MediSys Network News

MediSys Celebrates Security Appreciation Day

During the week of October 10th, MediSys Health Network celebrated Security Appreciation Day.  A fair/lobby display was held at Flushing on Tuesday, Jamaica on Wednesday and Brookdale on Thursday. 

At all three hospitals, members of the Security Department headed by Francisco Martinez, Director of Security for the Network greeted everyone who stopped by the tables.  Officers distributed important safety and wellness information for children and adults as well as giveaways to staff, patients and visitors. 

We are all truly indebted to the Network’s Security Department as they ensure the well-being and safety of everyone.  Keep up the good work and thank you for always being ready, willing and able!
 

 

Flushing Hospital Celebrates

On September 14th, 2011, Flushing Hospital Medical Center held its annual Celebration Event at Russo’s on the Bay, with over 350 staff members and friends of the hospital in attendance. 

Continuing the efforts from last year’s event, funds raised from Celebration 11 were dedicated the renovation and remodeling of Flushing Hospital’s cafeteria.  This year alone, over $81,000 was raised for the project.

There were several individuals honored for their commitment to the hospital this year. Flushing Hospital paid tribute to Beverly Adams of the Emergency / Nursing Department with the Employee Service Award and Community Advisory Board member Mr. Kris Ram, was given the Community Service Award. In addition, Dr. Deborah Asnis, Director of Infectious Diseases was presented with a lifetime achievement award for her many years of service to Flushing Hospital.

Another highlight of the evening was the announcement of the opening of a Hospice Unit at Flushing Hospital.  The unit will be named in honor of Maureen Russo, the late-wife of Board Chairman, Mr. Michael Russo.  During the announcement, Linda Reichenbach of the Flushing Hospital Auxiliary presented the hospital with a check for $50,000 to begin this project. Touched by the gesture, Mr. Russo later matched the generous contribution.

All in all, the event was a great success and everyone in attendance enjoyed the evening’s festivities. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Brookdale’s ER staff receives thank-you from the community

As a way to introduce the beginning of the fall season, members of the Hope Christian Center in Brooklyn, returned to Brookdale Hospital to show their appreciation to the hospital's ER staff. 

This is the second visit to Brookdale by Hope Christian Center, who earlier in the year generously donated refreshments to the night and evening staff. This time around it was the day time staff being treated to lunch as a way to say thank-you.     

The group arrived and graciously distributed the lunches to each employee in the ED conference room.  Many staff members echoed: “This is beautiful, simply beautiful” as they entered the conference room also mentioning that, “It’s not that often that people say thanks to us, so we are very appreciative.”

Ultimately, the generosity from the members of this community organization is a testament to how hard work and excellence in care does not only translate to saving lives but also the impression it leaves on a community. 

We would like to thank the members of the Hope Christian Center, again, for their continued generosity, support and gratitude toward the Brookdale ER staff.

FLUSHING HOSPITAL MEDICAL CENTER HOSTS PICTURE PERFECT EVENT

On Wednesday, October 5 at 7:00 p.m., Flushing Hospital Medical Center hosted a reception and dedication event for The Flushing Camera Club to acknowledge their generous donation of photographs.

The Flushing Camera Club has had a long-standing relationship with the hospital beginning in 1979, and continues through the present.  Flushing Hospital welcomed the photographs, which are a selection of the Clubs prize-winning pictures. 

Over 50 guests attended the ceremony, including members of the hospital’s staff, community leaders, elected officials and the media. 

Master of Ceremony, Dr. David Di John, who was the original physician liaison to the Camera Club, welcomed all attendees and thanked the camera club for their generous donation. He also acknowledged Assembly Member Grace Meng for her support to both the Camera Club and Flushing Hospital.

After the ceremony, participants and honorees were treated to a reception of Gourmet Hor’dorves and sweets. 

Dr. David Di John summarized the evening’s events by saying, “The generosity of the Camera Club and our long time partnership is greatly appreciated. This is another example of how Flushing Hospital is rooted in the community.”

The photo’s are now on display, along the main lobby corridor, for all patients, visitors and staff to enjoy.

US News and World Report Gives High Ranks to Brookdale and 25 of Its Doctors

 Brookdale has been ranked 33 out of 184 hospitals in the New York-Metro area by U.S. News Media & World Report’s 2011-12 Best Hospitals rankings, available online at www.usnews.com/besthospitals. The rankings, annually published for the past 22 years, are currently featured in the U.S. News "Best Hospitals" guidebook.

The process began by ranking the performance of all the hospitals in the United States in 16 specialties. From there the top 25 percent were identified and that 25 percent was then broken down into 94 metropolitan areas with at least 500,000 residents.  Hospitals were then ranked in accordance to the number of specialties in which they ranked as “high performers.”  Brookdale received top rankings in three specialties: Nephrology, Neurology & Neurosurgery and Urology.

