Remember The Mission

The winner of the Pressure Ulcer (bed sores) Prevention poster contest is Jeanie Sauerland of the Post Anesthesia Care Unit (PACU), at University Hospital.

Her poster was among 15 other posters submitted by University Health System (UHS) clinical staff (units) this month. The contest was part of the pressure ulcer prevention campaign, “One Good Turn Deserves Another.” This promotion is also part of a national effort by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) “5 Million Lives,” campaign to reduce the number of pressure ulcers on patients in hospitals across the country.

The “One Good Turn Deserves Another” campaign will help promote the improvement, prevention, detection and mitigation of pressure ulcers throughout University Hospital (UH). The slogan will be featured on buttons, posters and other materials. The winning poster will serve as an educational tool to help raise awareness.

The posters will were judged on:

-Originality

-Content

-Best use of campaign slogan

All University Health System (UHS) employees were invited to participate. The posters were viewed and selected by a judging panel. The winning poster will also receive a pizza party for their unit.590.

One Good Turn Deserves Another

When Marco Tenorio and Fred Scantling, RNs in the Surgical Trauma Intensive Care

Unit (STICU) at University Hospital (UH), aren’t caring for patients at the bedside, they are helping to educate their peers.

The two participated in a “catchy” campaign slogan contest on pressure ulcer (bed sore) prevention, and won. Their winning slogan, “One Good Turn Deserves Another,” is part of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) “5 Million Lives,” campaign. It was selected by a panel of UH judges, and resulted in a pizza party for the STICU team.

A team that is magnetically working together

The Pressure Ulcer Prevention Protocol Interventions (PUPPI) took over the 7th floor in early August.

Donna Grieder, BSN, RN, CMSRN found an evidence-based article in the April volume of the AJN and realized it outlined the same initiative taking place on the 7th floor. She contacted the author, who gave her permission to use the PUPPI name and data. So an educational fair was set up on the 7th floor that highlighted all of the nursing interventions. 

There were posters, story boards and quizzes, and lots of photos of precious puppies, puppies, and more puppies! Also included were bones and puppy chow. Over 100 staff members “pawed” their way into the exhibit. Donna’s assistants included Janet Rogers, RN, PCC, Jennifer Elorriaga, RN, BSN, Liz Khoshboei RN, BSN and Marleen Lardieri, LVN. 

The poster developed for the PUPPI fair won second prize in the “One Good Turn Deserves Another” Pressure Ulcer poster contest.

This accomplishment is just more evidence of the teamwork and excellent patient care that takes place on the 7th Floor.

Staff members on the 7th floor are truly practicing Magnet Force 7, which is “Quality of Care.”

Go Magnet Go!

Clinic provides needed oversight of DME services

If you're shelling out nearly a million dollars for a service, you want to make sure you're getting your money's worth. You simply can't trust that things are done right.

That's a lesson San Antonio's University Health System knows all too well.

CareLink, which enrolls and manages indigent families who receive care from the University Health System, had contracted with a home health company to supply patients with respiratory equipment such as oxygen and continuous positive airway pressure.

This wasn't a cheap service. CareLink paid out more than $300,000 a year, for three years, said Donnie R. Holman, BS, RRT, RCP, director of respiratory care and pulmonary function labs for the University Health System. So, the health system performed an audit to check on the quality of the home health company's efforts.

That's when they found the problems. Most notably, the company wasn't doing proper follow-up, though it was billing like it had. It was even billing for patients who had died.

Obviously, that company needed to be replaced, but the University Health System wanted to do more than that. It needed to make sure the same inefficiencies weren't going to happen again with the new company it contracted.

"You want to make sure your patients are taken care of," Holman said.

More oversight was a necessity. The solution rested with the health system's Respiratory Care DME Clinic.

The Process

Established in 2004, the clinic essentially checks on the treatment patients receive from the home health company. It makes sure patients are compliant and using equipment as prescribed. It can re-educate patients if necessary. It verifies that patients receive a new CPAP mask regularly as it becomes worn from use. It can call doctors if additional help is required, and it acts as point person if patients have any problems.

