By the Numbers: Royals Healthcare

N E W S F R O M T H E R E G I O N ’ S P R E M I E R A C A D E M I C M E D I C A L C E N T E R

ADVANCES

Th e University of Kansas Hospital is the region’s leading academic medical center, manag-ing the most complex medical and surgical cases, providing leading-edge options and the most advanced expertise. How do you share this message so patients can make informed healthcare decisions?

Advertising is an important avenue.

Next week the hospital launches a new community awareness advertising campaign. Th e campaign, which involves television, radio, print and billboards throughout the Kansas City metro, focuses on three sto-ries that emphasize the benefi ts of choosing academic medicine.

Adult split-liver transplant – Complex surgeries are common here. Performed last September, the procedure was the fi rst of its

kind in the area, saving the lives of two women.

Heart valves – Off ering more options and more hope for patients. Our hospital off ers as many innovative heart valve options as any facility in the nation. Th ey include minimally invasive procedures and advanced alternatives like the transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).

Blood and marrow trans-plants – Expertise found here. Experiencing unprecedented growth, the BMT program is fi nding more lifesaving matches for patients with leukemia, lym-phoma and other blood diseases.

Th e three stories underscore a central theme: “Academic medicine plays an important role in our community,” said Julie Amor, vice president of Marketing and Corporate

Communication. “We serve the region’s most complex patients.”

In addition to those stories, a fourth element features a short video. Its message off ers consum-ers the ability to have an impact: Th rough donations, they can sup-port academic medicine – and, by extension, the care available for their neighbors, friends and future generations.

Joan Allen is featured in the ads for the third year. Th e three-time Oscar-nominated actress is passion-ate about academic medicine’s role in the nation’s healthcare, she said during her visit to the main campus last month.

For the fi rst time she fi lmed the TV commercials here – in the hospital’s Center for Advanced Heart Care, in an operating room and a pre/post-op area. Th e commercials feature nurses and Richard

Korentager, MD; Sean Kumer, MD, PhD; Joe McGuirk, DO; Timothy Schmitt, MD; Peter Tadros, MD, FSCAI; Lowell Tilzer, MD, PhD; and Trip Zorn, MD – among the hun-dreds of physicians and health-care professionals here helping shape the future of academic medicine.

APRIL 11, 2013

With this week’s home opener, The University of Kansas Hospital launched its third season as the Offi cial Healthcare Provider of the Kansas City Royals. Stats from 2012 at Kauff man Stadium, including All-Star Week events:

60+ Employees who participated (fi rst-

aid stations and fi rst-responder teams)

57 Most games worked by one employee (Adam

Rowe, Emergency Department)

130 Events at the stadium in which

our staff provided healthcare

4,433Staff hours worked at the stadium, not including salaried employees

1,734 Patient contacts

Emergency Medicine Spotlight

2

Patient contacts by month

To suggest a By the Numbers, email Advances@kumc.edu.

Building the brandNew campaign emphasizes hospital’s role caring for the most demanding cases.

04/1

2

05/1

2

06/1

2

07/1

2

08/1

2

09/1

2

10/1

2

130

238

373

204 212

29

548

Rexy Thomas, MDInternal Medicine

ADVANCES

is a bi-weekly publication produced by:

The University of Kansas Hospital Corporate Communication

2330 Shawnee Mission Pkwy., Suite 100 Westwood, KS 66205

Send story ideas to Advances@kumc.edu.

Bob Page, President and CEOThe University of Kansas Hospital

Doug Girod, MD, Executive Vice ChancellorUniversity of Kansas Medical Center

Kirk Benson, MD, PresidentThe University of Kansas Physicians

Staff :Mike Glynn, EditorKirk Buster, Graphic Designer

New

Phy

sici

ans

Kiran Kakarala, MDOtolaryngology

Xinglei Shen, MDRadiation Oncology

Devika Maulik, MDGynecology and Obstetrics

Heather Mitzel, DOAnesthesiology

Ryan Westhoff , MDInternal Medicine

Our People Walk Across Kansas – in the

name of stroke research – Sandra Billinger, PT, PhD, is preparing to do what many of her physical therapy patients can only dream of: walk the Sunfl ower State, from border to border.

Billinger is assistant professor in Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation Science in the University of Kansas School of Health Professions. On May 16 she and her son, Michael, plan to begin their trek at the Colorado/Kansas state line, near Coolidge, Kan.

If all goes according to plan, they will walk about 25 miles a day – fol-lowing the American Discovery Trail, similar to the Santa Fe Trail – fi nish-ing the 570-mile journey 23 days later at the Kansas/Missouri state line at the main campus.

She hopes her Walk Across Kansas campaign will help raise awareness of stroke research and physical recovery from the eff ects of stroke.

