www.RUMCSI.org June 2014

Message from the President & CEO

Daniel J. Messina, Ph.D., FACHE, LNHA

CHRONICLE

With my first month at Richmond University Medical Center complete, I definitely feel like part of the team! Thank you for the warm welcome to the hospital. I’ve enjoyed getting to work with many of you, and look forward to meeting everyone over the next few weeks. In this month’s issue of Chronicle, we have added some resources that will appear on an ongoing basis, including news from the human resources and quality departments. Additionally, we have shared photos from the Nurses of Distinction Award Ceremony. I congratulate the nurses who were honored, and thank all of our nurses as well as our entire staff for their dedication to our patients and to the hospital. In this issue, we also recognize RUMC’s EMTs, who were the first in the citywide 911 system to have all EMS trained and carrying Naloxone, an intranasal drug credited with saving lives by reversing an overdose. I commend our EMS staff and thank them for embracing this positive change. Please remember to share any special announcements with our Community Relations team at info@rumcsi.org. Daniel J. Messina, Ph.D., FACHE, LNHA

As of May 1st, Richmond University Medical Center’s Emergency Medical Technicians became the first in New York City’s 911 system to be fully trained and carrying Naloxone, a step the hospital took to protect our community and stem the rise of heroin overdoses seen in our borough. RUMC EMTs completed training of how to administer the intranasal drug, which is credited for saving the lives of heroin overdoses.

RUMC EMS Trained & Carrying Overdose Drug, Naloxone

A PUBLICATION FOR EMPLOYEES, PHYSICIANS, TRUSTEES, AND VOLUNTEERS OF RICHMOND UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER

Board of Trustees Chairperson, Kathryn Rooney, Esq. with President & CEO Daniel Messina, Ph.D. at a welcome reception held at the Old Bermuda Inn. Event graciously hosted by Trustee John Vincent Scalia.

NY1 produced a citywide story on the RUMC EMS team—QA Paramedic Anthony McKay was interviewed for the story, along with others. Right: EMTs were trained in RUMC’s Sipp Auditorium.

Chronicle June 2014

Trauma Services Expanding at Richmond University Medical Center

Trauma Services continues to grow at the

Medical Center. More staff members are

becoming TNCC Certified, bringing a new

level of expertise to care for the trauma

patient. The department recently received a

new Ultra Sound Scanner to perform quick

scans of the abdomen and other body parts.

The team also just received a new cardiac /

transport monitor.

This state-of-the-art transport monitor

eliminates the need for two pieces of

equipment to monitor the patient during

transport to the CAT Scan, O.R. or patient

room. It provides EKG, BP, pulse ox cardiac

monitoring and defibrillation. The equip-

ment was funded by emergency prepared-

ness grant funds.

Kristyn L. D’Andrea, PT/OT

Anthony Bosco, Paramedic

Daniel Coronel, Admin. Director

Robert Adams, Security Officer

Deborah Muller, Switchboard

Daniel J. Messina, President & CEO

Javier Rodriguez, Security Officer

Nicholas Medina, Security Officer

Maria D’Onofrio, Registered Nurse

Frederick Reischour, EMT

Brittany Schettino, EMT

Eileen Watford, Switchboard

Lourdes Figueroa, Registrar

Christine Masucci, Asst. Dir. Nursing

Domingo Toro, Nursing Assistant

Adeola Ajayi, Unit Assistant

Victorio Van Dunk, Registered Nurse

Natalie Diggs, Nursing Assistant

Jean Negron, Transporter

Jacqueline Shagan, Unit Clerk

Sara Uciechowski, Unit Clerk

Alice R. Piner, MRI Tech

Ann Marie Grieco, Marketing

Continuous Leave & Intermittent Leave

If you are going on a continuous leave or filing an intermittent leave,

please remember to contact FMLA Source either by logging on to

www.fmlasource.com or calling 1-877-462-3652 to apply for FMLA.

