Quality Many Forms
December 10 , 2010

“The quality of a leader is reflected in the standards they set for themselves.
~Ray Kroc

Dear Colleagues and Friends:

We are pleased to announce in reviewing the UHC Quality and Safety Management Report for the children’s hospital, that our overall composite score continues to show us in the upper 10th percentile nationally. What that means is we are 11th out of 111 academic children’s hospitals. We have begun a trend – this is the 7th quarter in a row where we have achieved top 10 percentile. Congratulations to everyone who makes this possible.

Quality comes in many forms and takes on many shapes. We need to recognize quality in people as well. To that end, we are so pleased to welcome Ms. Jeanette Balotin as the Chief of Staff to the President. Jeanette comes to us from the University of Maryland. Please visit the web site to read more about her numerous accomplishments. We are so excited to welcome Jeanette to our institution. We are looking forward to acclimating her to our School as well. Please join me in making Jeanette feel at home.

Once again our Patient-Family Center Care program has drawn national attention. This month our “Improving Patient Rounds (IPR) project has been highlighted in the GME Challenge Grant Program by the Picker Institute. The IPR project goal was to initiate patient-family centered care (PFCC) rounds in a general medicine unit in an adult-care inpatient setting. What an honor for the Picker Institute to spotlight our PFCC Rounds Project and also to tribute our dear friend and PFCC mentor, Pat Sodomka. Thank you to the entire team for your continued dedication to embracing the Patient-Centered Care movement!

We would like to recognize several physicians from Brunswick who will be honored for their contributions to educating future physicians for Georgia at the annual medical staff meeting at Southeast Georgia Health System. Honorees include Drs. Ayman Al-Jabi, Shenon E. Badre, Stephen A. Chitty, Sarfaraz Dhanji, Emily Feely, Theodore Feely, James F. Gowen, William Grubb, James M. Heery, Walter W. Scott, Eric C. Stout and C. David Sudduth. We applaud and very much appreciate the continued dedication and hard work of all our partners in medical education expansion.

We also want to show OUR appreciation to Dr. Vernon Barnes and our staff members of the GPI for receiving a Certificate of Appreciation from Laney High School. This is the 13th year in a row that Dr. Barnes has led the effort to participate in the Laney High School Health Fair. Over 600 students were seen this year. Thank you for your leadership with such an inspirational and community-appreciative effort.

We want to also recognize several residents for their awards at national meetings. Dr. Siva Krothapalli, a Cardiology Fellow received the Best Poster Presentation at the Ga Chapter of the ACC Annual Scientific Sessions in Lake Oconee, Georgia in November. Other Cardiology fellows that presented and were recognized are Drs. Wesley Davis William Maddox, Somsupha Kanjanauthai, Amin Yehy, and Michele Murphy. Dr. Adil Degani, Pulmonary/Critical Care Fellow was recognized for teaching excellence while on Pulmonary Rehab at University Hospital for the month of November. What a great opportunity for Dr. Degani to gain experience at University Hospital and we are continuing the dialogue with our partners to explore expansion of training opportunities. Congratulations to all our residents.

About 10 years ago, the hospital’s clinical information system was purchased from Cerner. We have seen many benefits from this system. We are in the process now of going even further into our quest to have a fully functional electronic health record. This is a major initiative. We have a task force that is looking at implementing the ambulatory functions as well as integration with our Research. This is a key component to assist us in our continued quest of improvements to quality within the patient care setting. Quality follows all paths for our patients. Please think about becoming involved in any of our quality initiatives. We need ‘advocates and champions’.

‘Turn your radio on’ … The 2010 Cares for Kids Radiothon began yesterday and is being broadcast live on WBBQ 104.3 and KISS 96.3 FM December through December 11. The Children’s Medical Center along with 169 other Children’s Miracle Network hospitals participates in the Radiothon. Last year around $178,000 was raised from the Radiothon for the CMC. Please tune in and listen … and donate if you are so moved.

Also this week we had our MCG Foundation Board Meeting. It was a wonderful meeting that emphasized our new start to bigger and better things. Dr. Azziz gave an invigorating presentation outlining our vision and achievements, as well as the need for continued investment in our enterprise. I had the opportunity to detail our activities in medical student and residency training expansion, as well as describing our clinical and research developments. Dr. William Mayher and the entire Board of Directors expressed full support and enthusiasm for our direction and there is a real eagerness to begin work in the new collaborative partnership with the SOM. We look forward to our alumni meetings, its homecoming, and to an enhanced philanthropic partnership during 2011.

Lastly – but by no means least – we are delighted to recognize and applaud the quality activities of our region’s hospitals. Specifically, NRC Picker (NRCP), a division of National Research Corporation has selected University Health Care System as a recipient of its 2010 Path to Excellence award. The recipients are chosen based on their achievements in overall hospital experience, pain management, or communication with nurses. University has certainly earned their status among NRC Picker’s highest performing client organizations and we applaud their success in being a recipient of this prestigious award. We – our community – are fortunate to have high quality healthcare.

Thank you for your continued support and efforts.

Best wishes,