Weekly Progress Notes March 13, 2019

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.