November 2010 - The University of Kansas Hospital

p.6
150,029
DOLLARS
That’s how much the hospital
raised in its annual United Way
campaign. It’s a 23 percent increase
over last year’s total of $122,087.
See the story on page 6.
Learn more on
1FOUR
OF ONLY
When Pharmacy won the American
Society of Health-System
Pharmacists (ASHP) Best Practices
Award in October, we became
just the fourth two-time winner
ever. Pharmacy previously won the
award, which recognizes innovative
projects that improve patient outcomes, in 2007.
Learn more on
6
AWARDS
MAKE US
NUMBER 1
A total of six units have received
the Beacon Award for Critical Care
Excellence – more than any other
hospital in the nation. The awards
honor units that meet high standards for environment of care and
patient outcomes. Just 315 of the
approximately 6,000 critical care
units in the United State have ever
won Beacons. To see pictures of the
latest award-winning units, turn to
PhotoWorthy, page 4.
Learn more on
11.2010 | Volume 6, Number 11
News for Staff and Volunteers of The University of Kansas Hospital
O2 OM up and running
It took 18 months, thousands of
hours of work, and more than a
few late nights at the office, but
O2 Order Management is officially live.
As the biggest go-live event
since the initial O2 system launch
in 2007, Order Management
impacts the way nearly twothirds of hospital employees do
their jobs. With O2 OM, physicians no longer write their orders
by hand. Instead, they directly
enter them into the computer.
An Orders Task Force spent
more than a year systematically
reviewing paper order sets and
determining which ones should
be migrated to OM. More than
250 of the most common order
sets were converted into electronic forms to be made available
through O2 OM.
The payoff for all this hard
work? A safer, more streamlined
environment for our patients.
“This is a major milestone
for us as we move toward an
evidence-based health care system,” said Greg Ator, MD, chief
medical information officer.
“With Order Management, we’re
building a key part of the infrastructure to be able to provide
MICU Unit Educator Jennifer
McNiel, RN, disposes of a
set of paper orders the day
of the O2 OM go-live.
HITS staffers Becky
Boshard (right) and Anne
Sass discuss a ticket in the
O2 OM command center.
that type of care to our
patients.”
Obviously, some tense
moments are to be
expected with any launch
of this size. But the morning of the go-live, nurses,
physicians and O2 Go-Tos
reported relatively smooth sailing.
Nursing Informatics Specialist
Lauren Gray, who sat on the
Orders Task Force, spent some of
the morning of the go-live in the
O2 Command Center.
“Things went very well,” she
said. “I’ve been involved in golives that were much more animated than this. We got a number
Physicians Matt Sharpe, MD (right),
and Krishna Rangarajan, MD,
enter an order set directly into the
computer Nov. 1.
INSIDEinsider
3
6
Christmas in October
participation booms
Tips on staying
prepared for TJC visit
of ‘How do I…’ questions, but
there weren’t any big hiccups.”
And up on the units, the O2
Go-Tos reported much of the same.
“I got in really early the morning of the go-live, expecting
things would be hectic,” said
MICU Unit Educator Jennifer
McNiel. “But when I got to the
unit, everything was calm. It was
almost like, ‘Okay, isn’t there
anyone who needs help?’ It was a
good feeling.”
Learn more on
8
Use the purple bin for
your glass and go green
bob’spage
Good to great
As an avid baseball fan, I’m
always fascinated by stories
from the World Series. This
year was no exception. Many
people had written off the San
Francisco Giants at mid-season,
but the team paid no attention
to the naysayers. They maintained an unwavering faith they
would achieve the title of world
champions.
How did they do it? By having the right people in the
right positions, all focused on
a single goal. This is how an
organization moves from good
to great.
I’m also a fan of a very good
book on organizational excel-
How do you remember
to double-check patient
ID at every step?
I make it a habit to
look at their wristband every time I
enter the room. It
takes two seconds,
and could save a
big mistake.
Claudia Barbagiovanni, RN, Unit 66
I think about it in
terms of providing the best care.
You want to make
sure a patient is
getting the right
treatment.
Alyson Luckenbach, RN, Unit 66
When you’re busy
it’s easy to confuse
patients, and a
lot can go wrong.
So I remember to
be deliberate in
what I’m doing and
check their ID at every step.
