The Insider - Volume 4, Issue 2

THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Welcome to the The Insider from Good Shepherd Penn Partners.

This month we highlight our staff’s contributions to clinical research and education across all levels of care.

Our cover story is on Dr. Michael Grippi and his presentation at next month’s American Thoracic Society conference.

Dr. Grippi will discuss what he’s learned across five years managing the Specialty Hospital. It’s a wonderful opportunity to showcase our long-term acute services to an international audience.

This issue also features a look at our recent presence at the 2013 American Physical Therapy Association Combined Sections Meeting (see page 2), where 13 of our therapists presented research and education sessions.

Plus, we recap Good Shepherd Penn Partners continuing education courses on acute care therapy and the treatment of spinal cord injury patients.

Check out these stories and more, including a profile of a former brain injury patient and his road to recovery (page 3) and information on our second annual Diamond Gala fundraiser.

As always, thank you for reading!

Michael Grippi, M.D., will present on the building of the Specialty Hospital at the American Thoracic Society International Conference, May 17-22 in Philadelphia This May, Philadelphia will host the American Thoracic Society International Conference, the premier conference on pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine in the country. Amongst the more than 12,000 physicians, health care administrators and public health officials in attendance from across the globe will be Michael A. Grippi, M.D., Chief Medical Officer for the Specialty Hospital at Rittenhouse. Dr. Grippi will present on May 20 at this year’s conference, on his experiences at the Specialty Hospital.

Dr. Grippi’s presentation, “Development of a clinical staffing model in an academic long-term acute care hospital,” will focus on how Good Shepherd Penn Partners leadership built the Specialty Hospital from the ground up. The Michael A. Grippi, M.D. presentation is geared toward those experienced with or considering developing a long-term acute care hospital.

Dr. Grippi will focus heavily on the uniqueness of the Specialty Hospital’s multidisciplinary rounding model. “I think our LTACH is unique,” he notes.

“Most others are not developed in the context of an academic institution.”

“We didn’t want another ‘me-too’ facility,” explains Dr. Grippi. “Our plan was to create a unit in the mold of an academic hospital-based unit. We drew from my experience in the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania’s medical intensive care unit and its interdisciplinary model of rounding. We wanted to create some variation of this.”

Today, the Specialty Hospital’s rounding is even more multidisciplinary than that found in the HUP MICU.

Lisa Marsilio

Executive Director Good Shepherd Penn Partners

INSIDE THIS ISSUE APTA conference recap

Unique Specialty Hospital model to be highlighted at international medical conference this May

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2 Traumatic brain injury rehabilitation 3 2013 Diamond Gala 3 News and notes 4

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A Message from the

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Record number of therapists present at 2013 APTA CSM meeting in San Diego Thirteen Good Shepherd Penn Partners therapists presented at this year’s American Physical Therapy Association Combined Sections Meeting, held January 21-24 in San Diego. Attended by more than 10,000 therapists nationwide, this annual event focuses on 18 program sections over the course of five days. Good Shepherd Penn Partners therapy staff presented in five different sections with a total of eight presentations—four education sessions and four research poster presentations.

In addition, acute care team leader Joe Adler, MSPT, CCS, was named Program Chair of the cardiovascular and pulmonary section at this event. Daniel Malone, a former employee of Good Shepherd Penn Partners, passed the torch to Adler and now assumes the role of President for this section.

Poster Presentations

The Use of Trunk Stabilization for the Treatment of anterior Hip Pain: A Case Series Orthopaedic Section Won Sung, Sara Forsythe, Tiffany Prince, Jeffrey O’Neill

Use of Manual Therapy in the Treatment of Traumatic Distal Tibiofibular Syndesmosis injury Orthopaedic Section Sara Forsythe

The Burden on Caregivers of Persons with Mental Health Disorders and Physical Disabilities in Low and Middle Income Countries: A Literature Review Health Policy and Administration Aaron Thrush

Prevalence of Scoliosis in a Cohort of Patients with Pelvic Pain Women’s Health Lisa Tate

Education Sessions

“Feeling the Squeeze? Strategies to Capture and Increase Productivity in the Delivery of Physical Therapy in the Acute Care Setting” Acute Care Section Jane Oeffner An Evidence-based Update on Management of Patients With Rotator Cuff Disease: Non-operative and Postoperative Rehabilitation Orthopaedic Section Brian Leggin, Martin Kelley An Evidence-Based Approach to Strength Training in Breast Cancer Survivors Oncology Section Andrea Branas, Joy Cohn

Red Flags of Lymphedema Oncology Section Rebecca Golden, Joy Cohn, Jenna Fried

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On January 24, (r to l) Jenna Fried, Rebecca Golden and Joy Cohn presented “Red Flags of Lymphedema” to the APTA Oncology Section

Organization-wide research

The Good Shepherd Penn Partners Research Committee, comprised of members from multiple disciplines, now has an official policy and guidelines.

