January 20, 1999   Vol. 21, No. 4

Improving performance key to JCAHO review

During the next few months, KU Hospital employees will take on a number of activities in preparation for the summer visit by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). Despite the variety of activities, however, a common theme for everyone will be improving organizational performance-a key component of the upcoming JCAHO review.
JCAHO is an independent body which evaluates the effectiveness of hospitals across the country. In 1996, it awarded KU Hospital a 95 percent rating. For the 1999 review, the hospital's goal is to achieve Accreditation with Commendation, the highest possible rating.
To prepare for the upcoming review, each department will identify areas that need improvement, develop plans to make those improvements, and establish a system to monitor their progress. By working as a team, this effort will not only make positive changes within the departments, but allow all staff members to be knowledgeable about and able to discuss the unit's improvements with JCAHO surveyors.
The goals of JCAHO standards for performance improvement are to ensure that any new or modified programs or services are well designed, and that the hospital has a process to monitor, analyze and improve delivery of patient care. For these reasons, departments must be able to monitor performance through data collection, analyze current performance, and improve and sustain performance. In addition, a key element to all departmental efforts will be matching specific improvements with the hospital's overall goals.
To help departments and units plan improvements, the hospital's JCAHO Staff Education Team has developed several tools and guidelines. Departments will also use a two-part process called FOCUS PDCA (see related story), which helps ensure that departments are focusing on issues that are most important to the hospital, or that need the most immediate attention. FOCUS PDCA will also enable departments to make improvements that will become a permanent part of standard processes.
Performance improvement plans
will be created using a two-part process:

F- Find a process to improve based upon the needs of the organization and level of performance
O- Organize to improve the process, either through individual work or teams
C- Clarify the understanding of the current process/situation
U- Understand what is causing the variation or less-than-desired performance of the current process
S- Select the improvement that potentially has the best opportunity for improving the process

Once the opportunity for improvement has been identified, departments can implement part two of the process:
P- Plan the implementation of the improvement, including how the improvement will be monitored
D- Do the implementation of the improvement
C- Check to see that the improvement produced the needed results
A- Act to integrate the improvement into daily processes and establish monitors to ensure that the improvement is sustained

Maleia Rome, an occupational therapy student at the School of Allied Health, was one of two national winners of the 1998 Association of Schools of Allied Health Professions Scholarship for Excellence. Rome was selected among applicants from 35 institutions for her academic achievement, community service record and communications skills. With Rome are, left, Winnie Dunn, PhD, professor and chair of the Occupational Therapy Department, and Karen L. Miller, PhD, dean of the schools of Nursing and Allied Health. For more student news, see page 3.

Budget recommendations contain good news for KUMC From the Executive Vice Chancellor...

By now I am sure that most of you have seen the governor's recommendations for next year's budget. It contains some important funding issues for the medical center, and of course it will be modified by the legislature. It is clear that the governor intends to focus on education for the next term. I, for one, was particularly pleased that he identified the Tele-KidCare program in his opening remarks as an important program developed by KU Medical Center and put into place in Kansas City, Kan., as the first in the nation. He also recommended funding an extension of the program to 20 rural communities. Support is also there for the Nursing Education and Center for Health in Aging buildings. This makes my day. The faculty salary increase is still the top priority of the Board of Regents, and we hope the amounts will be more than the governor recommended, and more in line with the board's recommendations.
I am excited about the maturation of our new organization and the opportunities. I predict that within the next six months we will have all of the wrinkles worked out and will be much more effective than we have ever been.
I am now beginning to work with the community to do a definitive community development plan for the area around the Kansas City campus. We will be looking at our long-term building requirements. We will be looking at the placement of future research buildings somewhere in the north campus, an expansion of Dykes Library, and a new power plant for the north campus. I have also asked Steve Smallwood, our architect, to start conceptualizing a new home for the medical school. In my mind, the corner of 39th and Rainbow would be a beautiful location for a medical education building which would look like and work as a medical education building. You know I like to dream, to conceptualize and then to build. I am also optimistic enough to follow through and make things happen. None of this planning is going to be done in a vacuum. We will see that everyone is involved.
Would you please do something for me? Try to do one thing each day you would not ordinarily think of doing to help one of your colleagues. It is amazing what one "random act of kindness" can do. Watch what happens. You will probably drive them all crazy. But the world will be a better place.
Until next week, stand proudly. You deserve it.