Emily Simonich, RN, Unit 41/42
page 2 | November 2010 | i n s i d e r
lence called Good to Great by
Jim Collins. It outlines the key
characteristics of companies
which made the leap to greatness.
There are a couple of concepts
from the book which really hit
home with me. First, a great
organization identifies what it
can do better than anyone else.
The great organizations know
what sets them apart from other
organizations and leverage that
difference in ways that lead to
increased satisfaction and customers who become advocates
for the organization. For us, we
provide exceptional patient care
and help our patients achieve
outcomes in a way other organizations cannot match. This consistently high level of care has
earned us the loyalty of thousands of patients – patients who
tell our story across the region.
Secondly, great organizations
are never satisfied. They can
never be too good, too customer focused or too employee
focused to say their work is
done. They continue to raise
the bar so their patients and
families are not just satisfied,
but amazed by the care and service they receive.
I truly believe we are a great
organization. What you accomplish every day is amazing. I
also believe we are not done
yet. Just like other great organizations, I know we want to
continue to set the standards
by which other hospitals are
measured. As members of our
exceptional team, your passion
to be the best will ensure we
remain a great organization and
lead the nation in caring, healing, teaching and learning.
Bob Page is president and chief
executive officer of the hospital.
Confirming patient ID a crucial step
OUR PATIENTS & FAMILIES
If you need a reminder why
it’s so important to check a
patient’s identification at every
step, just ask Julie Baxter, RN,
Oncology.
Earlier this year, Baxter
picked up what seemed like a
run-of-the-mill order set for
a patient. But as she walked
into the patient’s room, she
noticed that the order information didn’t seem to match the
patient’s history.
“Something wasn’t adding
up,” she said. “When I asked
the patient to give me a verbal
ID, I found we didn’t have the
right guy. The order was for a
patient with the same last name
who had been scheduled for
treatment the same day.”
Baxter’s good catch helps
underline the
Julie Baxter’s good
importance of
catch underscores
the hospital’s
the importance of
two patient
always checking two
ID policy, said
patient IDs.
Shirley Weber,
director of
Laboratory
Services. No
matter how
busy we get,
or how well
we might
know our
patients, following the
two-ID policy ensures we won’t
For Baxter, the incident
make mistakes that could put
helped reinforce how important
our patients’ safety at risk.
it is to hardwire checking a
“We have to make sure whatpatient’s ID into your routine.
ever we’re doing, we’re doing
“Sometimes in the rush of
it to the right patient,” Weber
things, especially if you know
said. “That’s especially imporyour patients well, you might
tant when we’re dealing with
be tempted to skip the check,”
medications and blood prodBaxter said. “But I’ve made it
ucts, because they are given
part of my routine, so I know to
so frequently, and there are
do it every single time.”
so many things that could go
wrong.”
Learn more on
Increase in volunteers
makes Christmas in
October even merrier
Bennie Cockrell takes a lot of
pride in the Mill Street house
she’s lived in for 30 years.
“I used to be kind of known
around the area for the decorations I put out,” she said.
“People would always tell me
how much they liked my yard.”
But after suffering a back
injury in 2007, she found she
couldn’t keep up with weeding
and gardening like she used to,
let alone more exerting house
maintenance. Pretty soon, parts
of the house were falling into
disrepair. So when a group of
hospital volunteers came on
Oct. 9 to help clean up and fix
creaky infrastructure, Cockrell
was ecstatic.
The Christmas in October
crew installed new railings on
the front porch, replaced waterdamaged walls in the bathroom and put in new lights.
They weeded. They raked and
mowed. They put a new walking path in the yard. The house
looked so good when they were
done, Cockrell said, that neighbors hardly recognized it.
“I had more than 30 people
here working, and I was just
astonished at what they got
done,” she said. “I can’t say
enough good about them, I
really can’t.”
A record 260 employees
and students participated in
Christmas in October this year,
helping fix 12 homes in the
Rosedale neighborhood. Last
year, approximately 200 volunteers also worked on 12 houses,
up from eight in 2008. HIPAA
Commitment Director Bob
Spaniol, PhD, RN, who coordinates Christmas in October,
said the growth has been so
phenomenal that next year he’ll
be looking for more house captains who can oversee projects.
