Msu oct.06 clr

The key areas that will be evaluated include communicationwith doctors; communication with nurses; responsiveness ofthe hospital staff; cleanliness and noise level of the physicalenvironment; pain control; communication about medica-tions and discharge information.
our performance is very favorable and higher than the HCAmean. We will keep you apprised of our survey results andopportunities for improvement in the future.
As always, if you have questions or concerns about St. David’s,please contact me at 397-4287 or [email protected].
I wish each of you a happy and healthy New Year. MSCOTTLEIGHTY, MD RECEIVESOUTSTANDINGPHYSICIANAWARD
At the December Medical Staff Meeting, anesthesiologistScott Leighty, MD, received the first “Outstanding PhysicianAward” from the St. David's Physician Satisfaction Team. Dr.
Leighty was nominated by St. David's staff members whowork with him on a daily basis in Surgery and Labor & Delivery.
During the past year, Dr. Leighty has led the AnesthesiaDepartment in helping St. David's achieve its goals: M E D I C A L S T A F F
Exceptional Care, Customer Loyalty, and Financial Strength.
S t . D a v i d ' s M e d i c a l C e n t e r
MESSAGE FROM COLE ESLYN, CEO
On behalf of the administrative team at St.
David’s Medical Center , I’d like to thank JeffYoungkin, MD for serving as president of themedical staff in 2006 and for his continuedleadership in 2007. I would also like to thankJohn Murray, MD, president-elect, and DavidFleeger, secretary-treasurer for continuing as A surprised Scott Leighty, MD, receives his Outstanding
Physician Award from Chief Medical Officer John
Marietta, MD during the December GMS.
Congratulations to Scott Leighty, MD, whorecently received the first “OutstandingPhysician Award” from the Physician The PACS go-live date for St. David's Medical Center is set for In 2007, HCAHPS, a standardized nationwide the end of this month. At that time four St. David's survey of patients’ perceptions regarding their Partnership facilities will be on PACS, and all Radiology stud- hospital care will be publicly reported.
ies performed at the facilities will be available on PACS. There Patients will evaluate their care from physicians will be over 60 PACS hospital workstations throughout St.
and hospital staff toimprove quality of care.
David's Medical Center. Surgeons will access the PACS St. David’s Medical Staff Update. page 1 system via screens on mobile carts available in action. Congratulations to the following SDMC physicians the OR's. Each PACS user will be issued a recognized as “Texas Monthly Super Doctors '06”: unique sign-in ID; training will be provided. For Allergy & Immunology:
Psychiatry:
more information or to receive your ID, please call the Help Desk at 901-2777. Additionally, Cardiology:
Pulmonary Medicine:
physicians will need a hard token to view PACS Applications are available in the Doctors' Surgery, Cardiac:
Endocrinology:
loaded from the home page of the St. David's physician website, www.sdmcmedweb.com.
Endocrinology/Reproductive:
Surgery, Colon & Rectal:
JCAHO PLANS UNANNOUNCED
Surgery, Cosmetic:
SURVEY IN '07
Internal Medicine:
Surgery, General:
Sometime during the spring of '07, JCAHO will Neurology:
visit St. David's Medical Center for our first “unannounced survey,” which is now their stan- dard survey model. Physicians are reminded that they play an important role in this hospital Surgery, Orthopedic:
• Unapproved abbreviations: qd = daily, u =
Urology:
• Verbal orders must be dated, timed, and
involved in the care of the patient.
Oncology:
• H&Ps must be updated within 24 hours of
• Medications
admission, at the time of transfer and at discharge. An EXACT copy of the discharge Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has devel- oped a standardized survey instrument to measure patients' provided to the next provider of care.
perspectives on hospital care. The three main goals of thissurvey are to: 1) produce comparable data, • Post-op notes (green sheet) must be
2) create incentives for hospitals to improve the quality of 3) increase transparency of the quality of surgical assistant, and complications noted.
The survey has seven topics, with one major focus on SUPER DOCS
patients' communications with their physicians. Regarding The December issue of Texas Monthly featured the physician patient interaction, there are three questions: “Texas Super Doctors '06,” a list that includes a 1) Did your doctors treat you with courtesy and respect? number of physicians who practice at St.
2) Did your doctors listen to you carefully? David's. Selection for the listing was based on asurvey mailed to more than 52,000 Texas physi- 3) Did your doctors explain things in a way you could cians, asking to whom they would refer loved ones or patients. The magazine checked out For more information about HCAHPS, visit the CMS website, the “winners,” making sure that each was prop- www.cms.hhs.gov/, and do a “search” for HCAHPS. erly licensed and had no history of disciplinary St. David’s Medical Staff Update. page 2 CATH LAB RELOCATES
Low dose IV promethazine (6.25 mg) has been shown to
One of St. David's two cath labs has relocated relieve nausea and vomiting as effectively as IV
ondansetron 4 mg and oral promethazine 25 mg.
direct access to the operating suites. This movewill make room for construction of the References:
Stereotaxis Lab in what used to be room #2.
1. ISMP (Institute of Safe Medication Practices), Acute Care, Construction is expected to be completed by Aug 10, 2006 issue, Nov 2, 2006 Issue. www.ismp.org April 2007. For more information please con- 2. Moser, JD, Caldwell, JB, No More Than Necessary: Safety tact Sue Messer, director of cardiology at 397- and Efficacy of Low-Dose Promethazine. Annals of 4196 or [email protected].
3.Paton DM, Clinical pharmacokinetics of H1-receptor antag- PHARMACY UPDATE: INTRAVENOUS (IV)
onists (the antihistamines). Clin Pharmacokinet. 1985 Nov- PROMETHAZINE DOSE OPTIMIZATION AND
Dec; 10(6):477-97. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promethazine ADMINISTRATION TO MINIMIZE ADVERSE
REACTION AND TISSUE DAMAGE
By May Mui, Pharm D, BCPS
Welcome to the following physicians who have recently When promethazine is given intravenously (IV), the drug is a vesicant, which makes it highlycaustic to the intima of blood vessels and sur- rounding tissue. Cases of serious tissue dam- age requiring surgical interventions, such as reported. In addition, reports of oversedation, especially when given to elderly patients or George, Timothy, M.D., Pediatric Neurosurgery agents, have been noticed when promethazine is given IV at the traditional 12.5-25 mg doses.
Slavcheva, Evgenia, M.D., Internal Medicine Numerous safety precautions are taking place Tipton, Geroge, M.D., Orthopaedic Surgery nationwide to reduce the adverse effects asso- ciated with IV promethazine. St. David's P&Tcommittee has approved a dose optimizationfor promethazine when it is ordered to be given MEDICAL STAFF UPDATE
intravenously. In addition, there are changes in the nursing administration procedure when Effective Jan. 2, 2007, all physician orders for
IV promethazine doses greater than 6.25 mg
will be automatically optimized to 6.25 mg
IV; frequencies remain the same as written
Director of Physician Recruitment/Med Staff Projects by physicians. One dose of 6.25 mg may be
repeated if there is no result 15 minutes after the first 6.25 mg dose. Physicians who wish tooverride the dose optimization may still do so by writing "Do Not Optimize Dose.” Nursing Director of Marketing and Public Relations will dilute each 6.25 mg dose with 10 ml NS prior to injection, and slowly infuse the drug www.sdmcmedweb.com
St. David’s Medical Staff Update. page 3

Source: http://www.stdavidsmedweb.com/uploadedFiles/MSU%20Jan.07%20clr.pdf