Around KUMC...
What’s New

School of Nursing's Kathleen O'Connell publishes research
Kathleen O'Connell, RN, PhD, professor in the KU School of Nursing, was the principal author of a research article published in Volume 21 of Research in Nursing and Health. The article, "Coping in real time: Using Ecological Momentary Assessment techniques to assess coping with the urge to smoke," appears on pages 487-497.

Smoking Cessation Program starts Feb. 2
The Occupational Health and Environmental Medicine Department will offer the American Cancer Society "Fresh Start" Smoking Cessation Program. The program includes four sessions, Feb. 2, 4, 9 and 11, from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. in Dykes Library Conference Room. The program is free and open to KUMC employees and others in the Kansas City area. To register, call the Physician Referral Service,
588-1227.


Credit Union January 'Lucky Numbers'
The KUMC Credit Union Lucky Numbers for January are: 17126; 19469; 6374; 14599, and 30841. The Lucky Birthday this month is Jan. 25. Prizes may be claimed at the Credit Union,
1037 Delp.

Help keep our bulletin boards clean
Please remember that the bulletin boards in public areas throughout the medical center are for KUMC news and events only. Postings for commercial or private purposes are not appropriate. If you have an item to post, please submit copies to the Public Relations Department, G114 KU Hospital, by 5 p.m. Thursday for posting the following Friday. Your cooperation will help keep the bulletin boards an organized and helpful resource for KUMC employees and visitors.

Coming Up... Thursday, Jan. 21:
•    Monthly Integrative Medicine Seminar, noon-1:30 p.m., Sastun Center of Integrative Health Care, 5515 Foxridge Drive in Mission.
•    Intercultural Film Series, 4:30 p.m., Sudler Auditorium, “Barney’s First Car.”


Friday, Jan. 22:
•    Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Grand Rounds, 10:30 a.m., Clendening Amphitheater, "New Developments in Diagnosis and Treatment in Major Depression."


Monday, Jan. 25:
•    Alzheimer's Disease Support Group, noon-1:30 p.m., Cottonwood Room, Delp Cafeteria (brown bag lunch).


Tuesday, Jan. 26:
•    KUMC "Big Blast" at the Blades tickets on sale, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., outside Main Cafeteria.
•    Center on Aging Research Seminar, 4-5 p.m., Clendening Amphitheater. "The Development of the Stroke Impact Scale."


Wednesday, Jan. 27:
•    Center on Aging Visiting Professor Lecture, noon-1 p.m., Lied Auditorium, "The Use of Optoids in Chronic Non-Cancer Pain in the Elderly."
•    Geriatrics Round Table, noon-1 p.m., Californo's, 4124 Pennsylvania, "Undertreatment of Pain in the Elderly."
•    KUMC Interfaith meeting, noon-1 p.m., Admissions Conference Room, ground floor, KU Hospital.

KU Endowment provides $10 million for KUMC health care

Charitable giving through the Kansas University Endowment Association, the official KU fund-raising organization, plays a key role in strengthening programs at KU Medical Center. In fiscal year 1998, donors contributed nearly $10 million for health care through the association.
Funds to benefit KUMC included:

• Nearly $6 million to enhance KUMC
    programs
•     $1.8 million for medical research into such areas as cancer, biomedicine and orthopedic surgery
•     $1.3 million for student scholarships, awards and prizes
•     More than $400,000 for professorships, endowed chairs and other faculty
    support
•     More than $30,000 for new labs, the Burnett Burn Center and the School of Nursing and Center on Aging buildings

For more information about KU Endowment, call ext. 5249, stop by G013 Wahl Hall East, or visit the web site at http://www.cc.ukans.edu/~kuendow.