FMLA Source will forward you the information needed to file disability if

necessary. You must also notify your department at least two weeks

prior or as soon as possible to the start of your continuous leave or on a

daily basis for intermittent absences once approved via the established

departmental procedure in order to receive eligible sick or other accrued

time payment. Please contact our Benefits Department for assistance at

ext 3246.

The Joint Commission

Joint Commission time is approaching soon and we need staff’s 100%

TIMELY compliance with LICENSURE, CERTIFICATIONS (INCLUDING

BLS, ACLS, PALS, NRP) ANNUAL HEALTH ASSESSMENTS AND ANNUAL

MANDATORIES. Please remember you are due for your annual health

assessment during your birth month even if that is shortly after your hire

date. Any questions, please contact Human Resources or Employee

Health for the assessment.

Please join us Tuesday June 17th from 11am to 4pm at the Villa

Lawn (facing Castleton Avenue - Villa parking lot) for an employee

& volunteer appreciation summer barbecue!

Employee & Volunteer Summer BBQ June 17th!

Chronicle June 2014

Practice Unite App at Richmond University Medical Center

RUMC is pleased to introduce its HIPAA-compliant mobile

communication app that allows physicians, nurses and clini-

cal staff to find and communicate easily and quickly with

each other. The app, which was launched on May 14th, is

available for physician download in the Apple Store or in

Google Play.

The app will allow users to send and receive secure texts and

photos from their Android and/or Apple smartphones and

tablets. The app is designed to include all RUMC Medical

Staff physicians, residents in training, fellows, and the nurses

and support staff who are members of patient care teams.

The sending of unsecured texts and images that contain pro-

tected patient information is prohibited by federal HIPAA

rules. RUMC’s mobile app is designed to not only provide

instant care team communications, but to comply with these

rules. RUMC’s mobile app can also deliver consultation re-

quests to physicians, provides an up-to-date “On-Call” sched-

ule, delivers department-specific news, includes a system-

wide telephone directory, sends invitations to medical staff

and departmental events, and can be used to deliver urgent

hospital “Alerts.”

Examples of how the app can be used include communica-

tions among emergency physicians, hospitalists and primary

care and specialty physicians, the sending of texts among

treating physicians and nurses, sign-out and team texts

among resident physicians, and communications between

residents and attending physicians. Physicians will soon find

that RUMC news and event invitations within their areas of

interest will appear on their apps.

Representatives from Practice Unite will be on-site to help

explain how the system works, and to assist physicians and

nurses in downloading and activating their apps. If you have

questions about the app, or would like to receive personal

support regarding its use, the support team can be reached

at (866) 874-8616, and email: support@practiceunite.com.

Since 1982, Pauline Aliotta has been helping St. Vin-cent’s and then Richmond University Medical Center staff as a volunteer messen-ger. Pauline is dedicated to the hospital and our com-munity. She goes above and beyond to ensure that she’s made a difference for our staff, and our patients. Her dedication and commitment is truly appreciated by not only the volunteer office,

but all by staff, physicians, and the board of trustees.

We thank Pauline for her service and we congratulate her on being recognized as our June Volunteer Star! Pauline has completed more than 4,700 hours of service to Richmond University Medical Center. In recognition of Donate Life Month, information on organ & tissue donation was

available in April in the hospital lobby. Special thanks to Quality staff for organizing.

Quality & Patient Care

New York Hospitals Have Most Opportunity to Improve in HCHAPS

During a recent presentation at the Board Quality meeting,

RUMC’s Press Ganey representative Annamarie Lombardo dis-

played a slide that shows that NY state hospitals are ranked 50th

out of 50 states on HCHAPS measures. This is a stark reality that

needs to be addressed. First some definitions are important.

What is HCHAPS? The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health-

care Providers and Systems survey is the national, standardized,

publicly reported survey of patients’ perspectives of their hospital

care experiences.

What are the Goals of HCAHPS? Produce comparable data for

public reporting; Create incentives to improve; Enhance public

accountability and transparency; Create a platform for improve-

ment in patient experience.

