Number 1! UCH scores highest on U.S. academic hospital safety, quality scorecard Bruce Schroffel called it the closest thing he could imagine to winning an Academy Award. University HealthSystem Consortium - the organization of perhaps the best hospitals in America - gave UCH its Quality Leadership Award in Chicago last week. The win was also the result of a "deep dive" into medical records. >>More

The devils in Epic's details In the wake of the "big bang," even those who are adapting well are finding the massive Epic project's success is coming to rest on things as big as systems learning to talk to each other and as tiny as yellow triangles and misplaced Ys. Left: a whiteboard crammed with Epic issues. >>More

Hospital wranglers head out to round up missing equipment  Pulse oximeter sensors, blood pressure cuffs, ECG leads, hoses, cables add up to some $6,000 worth of equipment a year that never comes back to the ED after accompanying patients into inpatient areas. The ICUs suffer losses as well. Wranglers Keith Axelson (left) and Zach Robison are among those saddling up for an October sweep through the hospital to bring as much of it back to the ED and ICUs as possible. >>More

Critical guests due to arrive For five days one of these weeks, Joint Commission surveyors will make their triennial visit to dig into files, look into corners, run their fingers along the tops of the picture frames and confirm UCHers have kept improving in the midst of some profound hospital and health care industry changes. Kristin Stocker (left) again is lead hostess, fact-checker, and trainer. >>More

UCH v. the cigarette industry  In the first of a four-part series about UCH's efforts to help employees snuff out their smoking habits, Zina Fleming (right), who works in outpatient surgery, agreed to let the campus community follow her progress in defeating her long-time habit. This week: a look at her second class. >>More

Heading east to meet Irene As Hurricane Irene bore down on New York last month, UCH's emergency preparedness coordinator got an email to lend a hand to help it weather the storm. Eight days later, Pat Conroy (left) found a lot of the hospital's disaster preparations had been "validated." >>More

The 1 percent club  Now 15 years after brain cancer surgery, UCH nurse Kurtis Roose (right) beat the odds long ago. But he's still gratefully adding up the days one at a time, and still raising money for research. >>More

Crackdown on Anschutz speedway  "Caution campaigns," electronic signs and dozens of traffic stop warnings a day haven't done the trick. So University police say they are going to "more aggressively" limit speeding and rolling stops on 17th and 19th avenues. >>More

Around UCH  Our regular round-up of goings-on, big and small, in and around the hospital. This issue: Wellness Council (right) helps hospital nab "Healthiest Employer" honor; women take a peek "Behind the Curtain"; EOS nears conclusion; more. >>More

A helping hand for rural hospitals Thanks to scholarship money from the Colorado Dept. of Labor and Employment, the WELLS Center staged its first simulation at a rural critical care hospital to help staff hone their skills and evaluate their systems. WELLS Center coordinators Veronica Baiamonte (left) and Jody McClary were at the Burlington hospital Wednesday with programmable mannequin Atticus. >>More

A Big Loss, Literally and Figuratively

Sidebar: "Prickly on the outside," but..."

The Attack on September 23

The PACU Tries to Tone It Down

Another Star at Children's