“We’re actually getting to the
point where we’ll need to find a
few more people who can lead
the project teams so we’ll have
places to put all the volunteers
to work,” he said.
Part of the increased participation this year can be
attributed to the new Nurse
Leader Advancement Program,
Nuclear Medicine’s James Traylor marks off a piece of lumber for a new
handrail at Bennie Cockrell’s Rosedale home.
which launched Oct. 1. NLAP
was designed to reward nurses
with an annual bonus based on
performance expectations and
participation in activities that
support the vision, mission and
goals of the hospital. To meet
some of the program’s requirements, participants have the
option to take part in hospitalsponsored community service
projects, like Christmas in
October.
Mary Bianchi, who led the
team that developed NLAP,
said the decision to provide
incentives to participate in community service projects came
out of the nursing department’s
philosophy of care.
“From a nursing standpoint,
we take a holistic focus,” Bianchi
said. “The health of a community
depends on the health of individuals. And vice versa. So when
we have nurses helping out in
community projects that make
people’s lives healthier or easier
– like a wheelchair ramp – we’re
executing on our philosophy.”
Learn more on
Outcomes and patient satisfaction intertwined
by Paula Miller
Many of us have heard that
philosophical question, “Which
came first: the chicken or the
egg?” But what about, “Which
came first: patient satisfaction
or improved patient outcomes?”
The answer, obviously,
is, “Yes.” These two important aspects of care can’t and
shouldn’t be separated.
Think about it. Who do you
trust to share your most personal secrets with? Your spouse,
close family members and
long time friends – certainly
not someone you just met and
with whom you don’t have any
kind of relationship. Yet we ask
our patients to do just that. In
order to provide them with the
best possible care, we need our
patients to share their most
personal information and talk
about private health concerns.
Taking steps to quickly build
comfortable and trusting relationships with our patients can
impact our ability to help them
achieve the highest levels of
health and wellness.
So how do we get there? Our
two patient satisfaction surveys,
Press Ganey and HCAHPS (the
publicly reported patient satisfaction data), give us some
good ideas. Two of the most
important sections on the
nationally reported HCAHPS
survey deal with communication. They look for communication centering on respect,
listening and explaining things
in a way that can be understood. On the Press Ganey
survey, the questions most correlated with high overall ratings
focus on meeting emotional
needs, being sensitive to what
it’s like to be in the hospital,
responding to concerns and
complaints, and appropriately
responding to pain needs.
For those of us who have
been in the hospital, this makes
sense. Patients will never care
about how much you know
until they know how much you
care. Build a relationship with
your patients so they feel comfortable partnering with you
and telling you what you need
to know to provide the best
possible clinical care.
Great customer service supports great patient outcomes.
Helping our patients heal generates even higher levels of
satisfaction. It’s just that simple.
Now, back to that chicken and
egg thing …
All new employees participate in a
customer service class. It is led by
either Paula Miller, MT,Pathology
and Laboratory Medicine, or Jennifer
Peavler,Environment of Care.
i n s i d e r | November 2010 | page 3
photoworthy
Health screening
Presentations of Epic proportions
Because of the hospital’s experience implementing electronic health record systems, staff were
tapped to deliver an impressive six presentations at the annual Epic Users Group Meeting earlier this
fall. Above (from left) Jen Goens, RN, clinical analyst; Lynn Davis, RN, Nursing Informatics specialist;
Dawn Walters, RN, assistant director of Nursing, and Brad House, HITS team lead for Pharmacy, take
a break with Spider-Man after their presentation, Implementing Care Plans Using a Third Party Vendor.
Lucia Moreno, RN (left), completed her annual
biometric health screen with Kathy Keehn of
WellLife at Work. Completing the health screening can save employees on their health insurance
premiums. Screenings will be offered through
Dec. 3. To schedule your free screening, call
816-395-2121.
Bringing home the Beacon
Three more hospital units have garnered the prestigious Beacon Award for Critical Care Excellence, bringing the total number of Beacon-winning
units at the hospital to six. The Beacon Award is the highest achievement possible for intensive care units. The newest winning units are the Surgical
Intensive Care Unit, the Cardiovascular Progressive Care Unit and the Medical Transplant Intensive Care Unit.
