RxTraA publication for the staff of Hartford Hospital January 14, 2013 Vol. 69 No. 2

Flu Season is Here, And It’s SevereFlu season has arrived, and it’s shap-ing up to the worst in a decade.

At Hartford Hospital, we have seen nearly 200 confirmed cases of the flu. Many of those patients have had to be admitted to the hospital.

The hospital has more full beds than we have seen in years, and flu is a big reason for that. We have increased our capacity and opened more space to ac-commodate our growing number of patients.

“We have been very busy,” said Dr. Jack Ross, director of infectious diseases. “Last Wednesday was one of our high-est capacity days we’ve had, with well over 800 patients.”

According to the state public health department, there have been 1,680 laboratory-confirmed cases of influ-enza in Connecticut as of Jan. 10. Last year, there were only 30 confirmed cases in an unusually quiet season, and the previous season had about 600 cases.

State and national health officials say this season’s vaccine is a close match for the strains of flu currently circulat-ing. The predominant strain seen this year is H3N2, a type of Influenza A.

“The vaccine is good protection, but it’s never 100%, so some people will still get the flu,” Dr. Ross said.

The typical flu brings a rapid onset of fever, chills, headache and muscle ache. A runny nose, sore throat and cough often follow. Taking Tamiflu within 48 hours of the onset of symp-toms can significantly reduce the se-verity of the illness.

Hospital President/CEO Jeffrey Flaks sent a note to staff thanking everyone for “stepping up at a moment of real urgency.”

“When the families we serve need us, we are always ready. In recent days, we’ve seen a much larger-than-usual influx of pa-tients to our floors. This is the result of a number of factors, including intensifying flu activity in our region.

I can’t overstate the impact on staff. For many, this jump in volume has meant lon-ger hours, changed schedules and added pressure. What is striking – but not sur-prising – is that staff members have re-sponded with patience, flexibility, ingenuity and determination.

I often speak of the extraordinary work of our staff. Our care teams make excellence look easy – but it’s not.

It takes self-sacrifice and complete devotion to our patients and to the values that shape our lives here.

I am deeply grateful to all of you for stepping up at a moment of real urgency.”

Here is some advice from Dr. Ross:

1) Wash your hands! Over and over again. It really is the best protection.

2) Protect your kids. Keep them away from sick people. Don’t bring them into hospitals where they will be ex-posed to influenza.

3) Don’t visit hospitals or sick people if you have any symptoms of respira-tory illness.

4) It’s not too late for people to get flu shots. Make sure your loved ones are protected.

The 2013 mandatory HealthStream assignments are now loaded.

All Hartford Hospital, IOL, CMC, JH and ERN employees (full time, part time and per diem) must complete this training no later than Sept. 30.

There are consequences for non-completion of required training:

• Performance rating will au-tomatically be “below expectations”

• Not eligible for a salary increase

• Not eligible for a promotion or transfer for one year

• Under the Department of Public Health and The Joint Commis-sion compliance, employees will be placed under suspen-sion without pay until tests are completed

You may also have department spe-cific courses that you are responsi-ble for as well.

Please keep checking your “MY Learning” page throughout the year for added assignments. You can also check with your manager for those.

New this year: Employees who are re-quired to do a yearly N95 Respira-tor Fit test will see their due date as their anniversary date of starting at the hospital. When you have complet-ed all three steps, the assignment will automatically reset to the same month next year.

2

Jeff Motta, cafeteria manager, left the hospital last week after 35 years of service.

He came to Hartford Hospital as a cook in 1977, and was promoted to assistant cafeteria manager and then cafeteria manager.

Jeff is known for his kindness and empathy to cafeteria visitors and patrons.

He was always willing to lend a hand, and is well respected by his peers, and members of the hospital staff who saw him in the cafeteria.

On behalf of Hart-ford Hospi-tal and the Food & Nu-trition De-partment, we wish Jeff the best of luck in his future endeavors.

Compliance

Questions

or Concerns?

If you need to obtain information about

compliance issues or raise concerns

regarding internal and regulatory practices or policies, please contact your supervisor or call the ComplianceLine,

a confidential and toll-free service, at

1-855-HHC-OCAP or online at

HHC.OCAPComplianceLine.com

2013 HealthStream Annual Mandatory Assignments Are Now Loaded!

Hartford Hospital Campus85 Seymour Street, Suite 125(former location of Bank of America)

860.696.0090

Hours: Mon, Wed, Fri: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.Tues, Thurs: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Primary, preventive and urgent care

Farewell and Warm Wishes to Jeff Motta, Cafeteria Manager

3

Transplant Symposium Attracts 120 ParticipantsMore than 120 people attended the 7th Annual Interdisciplinary Transplant Symposium on Nov. 1 at Heublein Hall. Attendees included physicians, nurses and social workers representing trans-plant programs and dialysis units from throughout New England.

The event provided an opportunity for experts in the fields of kidney, liver and heart transplantation to present cut-ting-edge information to professionals that work with transplant recipients and donors.

Dr. Patricia Sheiner, director of Trans-plantation at Hartford Hos- p i t a l , kicked off the symposium w i t h opening remarks. She was followed by Jami Tyska, organ donation coordinator, who provided an update on the status of organ donation at Hartford Hospital and the advances in the protection of donor rights at our institution which has been a catalyst for change on a na-tional level.

Also speaking at the sym-posium were Dr. Jeffrey Walden, Dr. Pavlos Papasa-vas, Dr. Michael Einstein, Dr. Jack Ross, Sharon Knight, Coleen Smart, Corrine Och-sner and Colleen Brown.