Student Link
Welcome Back!

Student Governing Council meets Jan. 21
The Student Governing Council will meet Thursday, Jan. 21, at 5:30 p.m. in the Kansas Room of the Student Center. All students are welcome. Food will be provided.


Pick up free tickets Jan. 28
Free tickets to a variety of cultural events in Kansas City will be distributed to students Jan. 28, at 7:30 a.m. in Francisco Lounge. Students must present an ID. Tickets are limited to one pair per student, first come, first served.

How Kansas City are you?
To find out, stop by the KUMC Student Wellness Program booth in Stoland Lounge Jan. 28. Representatives will offer information on various local attractions.

Student Blood Drive benefits community
Every day, people throughout the Kansas City area need blood. In many cases, its availability-or lack thereof-can literally mean the difference between life and death.
On Jan. 26, KU medical students will take steps to ensure that blood is available to local residents when they need it, by staging the KU Medical Center Student Blood Drive, from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in Stoland Lounge, Orr-Major.
The blood drive, a joint effort between students and the Community Blood Center, is an annual event hosted by KUMC students. All blood donations will be administered by Community Blood Center, which benefits local hospital patients. In helping to ensure a safe and adequate blood supply for individuals who live in this community, your blood donations help save the lives of your friends, neighbors and relatives.
To sign up for the blood drive, contact Jenny Ray at 531-7984, or e-mail at <jray.> Walk-ins are also welcome. Participants should bring identification such as a drivers license or a Community Blood Center donor card. Cholesterol testing will be performed on all units of blood collected.

Traditions of caring, nursing are central to goals, future of scholarship winner
Nursing is a family tradition for Erica Blackwell, a senior at the University of Kansas School of Nursing. Her father's fascinating stories about his days as a field nurse in the army, combined with her grandmother's memories as a nurse, first attracted Blackwell to a career in health care.
"As I began to explore nursing I realized that this was truly an opportunity to use the gifts God gave me in a way to benefit others," she said.
Blackwell's long-standing commitment to helping others recently prompted Providence Medical Center Auxiliary to give her a scholarship in recognition of her involvement on campus and in the community, as well as her scholastic achievements. The honor is well deserved. Blackwell is a director of the Student Community Outreach Program (COP), the senior representative for the school's Professional Integrity System, and a volunteer in the Mentor Doula Teenage Pregnancy Project, which pairs young women with pregnant teens.
"This type of involvement motivates me to do better in school because I see KU not only as a place to learn but as an opportunity to contribute," said Blackwell.
Blackwell's dedication to community involvement is shown through her association with COP, an organization which promotes community service among all KU students while providing volunteers for agencies in Wyandotte County and uniting the KU Schools of Allied Health, Nursing, and Graduate Studies. As director, she researches and solicits funding for the program, hires and oversees the effectiveness of the interns at area agencies, conducts monthly meetings, and assesses interns' progress.
As a mentor to a 14-year-old mother through the Mentor Doula Program, Blackwell will help the young mother for at least the next year.
"Just being there for these girls makes all the difference for them and their children," said Blackwell.
The experience also has opened her eyes to social and cultural issues in her community. Blackwell thinks it is vital for KU Medical Center students to get to know the community they serve. In doing so, they will become more aware of the societal issues that many of their patients may face.
"What I have learned and found most rewarding about nursing is the dramatic impact I can have on others' lives," said Blackwell. "Nursing offers an incredible opportunity to prevent illness, promote health, and administer acute care. It thrills my soul to know that I have had a positive impact on another's life."

Classifieds

For Sale
Sega Genesis and four games, $50. Color television, 13", $20. Will sell all three items for $60. Call 281-3942 after 6 p.m.

Black metal full-size futon frame and mattress, $90. Call 432-7155.