Surgical Intensive Care Unit with Nurse Manager Patrick Duncan (back row in white shirt and tie).
page 4 | November 2010 | i n s i d e r
Cardiovascular Progressive Care Unit with Nurse Mana
Learn more on
Celebrating
who we are
Joy Doolin, RN (left),
and Luz Conde, RN, set
up a table with information about Filipino culture
at this year’s Diversity Fair.
The fair featured 16 booths
with info about a range
of different ethnic and
cultural groups.
Quick shot
After receiving her flu shot at Broadmoor, HITS Analyst Saleena Sanjel Shrestha tells
quality outcomes coordinator Kenny Ranum, RN, that she hardly felt a thing. The hospital
will be holding free flu shot clinics through Dec. 13. Check out 24/7 for a schedule.
ager Renee Walters, RN (on step under the WE CARE values sign).
Medical Transplant Intensive Care Unit with Nurse Manager Adam
Learn more on
Olberding (right in shirt and tie).
i n s i d e r | November 2010 | page 5
Hospital meets lofty United Way goal
Amid these challenging economic times, hospital employees demonstrated generosity
and a commitment to the community by raising $150,029.13
for United Way. That figure surpasses the hospital’s ambitious
goal of $150,000.
The total represents a 23 percent increase over the $122,087
raised in 2009.
“What we accomplished was
no small feat, and it had a huge
impact,” said Lisa Ward, cochair of this year’s campaign.
“Employees and the executive
team recognized the need and
stepped up.”
Ward said one of the biggest
catalysts for this year’s success
was the data highlighting
the struggles of local residents. Statistics showing
how many Wyandotte
Countians are turned
away from support serThe PICU’s pumpkin seed
guessing contest helped
the hospital reach its goal.
Sasha Moores shows off
the pumpkin, which contained 697 seeds.
vices due to lack of funding
underscored the importance of
United Way. The figures illustrating the impact on children,
in particular, motivated many
employees to give.
“Nobody likes to see children
going without,” said Dorothy
Gunderson, United Way campaign co-chair. “When employees saw what children were
facing, they responded with
generous gifts.”
Another driver behind the
hospital’s success was a boom in
departmental fundraisers. Many
departments hosted sales of
baked goods or lunch items, and
others came up with creative
ideas like the “Guess how many
seeds are in the pumpkin” contest put on by the PICU.
“I think it demonstrated how
motivated people were to make
a big difference this year,” Ward
said.
Senior Vice President and
Chief Administrative Officer
Jon Jackson is chair of United
Way of Wyandotte County’s
board of directors. He said having the hospital exceed the high
goal it set should be a source of
pride for all employees.
“The United Way provides
much needed services to people
throughout the area,” he said.
“The hospital takes its commitment to be a good neighbor
to the community seriously,
and our incredible support of
the United Way reflects that.
Congratulations on a job well
done.”
Roundtable offers tips on preparing for TJC visit
No matter how “ever ready”
we may be to tell the hospital’s
story to The Joint Commission,
the prospect of coming face
to face with a surveyor can be
nerve wracking.
To find out more about the
experience of talking with a
surveyor, we brought together
a group of employees who
were interviewed during the
last TJC visit. Organizational
Improvement’s Terry Rusconi,
vice president, moderated the
discussion.
Rusconi: Talk about your
experience being interviewed by
a surveyor.
Karen Bonilauri, RN, Unit
64: I was actually very nervous.
I was a new grad, and I had
only been out of orientation for
a short time. But once I began
talking to the interviewer, I was
really calm. It wasn’t so much
that they wanted to know, “Do
you know everything?” It was
more, “Do you know where to
go to find an answer if you have
a question?”
Heidi Boehm, RN, Unit 43:
It really wasn’t bad. I was actupage 6 | November 2010 | i n s i d e r
ally excited to tell our story. I
think we do a lot of things here
at KU to take great care of our
patients. We have great quality,
safety and outcomes, and it’s
great to share our story.
Rusconi: What did you do to
make sure you were prepared?
Tina Crain, assistant director, Radiology: In Radiology,
we have booklets and pocket
guides. And in our department
leadership meeting, we have tip
sheets. But what is a big hit is
our candy cart questionnaires.