Patient satisfaction is about what patients think about their treat-

ment. The patient experience — focusing on care coordination,

pain management, communication with caregivers and staff re-

sponsiveness — is about protocols designed to reduce patient

stress, experts said. The patient experience movement has been

growing for years, but it has gained momentum, thanks in part to

the Affordable Care Act and a push to tie payments increasingly to

value and quality of care. In Value Based Purchasing over 2% of

Medicare reimbursement is tied to quality measures as well as

patient experience scores.

The Press Ganey survey found that 73% of patients in New Eng-

land states, from Connecticut and Massachusetts, Maine, New

Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont, are likely to recommend,

versus 64% in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Patients in

Great Plains states such as Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota and Nebraska

are among the likeliest to recommend. They scored 72%, while

south central region patients in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma

and Texas score 71%. 19 states along the lower eastern seaboard,

in the southeast, and in the west from California to Washington

were 68% likely. To the right, you will see an illustration of the

State by State performance.

Physician organizations, including the American Medical Associa-

tion, are offering doctors insight on how to create the best patient

experience. Some hospitals are more proscriptive, outlining what

actions their employed physicians must take at every visit for the

best patient experience. Some organizations have taken more pro-

scriptive steps to improve. “The UCLA Health System has imple-

mented patient experience protocols that doctors must follow,”

said David Feinberg, MD, president of UCLA Health Systems and

CEO of UCLA Hospital Systems.

When meeting patients, doctors are required to knock on the

doors before entering. They must call patients by their last names,

with courtesy titles, until told to do otherwise. They must intro-

duce themselves and tell patients what their roles are before com-

municating what they will be doing and responding to questions.

When exiting, doctors must explain that they are leaving and what

to expect next. Physician communication sets the stage for success-

ful patient experience outcomes.

AMA policy “encourages physicians to be sensitive to the goals and

values of patients, and efforts should be continued to improve the

measurement of patient satisfaction and the documentation of its

relationship to favorable outcomes and other criteria of high qual-

ity.” The concept of the patient experience is not new, but it's be-

coming more important, because some health care payments are

becoming more associated with it, said Pat Ryan, Press Ganey's

CEO. This approach is also being adopted for support staff. The

concept of scripting is one that drives improvement in patient ex-

perience. When interacting with patients and families creating a

solid communication plan at each interaction reinforces that the

organization has commitment to the respect and dignity of the

patient and a genuine interest in excellent service.

Where is RUMC in terms of our own HCHAPS scores? Like the

rest of New York we have opportunity to improve. In the first quar-

ter of 2014 scores improved in nearly every domain which is a

great start. The scores in communication with our professional

staff with Doctors – 75% and Nurses - 71% show great promise in

reaching national benchmarks. However we have a great deal of

ground to make up especially in “Rate the Hospital” and

“Recommend the Hospital.” Over the coming months you will see

and hear of a number of initiatives being created to focus on these

efforts. Our HCHAPS scores will be reported at all divisional meet-

ings, posted in employee and physician lounges. Reward and rec-

ognition programs will be implemented to recognize excellent

performance. In closing, our patients deserve the best care and

service and the market place requires that our services meet or

exceed the expectations of our patients for our continued success.

By Joseph Conte, Senior Vice President of Regulatory, Quality, Risk and Legal Affairs

Quality & Patient Care

RUMC Patient Portal to

Go Live June 1st Through July 1st

The Richmond University Medical Center Patient

Portal provides a secure online website service

that gives patients convenient 24-hour access to

personal health information from anywhere with

an internet connection. This makes getting test re-

sults and managing healthcare easier than ever,

reducing barriers to collaboration and enhancing

care efficiency.

By enrolling in the Richmond University Medical

Center Patient Portal using a secure username and

password patients can:

View RUMC lab results, discharge summaries,

radiology results online, review their medication

history, update their healthcare record, and print/

download or securely share their health record

with community providers.