Yamaha electric piano, model YPP-50, with midi/transpose function, metronome, tempo adjustment, 10 voice selectors, memory record/play, damper, headphone jack, midi in/out connectors and bench. Three years old, hardly used, great condition, $400 negotiable. Call Holly, 764-9282.

Automotive
1988 Ford Ranger XLT truck, long bed, automatic, A/C, AM-FM cassette, very nice condition. Call 241-2328 after 5 p.m.

1993 Ford Escort LX Hatchback, 5-spd., new tires, runs extremely well, dependable economy car for student or commuter, $3,750 OBO. Call Sheila, 262-3235.

1987 Mazda B2000 5-spd., long bed, bed liner, A/C and heat work great, new clutch. Call 436-7146 after 4 p.m.

1969 Ford ¾ -ton, PS, PB, 360, 4-spd., with 8 foot cab-over camper, three-burner stove, sink, furnace and refrigerator; 16-foot bomber style bass boat, 45 hp Chrysler motor, foot control trolling motor, spotlight, batteries, etc., with trailer, and additional Ford ¾-ton parts truck with A/C and many new parts. Everything for $3,000 OBO. Call 342-6758.

1991 Plymouth Grand Voyager LE. Good condition, dual A/C, keyless entry. Call 897-6431 evenings.

Housing
KUMC employee has house two blocks from KUMC and is looking for non-smoking roommate. I have a little Shih Tzu dog that stays indoors, very adorable and loving. Call 671-8803.

Sublease 2BR apartment, one block from KUMC at Malvern Hills Apts., May 1 to Aug. 31. $465, all utilities paid except phone and elec. Call 432-7155.

Wanted
Sewing machine, nothing fancy, just one that does the basics. Also want vacuum cleaner in good working condition. Call Gina, 432-7475.

Need baby-sitting job after school. Available anytime after 1 p.m. Monday-Thursday. Call 432-7155.

Lost and Found
Lost earring, tri-cut (or triangular shaped), clear white topaz stone set in silver, of sentimental value. Lost at KUMC Monday, Jan. 11, 1999. If found contact 785-566-3362.

Study Subjects
Neuroleptic Study for People with Developmental Disabilities
Research participants needed for a medication trial. Participants should be between the ages of 6 and 65, who are diagnosed with mental retardation and who have behavior problems (including aggression and self-injury). Caregivers must be willing to complete questionnaires on a weekly basis and come in for a 30-minute appointment every other week. All evaluations, appointments, lab tests, and medication are free of charge. For families living outside the Kansas City area, $25 will be provided to cover travel and parking costs. For more information, contact Dr. Jennifer Zarcone at ext. 6473 or e-mail <JZarcone@dole.lsi.ukans.edu>.

Adults for Bronchitis Study
Adults aged 18 and older with a history of chronic bronchitis who are having worsening of their symptoms and require antibiotics are sought to participate in an antibiotic study. Free physician visits, free antibiotic and $25 per visit for four visits if you can participate. Call Marilyn, ext. 4022.

Topics Information
Topics is the employee publication of the University of Kansas Medical Center.
It is published weekly by the office of Public Relations and Marketing. The deadline for submitting news briefs for consideration is noon on the Wednesday before they are to appear. For longer articles or features, contact the editor in advance.
Send story ideas to Leslie Champlin, acting editor, G114 Hospital, or e-mail: lchampli@ kumc.edu or call ext. 1602

Topics ad policy
Send or bring your ad to Topics, G114 KU Hospital, or fax to ext. 1225, or e-mail: lchampli@kumc.edu by noon Wednesday of the week before it is to run.
Ads run free of charge for employees, students and volunteers. For-sale ads are limited to three items. All ads must include the advertiser’s name and work extension (or medical student box number) for verification.
Only home phone numbers --- no pager numbers or KUMC extensions --- will be published. No ads for commercial services or pets for sale will be accepted. Ads will not be taken by telephone. Only one phone number per ad.
Ads may be a held a week if space is limited.

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