Bonilauri: We have a great
manager who, when The Joint
Commission got on site, she
said, “Just be calm. If they want
to talk to you, there’s nothing to
worry about. Just do what you
do every day.”
Boehm: I have a positive attitude about it because I feel like
we’re all doing the right thing.
We all come to work to take the
best care of our patients. And
that’s all the surveyors want to
know. They just want to make
sure we’re following the stan-
Organizational Development Vice President Terry Rusconi leads a roundtable discussion about preparing for The Joint Commission. Participants
were, from left, Heidi Boehm, RN, Unit 43; Tina Crain, assistant director,
Radiology; and Karen Bonilauri, RN, Unit 64.
dards we put in place to keep
our patients safe.
Rusconi: Talk about how you
decided to answer the surveyor’s questions.
Bonilauri: Just a direct answer.
Just the information she asked for.
Boehm: I agree. Be really concise. Just answer the question
they ask as succinctly as you can.
Rusconi: If you were to give
advice to someone who hasn’t
been through this process, what
would you tell them?
Bonilauri: Be calm. Be friendly.
Crain: Tell our story. If you
don’t know the answer to a
question, go and find someone
who does. Don’t be afraid to ask
them to repeat the question.
Boehm: Be familiar with the
standards. Understand why we
do things. But nobody knows
everything, so it’s okay to say
you don’t know, as long as you
know where to find resources.
Because The Joint Commission could
come at any time, it’s important that
we’re all “ever ready” to share our
stories of excellent care.
Watch the video on
milestones
New hires
The hospital and our affiliates welcome
the following new employees:
Sherri Abernathy, food service worker
Gita Acharya-Pandey, PRN registered
nurse
Jennifer Allenbrand, office coordinator
Meagan Aurandt, PRN registered nurse
Jerusalem Ayalew, health care technician
Brandon Barnds, medical technician
Petrena Barrett, patient care assistant
Twila Betts, office specialist
Brenda Blake, custodial worker
Christie Broaddus, clinical application
support analyst
Janet Brooks, physical therapist
Lindsay Burns, PRN registered nurse
Carmen Butcher, registered nurse
Melissa Butler, pharmacy technician I
Britnie Callahan, PRN scheduling
representative
Kate Canova, surgical pathology
technician
Arlando Chandler, food service worker
Bradley Cummings, clinical nurse II
Ebony Cunningham, patient registration
representative
Ryan Diehl, health care technician
Dana Dixon, patient service representative
Karen Dunn, call center representative
Laura Ellis, PRN registered nurse
Andrew Fisher, patient registration
representative
Laura Friederich, clinical nurse entry
Kourtnee Fries, clinical nurse II
Andrea Gallamore, Transporter
Nicole Girtman, custodial worker
Susan Graham, PRN scheduling
representative
Jennifer Haithcoat, surgical pathology
technician
Jennifer Hamaker, rehab technician
Jacqueline Hawkins, PRN registered
nurse
Kerri Helm, clinical nurse II
Don Jackson, emergency dept technician II
Tara Kincaid, clinical nurse entry
Julia Larson, medical technologist blood
bank
Lonzo Lasley, custodial worker
Leonard Lausten, dentist
Letha Lyda, health care technician
Amanda MacKinlay, transporter
Allison Majerle, occupational therapist I
Lathe Mayfield, food service worker
Satina McCanse, clinical nurse II
Delice McCraney, patient service
representative
Erin McGonigle, patient care assistant
Melissa Meger, clinical nurse II
Christopher Minor, patient care assistant
Frances Moon, custodial worker
Cynthia Mosciaro, clinical nurse entry
Suzanne Norton, patient care assistant
Frances Nzioki, PRN float registered
nurse
Jacqueline Olson, health care technician
Nancy Page, quality outcomes
coordinator
Julie Parent, polysomnographic
technologist
Jason Parker, health care technician
Manishaben Patel, rehab technician
April Platt, surgical technician
William Pulse, emergency dept
technician II
Kajsa Pyers, PRN float registered nurse