 As part of the same report, US News collaborated with Castle Connolly Medical Ltd. in developing their US News Top Doctors.  The Top doctors list for the New York -Metro area included 25 doctors affiliated with Brookdale Hospital across 24 specialties. Selections for this prestigious list were made through a  peer nominating process and every nomination was extensively reviewed by the Castle Connolly physician-led research team and presented to the editors, Chief Medical and Research Officer and other key members of the team for their determination.

The physicians honored and their specialties are:

Theodore W. AvRuskin, MD -  Pediatric Endocrinology

Hooshang Barzegar, MD - Gynecology

Lawrence J. Bernstein, MD - Rheumatology

Elliott Bondi, MD - Pulmonology

Rashid M. Chaudhry, MD NT - Otolaryngology Surgery

Shyan-Yih Chou, MD - Nephrology

Richard Cofsky, MD - Infectious Diseases

Lucio Flores, MD - Vascular Surgery                                                                           

Richard J. Fogler, MD - Surgery

Joel M. Goldman, MD - Endocrinology 

Milton J. Grunzweig, MD - Internal Medicine

George F. Hyman, MD - Ophthalmology 

Arthur D. Kay, MD - Neurology

Hong Kim, MD - Urology 

Norman Klein, MD - Allergy-Immunology

Mark Krotowski, MD - Family Medicine

Stephen M. Lichter, MD - Medical Oncology 

Sanjeev Rajpal, MD - Surgery 

Warren B. Shapiro, MD - Nephrology 

Bernadette L. Sheridan, MD - Family Medicine 

Deborah Silberman, MD - Ophthalmology 

Myron Sokal, MD  - Neonatalogy 

Samuel Spitalewitz, MD - Nephrology 

Shepard H. Splain, DO Orthopedic - Surgery 

Kusum Viswanathan, MD  - Pediatric Hematology-Oncology

“We are all extremely proud of Brookdale’s performance and the fact that 25 of our physicians were ranked as Best Doctors by such a prestigious publication as US News and World Report”, stated President and CEO, Bruce J. Flanz.  “We strive for the best and this ranking demonstrates that we are on target,” he added.

Keep up the good work!

 

MediSys Dream Believers Prepares to Make Strides Once Again This Year

  For the past three years, the MediSys Dream Believers has taken tremendous efforts to support the American Cancer Society’s Annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk. Last year, the team raised $33,000 for the event, while in 2009, they raised $35,000 and in 2008, $23,000. In all three years, they were among the top teams in the Queens Division. 

The group’s continued commitment to support breast cancer is strong and their personal ambition to do better than the previous year is admirable. With an average of 40 team members, the MediSys Dream Believers is looking for additional employees to join them at this year’s walk, scheduled on Sunday, October 16. The MediSys Dream Believers are also hoping to outdo themselves by raising more money this year.

“We’ve had a wonderful time each year we’ve participated at the event,” said Sepia Owens-Villas, Jamaica Hospital’s Team Leader and a three-year breast cancer survivor. “Being around so many individuals who support breast cancer is beyond empowering and raising the money we have for the American Cancer Society makes it even more meangingful.”

Employees who wish to join the team can contact Sepia Owens-Villas at 718-206-6959 or Catherine Ferrairi, Flushing Hospital’s Team Leader, at 718-670-8973.

Those who would like to donate to the team can visit http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/MakingStridesAgainstBreastCancer/MSABCFY12Eastern?team_id=973254&pg=team&fr_id=36016. In addition, several activities have been scheduled throughout the Fall to help raise money for the annual walk, including a book sale, bake sale, and kick for the cause.

 

Centering Pregnancy at Brookdale Hospital

Centering pregnancy is a multifaceted concept for group prenatal care that integrates three major components of care: health assessment, education, and support.  The program began this past February at Brookdale Hospital under the supervision of Catherine K. Tanksley, MSN, CNM, DNP “c”, Director of Midwifey services & OBGYN Outreach as an alternative form of prenatal service for women in the community with similar delivery dates. 

At the centering prenatal care sessions, expectant mothers actively participate in their prenatal care in a group setting instead of indivually. Each session allows the women to explore, through sharing, various topics, including: nutrition, exercise/relaxation, childbirth preparation, pregnancy problems, infant care and feeding, postpartum issues, communication and self-esteem, comfort measures, sexuality, abuse issues, and parenting. 

Monique Cortez, a participating mother, prefers Brookdale's Centering Pregnancy Project over the traditional prenatal clinics, stating "I feel like I have more time with the midwife and don't feel rushed like in other settings. There is always room for me to ask questions and therefore get more information.”