Jennifer Dekerlegand, MPT, research team leader, helped to develop the five-pronged mission of the committee which includes general and facilitating research, providing updates to the executive director, connecting researchers with similar interests and acting as a resource for staff interested in research. The group is patterned with researchers from Good Shepherd to collaborate and share resources. Quarterly, the Research Committee will present at the Rittenhouse Clinical Conference.

Those interested in becoming involved in research should contact the committee at GSPPResearchCommittee@uphs.upenn.edu.

Grippi to present Specialty Hospital story at Thoracic Society Conference

While day-to-day participants vary, Specialty Hospital rounding often includes a mix of bedside nursing and “We didn’t want nurse practitioners; physical, occupational and respiratory therapy; hospitalists and pulmonary critical another ‘me-too’ facility.” care physicians; nutrition, pharmacy, an infectious disease consultant, case management and pastoral care. Michael A. Grippi, M.D. His presentation will highlight the advantages of this rounding model, including having multidisciplinary clinical input on a timely basis; sharing expertise, using rounding as an educational platform; and the opportunity the model presents for patients and family to hear their plan of care and ask questions.

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Dr. Grippi has presented at the American Thoracic Society conference in the past, though never on the subject of LTACHs. He views his presentation as an opportunity to showcase the Specialty Hospital’s successes to an international audience – and perhaps even position the hospital as a model program for other organizations.

“I believe this will be a unique presentation amongst the range of topics discussed at this year’s conference. It’ll be interesting to see who attends.”

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Following coma, former student-athlete sees rapid return to health

Two years after a traumatic injury that put college athlete Erik Simmons in a coma, he walks into the lobby of the Good Shepherd Penn Partners Rittenhouse campus for outpatient therapy, looking completely unscathed.

“Where he got in five weeks,” says Joe Muniak, OTR/L, an assistant therapy manager who worked extensively with Simmons, “we were estimating three months judging by our experience with people around his age range and the severity of his injury.”

Simmons was struck in North Philadelphia by a hit-and-run driver on April 6, 2011. Upon emerging from a five-week coma, the nineteen-year-old was admitted to the Penn Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine’s brain injury recovery unit.

“I understood everything [upon admission],” recalls Simmons, “but I wasn’t able to talk. Before the accident, I was an athlete—so I was determined. I just have Erik Simmons receives twice-weekly outpatient therapy so many years of life to live here.” two years after a hit-and-run driver left him in a coma “It’s always hard to know with brain injury patients how far they’re going to recover,” says Kelli Williams, Ph.D., a neuropsychologist and the brain injury program coordinator, “because when the brain is initially injured, you can’t tell which cells have been killed outright and which are just damaged until the cells come back online.”

Williams sits at her fourth floor desk, flipping through a number of videos she took of Simmons mere days after his arrival. In one video, Simmons looks weak, drowsy, but still manages to reach for a toothbrush and put it in his mouth. This immediate recognition of objects served as foreshadowing for Simmons’ short sprint to back to health.

As an athlete, Simmons was familiar with pushing his body’s limits.

This rapid healing of the body before the brain is referred to as post-traumatic amnesia, in which “They have absolutely no ability to remember anything new,” says Williams, “so they can be walking around and not have any idea that they’re even in a hospital.”

Simmons quickly cycled through these stages. Through the help of Hani Cohen, MA, CCC-SLP, Simmons used a computer to begin communicating with clinicians.

Finally, on May 2 (almost a month after his admission to the brain injury unit) Erik Simmons began to talk.

“A big part of the brain injury unit is finding the motivator in people,” says Muniak. “We would do a lot of competitive games with Erik. I think anyone that comes from a sports background is very goal-oriented—they want to win and they want to achieve.”

Forced to readjust his goals of being an athlete, Simmons now seeks to volunteer on the inpatient floors and pays regular visits to the therapists that facilitated his rapid recovery. “[The therapists] brought me back from the state of a baby,” recalls Simmons, “It was just like a miracle happened to me. I wasn’t able to talk. I wasn’t able to walk or anything. Then out of nowhere, I was able to walk and talk—so it was just magic before my eyes.”

Supporting charitable care in the community with second annual Diamond Gala

On Friday, May 10, Good Shepherd Penn Partners hosts its second annual Diamond Gala in support of the organization's Charitable Care Fund.

The fund provides qualified patients with the post-acute and rehabilitation services they need to reach their full potential.

Good Shepherd Penn Partners provided $2.9 in charitable care to the community in fiscal year 2012.