When patients first receive a piece of equipment, they meet with the company's respiratory therapist and the clinic's RT. As clinic director, Holman puts it, this ensures that "everybody is singing out of the same hymn book."

Margie Soto, CRT, RCP, is an RT at the clinic. Her days are packed with activity, full of scheduling, documenting, and following up with patients. "It's that busy all day long," she said.

Soto is part cheerleader, inspiring and encouraging patients to continue with their care. She's also part teacher, making sure patients understand their equipment. "It can be confusing to them," she said. "They need time to understand. I make the time."

The Outcomes

Using the clinic to keep tabs on home care has produced fantastic results. Patients are kept out of the hospital because constant follow-up ensures they're sticking to their treatment. "The whole intent is to manage (patients) in the home, which is cheaper for everyone," Holman said.

The clinic also makes certain a service is discontinued when it's no longer needed, and it ensures a monthly rental fee isn't paid when equipment can be purchased outright instead. A purchase can be completed once the amount of rental payments paid equals the equipment's purchase price. This is easy money to be saved, but if someone isn't keeping an eye on the rental payments, "it will cost you an arm and a leg," Holman said.

Add it all up, and the clinic realized savings in excess of $210,000 for 2006. Its other successes, namely the better quality of life for patients, can't be measured in money.

When patients first come to the clinic for their CPAP, for instance, they're often miserable and tired, Soto said. As time passes, though, she sees the difference treatment makes. "You see a smile on their face," she said. "They are enjoying life again."

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By Barbara Sutherlun, RNC

MAGNET CHAMPION

NICU-University Hospital

University Health System’s Neonatal Transport team reaches out to Bexar County and South Texas to save the lives of critically ill newborns. Our mission is to provide the highest standard of care when transporting a baby using the most up to date techniques and technology available.

Highly skilled and knowledgeable UHS team members carefully transport the littlest patients. This transport team consists of ten neonatologists; six neonatal nurse practitioners; ten registered nurses; and nine respiratory therapists. During transports, a neonatologist, neonatology fellow, or a neonatal nurse practitioner, along with a registered nurse and a respiratory therapist, travel to stabilize and transport the critically ill infant.

The team has been active for twelve years. The medical director of the transport team is Dr. Cynthia Blanco. The nursing transport coordinator is Debbie Rejba, RNC. The respiratory therapist coordinator is Marissa Perez, RRT. Newborn Services Administrative Director, Irene Garcia-Sandate, RNC, MSN, NNP, provides solid support for the entire team.  

The Transport team members are educators as well. They travel into the community and throughout South Texas to provide instruction about the Neonatal Resuscitation Program and to provide STABLE courses.

The University Health System and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, work as a team to reach out to the community and South Texas to improve and provide the highest standards of care for the tiniest of patients.

By Barbara Sutherlun, RNC

MAGNET CHAMPION

NICU-University Hospital

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) would like to introduce our new Administrative Director, Irene Garcia-Sandate, RNC, MSN, NNP. She comes to us with a vast knowledge of Neonatal ICU nursing and administrative experience. 

Irene started her nursing career at Driscoll Children’s Hospital in Corpus Christi, as a staff and transport nurse. She moved up the ranks to the position of manager of the NICU.

Deciding to make a career change, she moved to San Antonio, and was hired as a staff nurse in NICU at University Hospital. She then became the Continuity of Care Coordinator in NICU.

After returning to school for her MSN, Irene sat for the Neonatal Nurse Practitioner (NNP) licensing exam. She has worked for the Department of Neonatology at UTHSCSA, as a NNP since 2000.

 

Irene loves a challenge. She recognized the recently vacated position of Administrative Director for Newborn Services, as a career change, where she could make a difference.

 

The staff of Newborn Services truly appreciates her taking on the job and advancing us to the highest of standards of care possible for our patients.

Welcome aboard Irene!