Dr. First e-prescribing

Proposed to Go Live June 1st

Dr. First e-prescribing is the simplest way to signifi-

cantly improve patient safety and reduce rising

medication costs. Transmitting prescriptions to

pharmacies eliminates one more chance for a

transcription error. Medication reconciliation takes

less time as well. Electronic prescribing for meds to

be continued by the patient once discharged home

via new discharge routine in correlation with 3rd

party vendors Dr. First and Sure Scripts.

All prescriptions are e-signed by providers as a

final check on accuracy before transmission or

printing.

Community Celebrating

Our Staff at RUMC

Dear friends,

We are writing to you in relation to the case for Josefa, a

patient of Richmond University Medical Center for the

past six weeks.

We, her daughter and cousin, in the name of Josefa and

our entire family would like to give you and your staff

members, especially Lori Howe, Mary Howley, nurses

Nina and Erika, Dr. Pandia, Dr. Akin Leye, the transla-

tors, the nurse assistants, and some other staff members

whose names we don’t remember right now a huge

THANK YOU for all the support, understanding, empathy,

cooperation and readiness to assist us throughout this very

difficult time of our lives.

Your staff members are remarkable! All of them without

exception from the operator all the way to the specialty

doctors have made our lives easier during Josefa’s hospi-

talization and during the entire process of repatriating her.

We have no words to express our gratitude and recognize

how great and key players all of them have been for us.

You must be very proud to have a team like that!

With all our respect,

Ana Maria & Luz Mabel

Josefa’s daughter and cousin

Two community members recently wrote a letter of gratitude. They

shared detail of their family’s experience with our staff, please see the

letter to the right (last names omitted).

We acknowledge the staff who assisted the patient, and truly thank

everyone for going above & beyond with patient care!

In Our Community

Maya Chang Foundation & Northfield Foundation Donate Funds to RUMC

RUMC was presented a check by Yvonne Chang and the Friends of Maya Chang

Foundation for $5,000 to support our pediatrics department.

Northfield Bank Foundation held its golf outing in May.

$25,000 will be donated to our emergency department.

Ronald A. Purpora, a trustee of the Richmond University Medical Cen-

ter Board, was honored on Monday May 12th by the United Hospitals

Fund at the Waldorf Astoria. The event honored Mr. Purpora for his

dedication to the hospital, and presented him with the UHF 2014

Distinguished Trustee Award.

RUMC Trustee Ron Purpora Honored by UHF

RUMC and the American Parkinson Disease Association

hosted a lecture on Parkinson’s Disease for the hospital’s

medical interns, led by Dr. Allan Perel, Chief of Neurology at

RUMC. Dr. Perel gave an overview of Parkinson’s, a progres-

sive degenerative neurological disease, and addressed the

latest in the diagnosis, treatment, long term management and

research efforts into the cause and cure of the disease.

APDA Lecture on Parkinson’s

with Dr. Allan Perel, Chief of Neurology

Nurses of Distinction Award Ceremony

At Richmond University Medical Center

Richmond University Medical Center honored Susanne Cesario, Lisa Quigney, Grace Lehan, Jennifer Cosentino,

Beth Clarke, Rosemarie Seaman, Janet Scenna, Kaitlin Defalco, Henry Shimchak, Nancy Rooney and Larry Teatum

at the Annual Nurse of Distinction Ceremony on May 7, 2014. The Board of Trustees and Senior Administration

shared their appreciation at the event, and recognized all nurses for National Nurses Day with a full page ad in the

Staten Island Advance listing each nurse.

Nurse of Distinction Awards

Free carousel rides at the Willowbrook Park

(2 Eton Place) -all in the community are welcome!

Contact Stefanie Racano if you would like to participate

in the day with information, a table, kid’s activities, or if

you are a cancer survivor and would like to be part of

the program. Email info@rumcsi.org or call x2103.

National EMS Week BBQ at RUMC May 22nd