medical schools in 2015. »»1768: Ten men, all white, are awarded bachelor’s degrees in medicine. »» 1888: Penn for the first time awarded a medical degree to a black student, Nathan Francis Mossell. »» 1918: Gladys Girardeau and Alberta Peltz are the first two women to graduate. »» Five: Number of Penn medical graduates who have won Nobel Prizes or Lasker Awards: One graduate, Stanley Prusiner, won both. »»$56,784: 2015 tuition for a year of medical school.
GREAT SAVE at PENN MEDICINE WASHINGTON SQUARE
Some days can seem routine for staff. Then there are other days, the kind of that remind us how each and every one of our jobs are integral to delivery of care at PAH and that each of us can make a huge difference in a patient’s life — sometimes even between life and death. PAH Pre Admissions Testing (PAT) Patient Care Technician, Lee Ann Hollingsworth was a shining example of the extraordinary efforts our fantastic staff make to ensure the best possible treatment for our patients. Lee Ann routinely performs pre-op EKGs on patients. Recently, while working in PAT at Penn Medicine Washington Square, she was performing a routine EKG on a patient who was soon scheduled for surgery. She noticed the computer read-out stated “active infarction,” meaning there was an area of tissue death, due to a local lack of oxygen in the heart. Yet the patient — who was coming to PAH for a surgery completely unrelated to anything cardiovascular — said he felt fine.
`` Shown here L to R: Marie Albert, nursing coordinator, PAH; Lee Ann Hollingsworth, patient care tech, PAT; Mary Del Guidice, CNO; and Darlene Hunter, patient care tech, PAT
So Lee Ann kept calm, reassured the patient in a casual manner, and repeated the EKG a few more times — 3 more times in fact. The results were the same. “Using her natural style of reassurance and persuasion, Lee Ann was able to convince the patient that he should seek help in our Emergency Department,” Rowland said. However, Lee Ann didn’t stop there. She contacted the patient’s wife who came and enlisted the help of patient care tech Darlene Hunter. Without waiting a moment, Lee Ann convinced the patient to allow her to call 911 on his behalf and she directed the EMS personnel to take the patient from Penn Medicine Washing Square to PAH’s ED. Darlene faxed the patient’s EKG results ahead of time, and the ED staff was waiting for his arrival.
“Reading EKGs is not a normal part of Lee Ann’s scope, but she always checks for anything alarming. In this case, the patient was asymptomatic and kept insisting nothing was wrong,” said Sean M. Rowland CRNA, MS, MBA, vice president, Perioperative Services. “Despite the patient claiming to have no apparent symptoms and really wanting to leave, Lee And a good thing too! The patient was underwent a coronary artery Ann just knew she couldn’t, in good conscience, let the patient go home.” bypass grafting (CABG) surgery the very next morning by Satoshi Furukawa, MD, chief of Cardiovascular Surgery at PAH and Sometimes this is easier said than done, particularly when you have a professor of Clinical Surgery at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine. patient who does not want to stay.
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Penn Medicine
PAT I E N T E X P E R I E N C E W E E K
OCTOBER 5TH – 9TH
The first ever Penn Medicine Patient Experience week will be celebrated October 5th through 9th with the theme “Be Someone’s Umbrella.” The purpose of Patient Experience Week is to raise awareness of the importance of service excellence; recognize and reward employees for the critical work they do all year long; improve staff and faculty engagement, motivation and teamwork; and remind patients of our commitment to improving the patient experience. “This will be a time for us all to come together as a health system and jointly celebrate accomplishments, reenergize our efforts and honor the people who positively impact the patient experience every day,” said Angel McCullough, MSN, MBA, CCRN, NEA-BC, clinical director of Nursing for Critical and Intermediate Care, Oncology, Patient Facilitated Services and Acute Hemodialysis. “We are planning additional wonderful events throughout the week and one way in particular we are excited to share the ways we are celebrating
Pennsylvania Hospital staff ’s dedication and commitment to the patient experience is through peer-to-peer recognition.” Recognition cards are being distributed to each PAH department. Employees are being encouraged to acknowledge their colleagues for all the wonderful ways they contribute to making a patient’s experience the best it can be. “Each department will acknowledge and celebrate the recognition entries during Patient Experience Week but on Monday, October 12th, cards will be collected for public recognition in a future issue of What’s New,” McCullough said. To download blank recognition cards and flyers to promote Patient Experience Week, visit the Toolkit tab at: http:// uphsxnet.uphs.upenn.edu/penn-medicineexperience/toolkits/experienceweek2015. html. Questions? Please contact Angel McCullough at Angel.Mccullough@uphs. upenn.edu or Eileen Murphy, MSL, director of Volunteer Services at murphye@pahosp.com.
This will be a time for us all to come together as a health system and jointly celebrate accomplishments, reenergize our efforts and honor the people who positively impact the patient experience every day.
