NEWS & REMINDERS
Welcome Heather Keating
Heather B. Keating, CPCS, CPMSM, recently joined Suburban Hospital as the director of medical staff administration. Heather has 24 years of experience as a medical staff services professional, most recently as corporate director of credentialing at LifeBridge Health in Baltimore and 19 years at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Heather is involved with the National Association for Medical Staff Services to promote certification of medical staff professionals and the Maryland Association for Medical Staff Services as conference committee chair. Heather looks forward to collaborating with the medical staff at Suburban.
Outside of work, Heather enjoys yoga, running, baking, reading, volunteering and spending time with family.
Heather can be contacted at 301-896-2600 and hkeatin2@jhmi.edu.
Former Surgeon William Taylor Thistlethwaite, MD passes
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of William Taylor Thistlethwaite, MD on Tuesday, March 5, 2019. Dr. Thistlethwaite served as a general surgeon at Suburban Hospital from 1993 to 2003 and at Sibley Memorial Hospital between 1992 and 2004. Please join us in extending our condolences to the family of Dr. Thistlethwaite. To learn more about Dr. Thistlethwaite’s life and accomplishments, click here.
Magnet Site Visit
Magnet appraisers from the American Nurses Credentialing Center will complete their site visit to Suburban Hospital today (Wednesday, Mar. 13). All staff are encouraged to participate in the Employee Open Forum from 11 a.m.—noon in the hospital auditorium.
Please review Suburban’s Magnet document on the SHIP homepage.
Accolades and Highlights from Suburban Hospital’s Antimicrobial Stewardship Program
Sonia Qasba, MD, MPH, Hospital Epidemiologist and Medical Director of the Antimicrobial Stewardship, and Nicholas Ladikos, PharmD, BCPS, BCGP, Clinical Coordinator and Lead Pharmacist for the Antimicrobial Stewardship Program, contributed to a recently published article titled “Does use of Electronic Alerts for Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS) to Identify Patients with Sepsis Improve Mortality?” in the American Journal of Medicine. The Suburban stewardship team worked with a group within the Johns Hopkins System to prepare the article. Click here to read the article.
The antimicrobial stewardship team has also introduced hospital-wide EPIC order sets that standardize empiric antibiotic ordering and duration for the 23 most common infections. A big thank you to Andrew Markowski, MD, MPH for making this happen!
Congratulations to Johns Hopkins Medicine Patient Safety Summit Presenters
We would like to extend congratulations to Leo Rotello, MD, Mihail Zilbermint, MD, Eric Dobkin, MD, Vice President of Medical Affairs at Suburban Hospital, and Toby Levin, PFAC for participating in the Armstrong Institute Patient Safety Summit on Mar. 8, 2019. The theme of this year’s summit was "Commitment to Resilience" and it featured hundreds of health care professionals from across Johns Hopkins Medicine coming together to learn about their colleagues’ work in patient safety, research, safety culture and prevention and identification of harm. Dr. Zilbermint presented his study “Inpatient Diabetes Management Service, Length of Stay and 30-Day Readmission Rate of Patients with Diabetes at a Community Hospital,” while Dr. Rotello and Ms. Levin presented on the “Creation of a Certification Program to Improve Patient and Family Centered Care.”
REMINDER – Vote in the U.S. News & World Report Reputation Survey
Your participation in this survey is important! It's an opportunity for you and your department to be recognized for all that you do. The U.S. News ranking also can impact a patient’s decision on where to go for care and may influence where referring providers send their patients. To vote, log in to Doximity.com, or open the Doximity app, which can be downloaded at iTunes or Google Play. Once you are logged in, click on the large U.S. News call-out icon/graphic on the homepage.
For additional information on the survey, click here.
Suburban Hospital Medical Staff Annual Meetin
Save the date for the 2019 Suburban Hospital Medical Staff Annual Meeting. The theme of the meeting is "Taking Care of Ourselves and our Community" and it will be held on Thursday, Apr. 11 from 5:30 p.m. – 8 p.m. at the Chevy Chase Club (6100 Connecticut Ave., Chevy Chase, Maryland). You can email Michelle at mchris30@jhmi.edu with questions.
Video Remote Interpretation (VRI) Training
The Johns Hopkins Language Services team has been working to standardize interpretation technology throughout Johns Hopkins Medicine and has deployed more video remote and over-the-phone interpretation technology to increase access to interpretation services. The fleet of VRI devices is getting an upgrade beginning Mar. 27.