Last year’s inaugural gala attracted 165 attendees and raised $35,350. The goal of this year’s committee is to continue to increase the sponsorships and attendance, notes Danielle Gower, development officer for Good Shepherd Penn Partners.

This year, the gala will be held outside on the grounds of the Rittenhouse campus, under a tent in the healing garden and parking lot adjacent to Lombard Street.

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GOOD SHEPHERD PENN PARTNERS Interested in attending?

CHARITABLE CARE FUND Tickets start at $100, which Good Shepherd Penn Partners staff can purchase via payroll deduction. Contact Danielle for ticket information or to RSVP, at 215-893-2585 or via email at danielle.gower@uphs.upenn.edu.

TO BENEFIT

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Acute care therapy education at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center On February 23, Good Shepherd Penn Partners hosted “Acute Care and Beyond: Managing Your Patients’ Medical Complexity Across the Therapy Continuum of Care,” at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. The one-day course focused on utilizing the latest evidence to manage and incorporate the medical complexity of any patient in any setting to ensure safe and effective therapy. The event was organized by Jane Oeffner, PT, DPT, MBA, site manager at Penn Presbyterian, and was taught by Deborah C. Wojcik, PT, MPT, MEd. With more than 100 participants, the course saw attendance from physical therapists, physical therapy aides, occupational therapists and a certified occupational therapy assistant—including 41 Good Shepherd Penn Partners therapists and 18 therapists from Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network.

Collecting books for a good cause Daphnir Cesar, a patient service representative at Penn Therapy & Fitness at the Perelman Center, is seeking book donations for an upcoming trip to Haiti in June.

Volunteers from Haiti Engaging Youth (hey!) will build a free library for residents of the city of Pignon. hey! is a non-profit organization devoted to enhancing the quality of life for all those directly affected by the current conditions in Haiti.

The deadline for donations is May 15 and staff can drop off books at the Market Street, Rittenhouse and Perelman Center outpatient sites. Cesar is primarily seeking elementary-level books, but all donations are welcome. To learn more about how you can help, email her at daphnir.cesar@uphs.upenn.edu.

GOOD SHEPHERD PENN PARTNERS

Second annual SCI symposium Nearly 50 clinicians from across Good Shepherd Penn Partners and Penn Medicine gathered on March 22 for the 2013 Spinal Cord Injury Interdisciplinary Symposium, the first of two symposiums hosted by Good Shepherd Penn Partners’ SCI program development team. The event offered clinicians from acute care and rehabilitation, outpatient and home care settings the chance to learn how to treat patients with spinal cord injury/dysfunction, with a goal of creating a common educational base across Penn Medicine and Good Shepherd Penn Partners. The second symposium takes place on April 23 at the Penn Medicine Center for Innovation and Learning.

Nursing Excellence Awards winners The following individuals are winners of this year’s Good Shepherd Penn Partners Nursing Excellence Awards. Winners were chosen by the Nursing Recognition Committee from more than 25 nominees.

This year’s awards ceremony takes place on May 10 at the Penn Biomedical Research Building auditorium.

Rosalyn J. Watts Award for Nurse-Patient/Family Relationship: Scott Ambrass, BSN, RN, Penn Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine Dorothy Botdorf Award for Clinical Leadership: Gev Kluska, BSN, RN, Specialty Hospital at Rittenhouse

Lillian Brunner Award for Clinical Judgment: Joyce Paragas, BSN, RN, Penn Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine Helen McClelland Award for Clinical Scholarship: Diane Everett, BSN, RN, Specialty Hospital at Rittenhouse

Upcoming Support Groups

Spinal Cord Injury and Amputee Support Groups April 25: Preventative Foot Care Contact Elena Newland (SCI) at 215-893-2522 or Chris Gorrell (amputee) at 215-893-6324 for more information

Stroke Support Group (new group) April 30: General Support Group Contact Natalia Stroutinsky at 215-893-6324 for more information

All groups meet from 3-4:30 p.m. in the the Penn Medicine Rittenhouse third floor dining room

Good Shepherd Penn Partners provides inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation and specialized long-term acute care throughout the Philadelphia region. The organization manages the Penn Institute for Rehabilitation Medicine, the Specialty Hospital at Rittenhouse and operates 11 Penn Therapy & Fitness outpatient rehabilitation locations.

Good Shepherd Penn Partners also provides therapy services within six Penn Medicine acute and sub-acute facilities.

Good Shepherd Penn Partners is a joint venture of Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network and Penn Medicine.

Know of an interesting story or recent accomplishment you would like highlighted in The Insider?

Share it with Tom Chaump at 215-893-2562 or via email at thomas.chaump@uphs.upenn.edu.

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