Donations to Walk Across Kansas also will support the launch of an early physical activity program for stroke survivors at The University of Kansas Hospital, as well as the pur-chase of new equipment to assess

blood fl ow to the brain. Billinger points out this is actually the second journey across the state for her and her son. When she was pregnant with him in 1993, she suff ered life-threatening injuries in a car accident in Hays, Kan. Because of her injuries, she eventually moved to Kansas City with her young family to become a physical therapist and obtain her PhD at the school where she now works. Details about Walk Across Kansas are at ptrs.kumc.edu/walk-across-kansas.

Conference introduces in-vestors to new technologies – Mark Fisher, PhD, professor in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Kansas Medical Center, was selected to participate in the annual University Research & Entrepreneurship Symposium, a showcase of the nation’s most prom-ising university-based inventions.

Held April 3 in Cambridge, Mass., the symposium introduced a select group of leading-edge university

technologies to ven-ture capitalists and entrepreneurs, with the goal of securing funding for new start-up companies and converting university

technologies into new products and cures. The symposium chose only 33 technologies for presentations.

Fisher is developing new tech-nologies to address protein-folding diseases. Approximately 30 to 50 percent of all diseases that aff ect humans result from protein-folding defects. A subset of these folding diseases includes forms of Parkinson’s disease, cystic fi brosis, some cancers, diabetes and emphysema.

Fisher

Sandra Billinger, PT, PhD, and her son, Michael Thomas, plan to walk across Kansas next month in the name of stroke research and rehabilitation.

Keeping you in the game...... on the field, in the stands

and in your neighborhoodOur Center for Sports Medicine opens its newest location at The University of Kansas Hospital Training Complex, next to Arrowhead Stadium. To learn more, call 913-588-1227 or visit kumed.com/sportsmedicine.

Official healthcare provider of the Kansas City Royals – and the athlete in you.

facebook.com/kuhospitalfacebook.com/kucancercenterfacebook.com/kumedicalcenter

youtube.com/kuhospitalyoutube.com/kucancercenteryoutube.com/kumedcenter

@kuhospital@kucancercenter@kumedcenter

10 95 75 50 25 5% 10 95 75 50 25 5% 10 95 75 50 25 5% 10 95 75 50 25

Events Brain Discovery Fair – Children

can participate in hands-on experiments with microscopes, tour a lab and see a human brain: 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, April 13, Robert E. Hemenway Life Sciences Innovation Center on the main campus. Free and open to children ages 4 to 13. Event sponsor is the Kansas City chapter of the Society for Neuroscience, which is com-prised mostly of University of Kansas Medical Center faculty and graduate students. Information: sfnkc@kumc.edu.

Kitchen Therapy: Cooking up Comfort – Cancer patients, fami-lies and caregivers are invited to free cooking demonstrations to make food appealing and enhance appetites: Noon-1 p.m., Thursday, April 18, KU Clinical Research Center. Demonstrations are held the same time and place on the third Thursday of every month. Recipes prepared by The University of Kansas Cancer Center dietitians. To register, call 913-945-7624.

TedMed Live Kansas City – Inaugural event features simulcasts from TedMed in Washington, D.C., with live speakers in Kansas City on the topic of Parkinson’s disease: 6:30- 8 p.m. Thursday, April 18, Alamo Drafthouse in downtown Kansas City. Benefits Parkinson’s research at the University of Kansas Medical Center. Info and tickets ($10/$50) at tedmedlivekc.org.

4th Annual Tasting Event, Culinary Creations from Soup to Dessert – Learn more about oral, head and neck cancers: 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, April 24, the Richard and Annette Bloch Cancer Care Pavilion in Westwood. Chefs from 10 area restaurants will provide samples of food and drink. Benefits The University of Kansas Cancer Center. Tickets are $15. Information and tickets: 913-588-3630.

PROGRAM SPOTLIGHTEmergency Medicine always at the ready

The Emergency Department at The University of Kansas Hospital moves at a fast pace, with caregivers treating up to 125 patients on a busy day.

Patient satisfaction is vital, so ED staff in recent years launched pro-grams with names like Fast Track and Rapid Evaluation Assessment Care Team. The goal: Ensure pa-tients see physicians quickly.

“We have altered the way emergency medicine is done,” said Dennis Allin, MD, Emergency Medicine medical director. “Only one or two other EDs in the nation operate like us. We are committed to seeing patients in a timely and professional fashion.”

Our ED spans more than 160 caregivers, including 21 physi-cians – most of them board-certified in emergency medicine – as well as 18 residents, 26 paramedics and 80 nurses directly involved in patient care.

They are backed by an ED in-frastructure featuring 32 patient and treatment rooms (23 of them private rooms), a dual-patient trauma bay, radiology equipment and advanced technology allow-ing staff to monitor patients in any room. Conveniences include

covered drop-off, dedicated underground parking and an isolation waiting area for those with contagious illnesses.