Katherine Quinn, PRN registered nurse
Margaret Reavis, clinical nurse II
Michael Ritchey, supply technician I
Blanca Salinas, patient service
representative
Kelli Siefkes, PRN oncology nurse
Jennifer Smith, PRN registered nurse
Rebekah Smith, patient care assistant
Reginald Smith, custodial specialist
Verrien Smith, food service worker
Terrence Spencer, custodial specialist
Angela Stanton, surgical technician
Max Stevanov, cardiac cath ep lab
technician
Nicholas Stinson, clinical nurse II
Pamela Taylor, surgical technician
Shannon Thomson, obstetrics technician
Andro Tolentino, custodial worker
Sara Tolle, clinical nurse II
Elizabeth Ukaoma, clinical nurse II
Andrea Vance, PRN registered nurse
Michell Wagner, clinical nurse II
Elizabeth Weisbach, emergent
communications specialist
John Whipple, PRN float registered nurse
Tahra Williams, call center representative
Andrea Wolf, physician assistant
Karen Woodruff, cook II
Clayton York, health care technician
Chad Young, emergent communications
specialist
Janae Zachary, respiratory new grad
Service
Milestones
Congratulations and thanks to the
following employees who are celebrating
service milestones:
5 years
Katherine Craig, Unit 43 Orthopedic
Family Medicine
Leslie Holtz, Cardiology
Christy Kinsey, Data Based Marketing
Melinda Loy, Cardiac Intensive Care
Jared Lysaught, Unit 63 Medical
Transplant ICU
Gloria Menchaca, Cardio Progressive Care
Betty Mermis, Internal Medicine
Catherine Ramos, Unit 53 ENT and
Urology
Luke Thepthepha, Nursing Quality
and Research
Jean Thompson, Cardiology
Lauren Vogl, Respiratory Therapy
10 years
Linda Callahan, Rehab Services
Tracey Campbell, Business Strategic
Development
Christin Dillon, IV Therapy
Deborah Gulledge, Neuro Diagnostics
Erik Jacobson, Healthcare Information
Techniciannology Services
Alice Sage, Breast Center
Donald Schafer, Nuclear Medicine
Bobbie Wainscott, Poison Control
15 years
Mikyong Park, Cardio Treatment Recovery
20 years
Darlene Green, Child Psychiatry
Tahereh Safari, Blood and Marrow
Transplant
25 years
Jane Pyle, Respiratory Therapy
Jeannie Slinkerd, Same Day Surgery
Holding
30 years
Cathi Johnson, Rehab Medicine
Henry Lumas, Health Information
Management
Susy Mathew, Core Laboratory
Cora Redwine, Unit 62 Neuroscience
Telemetry
insider
Insider is published monthly
for staff and volunteers of
The University of Kansas Hospital.
Bob Page
President and
Chief Executive Officer
Jon Jackson
Senior Vice President and
Chief Administrative Officer
Produced by:
Communications Services
The University of Kansas Hospital
Director: Mary King
Communications Manager:
Kimm Fromm Foster
Editor: Jay Senter
Managing Editor: Jennifer Wertheim
Designer: Brianna Niemann
Staff: Mike Glynn, Carol Keen,
Sarah Mote, Marli Murphy and
Terry Rusconi
This is YOUR newsletter!
We welcome your story ideas,
suggestions and requests for
additional copies.
Please contact:
Kimm Fromm-Foster
Communications Services
Westwood Campus, Suite 100
Telephone: 913-945-5196
E-mail: [email protected]
40 years
Joseph Bugni, Healthcare Information
Technology Services
Judy Greathouse, Kidney Transplant
Acquisition
Vision, Mission and Values
Retirees
Our Vision
To lead the nation in caring, healing,
teaching and learning.
Christine Adams, Dietetics, 32 years
Marcella Tindle, Nursing, 20 years
Our Mission
The University of Kansas Hospital will:
• Deliver world-class patient care
to the people we serve
• Ensure the excellence of future
patient care through exceptional
learning, teaching and research
Congratulations and thank you to the
following retiring employees for their
service to the hospital:
Our WE CARE Values
• Wellness
• Excellence in patient care
• Competence and leadership
• Achievement through partnership
and innovation
• Responsibility and stewardship
• Engagement with the community
i n s i d e r | November 2010 | page 7
Bring in your glass for Ripple recycling
Environmental Health Safety
Manager Duane Daugherty is
serious about recycling.