Any employee who interacts directly with patients and uses the Cyracom app on iPads for interpretive services should listen to one of these upcoming webinar sessions:
- Wednesday, Mar. 13, noon
- Thursday, Mar. 14, midnight
- Tuesday, Mar. 19, 3 p.m.
- Wednesday, Mar. 20, 7 a.m.
- Thursday, Mar. 21, 7 p.m.
The new application will deliver better connectivity and higher resolution during interpretation sessions, and will look and work differently. To register for one of the upcoming online training sessions, click here. Please note the course code at the end of your webinar to obtain credit.
SPEAK2US: Report Concerns by Calling the 24/7 Employee Hotline
If you have a concern about illegal or unethical behavior at Suburban Hospital and Johns Hopkins Medicine, including patient and employee safety issues, make a confidential report through our SPEAK2US hotline at 844-SPEAK2US (844-773-2528). It is toll-free and available 24/7, and you have the option to remain anonymous. You also can make an online report at JohnsHopkinsSpeak2Us.com.
If you missed the recent Johns Hopkins leadership message about SPEAK2US, read it here and watch this video message about our shared responsibility for patient safety.
Upcoming CME Activities
The Johns Hopkins CloudCME web portal allows providers to register for upcoming courses, review calendars, identify activities that will help them provide better care, access online syllabi, complete course evaluations and download transcripts in real-time. Click here to visit the site and learn more about upcoming opportunities.
Armstrong Institute Grand Rounds with Former Astronaut and Trauma Surgeon Story Musgrave
During the Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality’s next Grand Rounds, hear from former NASA astronaut and trauma surgeon Story Musgrave, who will discuss how patient care is like a space mission with a very critical outcome. Musgrave will share his experiences in the air with the U.S. Air Force and Marines and as a NASA astronaut for 30 years, and his work on the ground as a trauma surgeon at Denver General Hospital (presently known as Denver Health Medical Center). Musgrave is a veteran of six space shuttle flights—he performed the first shuttle spacewalk and “surgery” to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.
Plan to view a simulcast or attend his presentation, “From the Farm to Surgery to Rockets and Way Beyond: Excellence, Exploration and Evolution,” on Thursday, Mar. 14, from noon to 1 p.m. at The Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Chevy Chase Bank Auditorium.
Pharmacy Grand Rounds: Opioid Stewardship in the Community
Health systems are key players in helping to alleviate the opioid epidemic. Peter Hill, senior vice president for medical affairs, and Suzanne Nesbit, clinical specialist in pain management and palliative care, will discuss the opioid epidemic at the Department of Pharmacy Grand Rounds on Thursday, Mar. 14, at 3 p.m. in The Johns Hopkins Hospital’s Chevy Chase Bank Auditorium. Read more.
MCMS Early Career Physician Collegiality Dinner
Early career physicians are invited to Pinstripes at Pike and Rose (11920 Grand Park Ave., North Bethesda, Maryland) for collegiality, networking, dinner and optional bowling on Tuesday, Apr. 9, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Click here to learn more.
Upcoming Smoking Cessation Classes for Patients
The next Freedom from Smoking cessation program will be held on Tuesdays from May 7 – June 18 and on Thursday, May 30. Click here for more information.
MEDICAL STAFF CALENDAR
Click here for the March 2019 calendar.
CONTINUING MEDICAL EDUCATION
Johns Hopkins Medicine Continuing Medical Education Series
March 13: TR Conference—to access click here.
March 14: Surgical Grand Rounds—to access click here. Text CME Code 16820 to 443-541-5052 fifteen minutes prior to start.
March 15: Oncology Grand Rounds—to access click here.
March 15: Medical Grand Rounds—to access click here. Text CME Code 18221 to 443-541-5052 fifteen minutes prior to start.
WORKPLACE SAFETY
Panic Duress Buttons
All areas of the hospital that are accessible by the public—including all clinical areas—contain at least one red panic duress button for additional security measures. When pressed, this button will send a silent Code Green to Security and alert them to the need for immediate assistance.
Do you know where to find the duress button on your unit or department? It may be positioned at the nursing station, under a work table or another place not visible to the public. Please take time to locate the closest duress button.
All other areas—including offices that are not open to the public—may be secured by an employee badge swipe or key. Those areas should call Security at x2500 for immediate response.
Read the Safety, Security and Workplace Violence Update from Joe Linstrom about the steps we are taking to make our workplace more secure.