The hospital also offers the region’s only nationally verified Level I Trauma Center, which means Emergency Medicine staff work hand in hand with care-givers in the hospital’s Trauma department as well as Cardiology, Neurology and the Burn Center.

With that level of collabora-tion, Emergency Medicine at our

hospital can treat patients seeking the most complex emergency care, from chest pain and respira-tory failure to broken bones.

“The feedback we receive from our relationships with other spe-cialists in the hospital is crucial,” Allin said. “Because we are in academic medicine, we constant-ly are held to a higher standard of care in Emergency Medicine – a state-of-the-art standard ensuring the best patient protocols and outcomes.”

EXPOSUREA tribute to organ donorsThe University of Kansas Hospital, in conjunction with Midwest Transplant Network, hosted a Rose Ceremony April 6 honoring the lives of 22 organ donors at the hospital. Approximately 100 family members attended, receiving roses in memory of their loved ones whose gift – organ and tissue donations – saved the lives of others. Near right, Cindy Nicolaisen received a rose in honor of her sister-in-law, donor Theresa Funk. Far right, the family of Nichelle Madlock – daughter JaNaiya (from left), mother Demitha and son Corvis – received roses recognizing her gift of life.

New hope for ALS patientsResearchers looking for a new treatment for amyotrophic

lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurological disorder com-monly known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, are turning to a drug already used in another neurologic disorder to see if it can help patients in the fight against the devastating disease.

Richard Barohn, MD, distinguished professor and chair of the University of Kansas Medical Center’s Department of Neurology, has treated patients with ALS for decades. He is now leading a new study funded by a $1.6 million grant from the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Orphan Products Development.

Researchers at 10 different sites will enroll patients in a study examining the effect of the drug rasagiline – already approved for use in Parkinson’s disease patients – in patients with ALS.

Fifty percent of ALS patients die within three to five years of being diagnosed. As many as 30,000 patients have the disease in the U.S. at any given time. Treatment options are limited, too. A single drug is available to patients today, and it can delay the progression of the disease by about three to six months.

Beacons honor exceptional patient careThree nursing units at The University of Kansas Hospital

have won the Beacon Award for Excellence, which recognizes exceptional patient care.

Few hospitals in the Midwest can claim a Beacon award, much less three. Currently the closest Beacon Awarded hospi-tals are in Denver, Memphis and central Illinois.

“This is a fantastic accomplishment,” said Carol Cleek, RN, who oversees the hospital’s Emergency and Critical Care Services. “The fact we are the only hospital in the region to have a Beacon Award-winning unit – and we have three – speaks volumes to the quality in critical care services we offer.”

The Beacon Award, from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, recognizes three levels, Gold, Silver and Bronze, and designations are awarded for three years. Our new Beacon Award winners:

Adam Olberding, RN; Medical Director Amy O’Brien-Ladner, MD. This is the unit’s second Beacon Award.

Staci Giudicessi, RN; Medical Director Jeff Kramer, MD. This is the unit’s second Beacon Award.

Nurse Manager Anna Werner, RN; Medical Director Greg Muehlbach, MD. This is the unit’s first Beacon Award.

In the NewsA recap of recent articles, TV segments and other media coverage of the region’s leading academic medical center.

Type of shoe changes how people run – The Kansas City Star, March 26. The article highlights research by Scott Mullen, MD, Orthopedic Surgery at The University of Kansas Hospital. He co-authored the study, which will be published in Journal of Pediatric Orthopaedics. It found that thick-heeled running shoes encourage runners to land on their heels, which could increase wear and tear to knees and hips.

Medical Center administrator to lead Edwards Campus – Lawrence Journal-World, March 25. David Cook, PhD, was named vice

chancellor at the University of Kansas’ Edwards Campus in Overland Park. Cook is associate vice chancellor for community engagement at the University of Kansas Medical Center and associate professor in the University of Kansas School of Medicine. He begins his new role at the Edwards Campus Monday, April 15.

Early warning signs of autism – Fox 4 News, April 3. As part of Autism Awareness Month, Medical Reporter Meryl Lin McKean talked with Louann Rinner, OTR/L, of the Center for Child Health and Development at the University of Kansas Medical Center. One in 50 school-aged kids displays an autism-spectrum disorder, with warning signs usually appearing by 12 to 18 months. Early intervention is key for the child’s development, Rinner said.

Exploring “Milk and Cookies disease” – KMBZ Radio, March 27. Julie Wei, MD, a pediatric otolaryngologist at The University of Kansas Hospital, explained how dairy and sugar do not digest overnight, causing a num-ber of health problems. Wei said 75 percent of patients she sees suffer from the disease. If your child must eat after dinner or before bed, offer bananas or dry crackers and avoid foods containing dairy and sugar.

New

s Br

iefs

The Emergency Department includes a dual-patient trauma bay.

Richard Barohn, MD, and ALS patient Dena Highberger

Cook

10957550255%10957550255%10957550255%1095755025