So serious, in fact, that he
recently bought a dozen plastic
bins on Craigslist, loaded them
up in a trailer behind his SUV,
and drove door-to-door down
the block asking his neighbors
to throw in their empty glass
bottles.
That was hard work. What
was easy, however, was dropping the glass off in the Ripple
Glass recycling container now
conveniently located on the
campus.
The hospital’s Green Team
and Ripple Glass are encouraging employees to follow
Daugherty’s lead and bring in
glass to recycle in the Ripple
bin behind Dykes Library.
“The bin is here for everyone
to use,” said Health and Safety
Coordinator Hollie Sedler. “And
the more we use it, the more
glass we keep out of area land-
fills. Bringing in your glass from
home to recycle here is a great
way to help the environment.”
The glass collected in the bin
is delivered to Owens Corning,
which turns it into fiberglass
home insulation.
Though the Ripple bin has
seen steadily increasing use
since being placed on campus three months ago, the
Environment of Care team
would like to see its six-ton
capacity filled at least once a
month. It took two months to
fill the bin the first time, but
use picked up significantly in
month three, thanks in part to a
flier the hospital sent to neighborhood businesses encouraging them to drop off their glass.
Sedler said the response she’s
gotten from area businesses has
been encouraging.
“We have a lot of innovative
environmental initiatives at the
hospital, but not everyone in
the area is going to know about
Duane Daugherty
unloads one of
the plastic bins he
bought to collect
his neighbors’ glass
for recycling.
them,” Sedler said. “So the
Ripple bin is a nice way to show
our neighbors that we’re committed to environmental issues.”
But Sedler hopes even more
local businesses and campus
employees will take advantage
of having the bin on campus,
because heavy use of the current Ripple bin could make us
an attractive candidate for a
new program Ripple is looking
to roll out. The new program
will provide smaller bins that
businesses can keep in their
loading dock areas. With a bin
reserved exclusively for hospital use, we could keep tabs on
precisely how much glass we
were keeping out of the waste
dumpsters, allowing us to better
gauge cost savings.
Learn more on
O2 trainer went from costumes to the classroom
If you’d told Jackie Siemann a
few years ago that she would be
helping employees at the hospital prepare for an O2 go-live,
she’d probably have given you a
funny look.
After all, in 2005 she was
pursuing a theatre degree at
Missouri State University and
working in the theatre program’s costume department.
But when she started teaching
a costume construction class –
Sewing 101, she calls it – the
experience made her realize
that the classroom, not the theatre, might be her calling.
“I liked the teaching part better than the costume part,” she
said. “And I started to think,
‘Hmm. Maybe I could find a
way to do more teaching and
less sewing.’ ”
So when she saw an opening
for an electronic
health records
trainer posted at
Sisters of Mercy
Hospital in
Springfield, Mo.,
she put in an
application. She
got the job, found
the position
rewarding and
decided to pursue
Jackie Siemann leads an O2 OM training session in
medical training
preparation for go-live.
as a career. Earlier
page 8 | November 2010 | i n s i d e r
this year, she was happy to find
a position with The University
of Kansas Hospital, allowing her
to move back to her hometown.
Her previous experience
working with health care
employees on Epic’s ambulatory application made her a
top-tier training candidate for
the UKP Ambulatory Project,
said Training Manager Cece
Pivonka-Culver.
“Jackie is highly organized,
and she demonstrates an indepth system knowledge in the
classroom,” Pivonka-Culver
said. “It’s that knowledge, combined with her professionalism,
that creates such an optimal
training experience for her
students.”
Helping relieve some of the
anxieties people feel about a
new system and showing them
how it will improve their workflow is part of what Siemann
likes so much about her job.
“Anytime a sweeping change
like this comes in, it’s a challenge. I know for some people
this is a scary thing to face,”
Siemann said. “But my favorite part of the job is showing
people how this switch is going
to make their lives easier.”
Siemann said she saw a wide
range of reactions from people
as they went through O2 OM
training, but she’s excited about
how people have embraced the
go-live.
“There’s a spectrum,” she
said. “Some people were used
to using paper, and were a little
hesitant. Others jumped right
in and said, ‘Okay, show me
something new.’ The good news
is, no matter where you were
in the spectrum, we’re there to
offer at-the-elbow support and
make sure you’re comfortable
with the system.”