The day concluded with a presentation from Dr. Bar-bara Jacobs, (pictured right), director of our Ethics Con-sultation Service.

A highlight of the confer-ence included a living kid-ney donor and their re-cipient, Susan and Michael Roman, providing a moving account of their kidney donation and transplant ex-perience and their participation in the national Paired Kidney Exchange Program.

The Interdisciplinary Transplant Sym-posium is organized by the Hartford Hospital Transplant Program. Chairs of the 2012 event were Colleen Brown and Regina Radikas, outreach coordinator. Dr. Sheiner and Dan Madison, adminis-trative director of Transplant, provided guidance.

Our Values - In Your Own WordsWe’d like to share your stories – stories of how you or your coworkers are living out our values of integrity, caring, excellence and safety.

Maybe you’ve seen someone go above and beyond to provide comfort to a patient; lend a helping hand to a coworker; or initiate a change that made a difference in the quality of care provided.

Whatever the story, we’d like to publish them in future issues of Network News, our monthly Hartford HealthCare newsletter.

You can submit a brief, 100 word story to the Marketing Department, and we’ll choose a few to be published in each issue. Send your stories to announcements@harthosp.org.

Please be sure to identify the value you’re writing about, as well as your name, title and department.

integrity•caring•excellence•safety

Fitness Classes Start Today at BarneyStarting today (Monday, Jan. 14), the Bar-ney Fitness Center will offer fitness class-es that will meet Monday through Thurs-day, noon and evening.

Classes run for five weeks, until Feb. 14. Cost for 10 class session is $60; and any-class, any-time is $80. Advance registra-tion is not required, but it is recommend-ed. For more information, e-mail fitness@harthosp.org or call 5-3077. Classes of-fered are:

YOGA - Tuesday and Thursday from 12-12:30 p.m.

Step & Stride - Tuesday and Thursday from 11:30 a.m.-12 p.m.

Boot Camp Insanity - Monday and Thurs-day from 4:45-5:30 p.m.

Find Out About Weight Watchers at Work Jan. 16There will be an in-formation-al meeting for Weight Watchers At Work on Wednesday, Jan. 16 from 12-1 p.m. in the Special Dining Room.

A minimum of 20 people is needed. There is a monthly pass option for $39.95 a month. For more information, contact Ron at 860-972-4293.

Memorial Service for Kathy Marshall ThursdayThere will be a memorial service for Kathy Marshall, an IV nurse who worked at Hartford Hospital for 25 years, on Thursday, Jan. 17 at 2:30 p.m. in the Multifaith Chapel. Kathy passed away in B11I on Dec. 19 after battling cancer.

Red Cross Blood Drive Jan. 17 in the ERC

There will be a Red Cross blood drive at Hartford Hospi-tal on Thursday, Jan. 17 from 7 a.m.-12:30 p.m. in Heublein Hall. All presenting do-nors will receive a pound of Dunkin’ Do-nuts coffee. To make an appointment, call

Erin at 860-545-2079.

UConn Game to Benefit Donate LifeCome to the UConn women v. Syracuse game on Saturday, Jan. 19 at 4 p.m. at the XL Center to support Donate Life. Tickets are only $10 using special code UCONN (regularly $22). There will be a half-time special, featuring our trans-plant staff v. transplant recipients and donor families. Twenty Donate Life tick-et holders will be selected to be in the “High Five Tunnel” as the players run into the arena. You’ll also get a Donate Life t-shirt, and an opportunity to get 50% off other UConn games. To buy tickets, go to http://ctorganandtissuedonation.org/programsevents/specialevents.html.Find out more about organ donation at becomeadonor.org.

SCM Downtime Jan. 19-20Sunrise Clinical Manager (SCM) will be unavailable for six hours from Saturday, Jan. 19 at 11 p.m. un-til 5 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 20. The SCM DT icon will be available for a VIEW ONLY copy of SCM with information accurate up to the actual start of Downtime. Spe-cific downtime instructions, including placing orders, clinical documentation, laboratory and radiology reporting is available on the HH intranet in Sunrise Clinical Manager 5.5 Information Center > Downtime/Recovery Information AND Clinical Documentation Information (for Nursing). http://intranet.harthosp.org/hh/dept/819?route=2. This upgrade will provide updates to Home Medica-tion Lists and the addition of Health Manager in SCM.

Doctors of Comedy“Just Kidding Around - A Night of Com-edy” will be presented Friday, Jan. 25 at 8 p.m. at Nomads Adventure Quest, 60 Bidwell Rd., South Windsor. The show will feature Dr. Jay Sutay, Dr. Joe Dell’Orfano, Angel Rentas, and Dr. Da-vid Casey. Brought to you by Hartford HealthCare Federal Credit Union, it will benefit CCMC. Tickets are $15 in ad-vance, or $20 at the door, available at any branch of the credit union, or go to www.hhcu.org or 860-547-0027.

N-95 Respirator Fit Testing for January Here is the N-95 Respirator Fit Testing Schedule for January. Test-ing takes place in the ERD, 4th Floor.

Thursday, Jan. 24, 1-5 p.m.

Friday, Jan. 25, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

Thursday, Jan. 31, 7 a.m.-4 p.m.

Happening at Hartford Hospital

Questions or comments about RxTra? Contact editor Annie Emanuelli at aemanuelli@harthosp.org or 860-545-2199