PATIENT EXPERIENCE WEEK CALL FOR PROJECTS As part of PAH’s week-long celebration of Penn Medicine’s Patient Experience Week, the hospital is hosting an interdepartmental poster contest. The winners will be asked to present their projects (five-10 minute presentation) at a special event being held in the Zubrow Auditorium on Wednesday, October 7th. “We are looking for projects completed at Pennsylvania Hospital that have significantly improved the patient experience,” said Katie Farrell, MSN, RN, professional practice implementation consultant. “If a team has completed a project or initiative that made an impact — we want to hear about it!” Contact Hannah Lacko, improvement advisor in Performance Improvement, for a poster template to be completed for submission. Please send all submissions to Hannah.Lacko@ uphs.upenn.edu by September 14th. Winners of projects selected for presentation will be notified on September 29th.
PLEASE WELCOME…
Penn Medicine and PAH are pleased to welcome Robert Caleb Kovell, MD, an assistant professor of Surgery, to the division of Urology. Kovell specializes in reconstructive urologic surgery, the treatment of urologic trauma and the side-effects related to prostate cancer treatment including: urinary incontinence, erectile dysfunction and bladder neck contracture. In addition to general urology, Kovell also specializes in the treatment of male penile and urethral cancers, abnormal penile curvature and men’s sexual health issues. He sees patients at PAH’s Penn Medicine Washington Square and Penn Medicine Radnor locations. Kovell received his medical degree and completed his residency at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his fellowship in genitourinary reconstruction and prosthetics at Wake Forrest University School of Medicine.
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START GATHERING YOUR DATA –
PUBLIC NOTICE
It’s Quality & Patient Safety Award Submission Time!
MAGNET RECOGNITION PROGRAM® SITE VISIT
Were you part of a great project you want to share with others? Then get your data together and enter a submission for a Quality and Patient Safety Award! The Quality and Patient Safety Award has been designed to acknowledge Penn Medicine departments or teams who have exhibited leadership and innovation in activities that ensure high quality clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction, patient safety, and/or operational improvement. A multidisciplinary committee will review the applications using a standard scoring methodology. Guidelines in Applying for the 2015 UPHS Quality and Patient Safety Awards The project must have occurred during the last 12 months. easurement of the intervention must be submitted in order for the application M to be considered. pplications can be found on CEQI website and are accessible on the PAH Intranet A page under “Pennsylvania Hospital News” All applications and projects must be submitted electronically by September 17th. For more information, contact: PAH | Deborah Christopher | 215.829.6511| deborah.christopher@uphs.upenn.edu. CCA | Kathleen Bailer | 610.902.1719 | Kathleen.bailer@uphs.upenn.edu. PLEASE NOTE: All PAH 2015 Quality and Patient Safety Award submissions must be entered by September 17th — a week earlier than the UPHS deadline.
•P ennsylvania Hospital has applied to the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) for the prestigious designation of Magnet. The Magnet designation recognizes excellence in nursing services. •P atients, family members, staff, and interested parties who would like to provide comments are encouraged to do so. Anyone may send comments via e-mail, fax, and direct mail. All phone comments to the Magnet Program Office must be followed up in writing. Your comments are confidential and never shared with the facility. If you choose, your comments may be anonymous, but must be in writing. YOUR COMMENTS MUST BE RECEIVED BY OCTOBER 9, 2015. Address: American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) Magnet Recognition Program Office 8515 Georgia Ave., Suite 400 Silver Spring, MD 20910-3492 Fax: 301.628.5217 E-Mail: magnet@ana.org Phone: 866.588.3301 (toll free)
Papal Visit and World Meeting of Families
UPDATE
As Philadelphia prepares for the World Meeting of Families and the Pope’s visit in September, Papal planning teams at each Penn Medicine entity have been meeting regularly to assess site-specific issues that may arise, including ensuring necessary staffing levels and adequate supply delivery. Each entity is providing more detailed guidance to staff as required.
EDITORIAL STAFF
General information, useful external web links, and detailed FAQ’s, which address many questions from staff — including HR policies for Emergency Preparedness and the ability to submit questions — can be found on the PAH Intranet homepage.
Barry Ogburn Photography
As a reminder, all elective procedures and outpatient appointments in any downtown facility on Friday, September 25th, and Monday, September 28th, have been rescheduled. To ensure the continuum of excellent care, a special information page explaining health system adjustments and updates for our patients and visitors during Pope Francis’ visit is now available on the PennMedicine.org homepage. The Papal Visit Playbook is now available via the World Meeting of Families website (www.worldmeeting2015.org/papal-visit-playbook-homepage). An in-depth guide about what to expect during the Papal Visit, the Playbook provides a comprehensive list of do’s and don’ts for visitors and a transportation plan overview. Keep checking the site for soon-tocome pedestrian maps and walking routes to special dining and event offerings.
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WHAT’Snew Olivia Fermano Editor and Photographer Lisa Paxson Graphic Design
ADMINISTRATION
Susan E. Phillips Senior Vice President, Public Affairs Holly Auer Director of Communications Sally Sapega Director of Internal Communications CONTACT WHAT’Snew at: Department of Communications Pennsylvania Hospital Philadelphia, PA 19106 phone: 215.829.6799 email: olivia.fermano@uphs.upenn.edu WHAT’Snew is published biweekly for PAH employees. Access WHAT’Snew online at http://news.pennmedicine.org/inside/whats-new/.