Patients are instructed on how to take their weight, blood pressure, estimate their gestational age, and record this information on a chart.  The group facilitator listens to the baby’s heart beat, checks for uterine growth, and talks individually about specific problems and concerns a patient may have.  All sonograms and other necessary testing will take place as traditional individual prenatal care.

The program is looking forward to its upcoming session this October, where they will receive new expectant mothers and continue the process of enabling the best supportive prenatal care.  If you are expecting, or know someone who is expecting— Please call Centering Pregnancy at (718) 240- 6278.

 

Jamaica Hospital Implements EPIC

 Jamaica Hospital has been preparing for the implementation of EPIC, a state-of-the-art electronic health record system, for the past year, and on Monday, August 1, the system finally rolled out—marking a new era in patient care.

The new EPIC system allows the hospital to track, assess and coordinate care across multiple systems, eliminate the need to store volumes of paper, and integrate its many clinical systems with each other and with its financial systems. In addition, the system allows e-prescribing, enables patients to access their health information online, and it complies with all criteria for electronic health records set forth by the federal government, under the HITECH ACT. The hospital also plans to incorporate document scanning into the process, which will further enable efforts to capture a complete electronic patient record and minimize issues of lost and incomplete patient charts, and will use cameras to take patient photos, which will help reduce identity theft on behalf of patients.

Many of the newly implemented processes will take place at point of care and during the registration process.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled with the use of EPIC at Jamaica Hospital,” said Dr. Robert Mendelson, Medical Director, Informatics Department for MediSys Health Network, and Director of Jamaica Hospital’s Division of Cardiology. “The system offers many benefits. One of the most important benefits is being able to share medical information between inpatient and outpatient venues and between different providers. This greatly improves communication among providers and prevents problems such as duplication of tests and other services.”

He added: “Overall, EPIC will enhance patient care and the patient’s experience in the health care setting, while also reducing the cost of patient care.”

To help prepare for EPIC, build and training teams were trained at EPIC, with the principal trainers then training Credentialed Trainers and Superusers from Jamaica Hospital. A training center was also created to offer on-hands training for all employees who would utilize EPIC.

E-learning was first used and consisted of various short courses, in areas specific for each employee function, which gave an introduction to the functionality of the system and provided a foundation on how to use the system. Employees also underwent classroom training designed specifically for their function. This gave employees a better understanding of how to specifically use EPIC for their daily workflow and another opportunity to engage in hands-on training. An exam was given at the end of the training. Upon passing the exam and demonstrating their proficiency with the system, employees were provided with log-in information. 

“We spent a lot of time training and working with employees for the use of EPIC,” said Dr. Mendelson. “There are some issues we still have to resolve with the system but we are overall optimistic about the positive changes it will bring to the hospital.”

Jamaica Hospital is the first hospital in the network to implement EPIC. Brookdale is tentatively scheduled to go live December 2011 and Flushing March 2012.
 

 

Flushing Hospital Develops Novel Approach to Linking Emergency Preparedness and Health Care Worker Vaccination

 Flushing Hospital has recently garnered the attention of leading healthcare organizations, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Joint Commission, for utilizing a novel approach to address an issue faced in the healthcare industry—low influenza vaccination rates among health care workers (HCW).

In 2008, the facility launched its HCW Vaccination Program, where a push/pull point-of-dispensing vaccination model was used to ensure mass vaccination of its employees. The program allowed the facility to test its emergency preparedness plans for mass infectious disease outbreaks, enabling the hospital to see how effective their model would be during the need for a mass vaccination.

In just two days 72% of employees were reached and 54% of those were vaccinated. The hospital’s Push/Pull POD plan helped achieve this success. The Push POD allowed hospital officials to offer the influenza vaccination at locations where employees were assigned to work. At these locations, vaccination teams distributed information on the vaccination, permission/declination forms, and administered the vaccination. A sticker was placed on identification badges of employees who received the vaccinations.

It is believed that this model can serve as a platform for other facilities to improve their HCW vaccination rates and emergency preparedness planning.

To find out more about Flushing Hospital’s HCW Vaccination Program, please download HCW Vaccination Program, written by Flushing Hospital's expert and experienced physicians and staff.

Special Earthquake Information Alert

 As you are probably aware an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.9 struck the Mineral Virginia area with the effects being felt all along the eastern seaboard. The shock wave was felt at all of our MediSys facilities and was felt widely throughout the NYC region.

While distressing, this is a rather rare event and reports have indicated that there was little or no damage throughout the city and we have experienced no damage at our hospitals. We must remember in these situations, like other emergencies for which our staff are very well trained, our first and foremost priority is the safety and reassurance of our patients. 

As with all situations employees should remain calm, and reassure and assist patients and visitors. 

Directives of a vertical evacuation order, if necessary, will be provided by an overhead page and/or other official means and be authorized by a senior hospital official.

There will be additional information on this topic provided to our staff in the near future. Thank you for your cooperation.