PSCU Top Left
Volume 5 | Issue 24| Through June 19, 2012
Aurora Golf Saturdays            
Panoramic Financial         
Best Western   
Golf 101             
Tapp Auto         
Cedar Creek         
House of Flowers Father's Day 2            
 
Schroffel and Stacey
Trading places Three months after they began their new jobs at the top of the University of Colorado Health command ladder, Bruce Schroffel (near right) and Rulon Stacey decided their skill sets were better suited to one another's positions. So the swapped jobs June 1. "It's the only time I ever demoted myself," Schroffel, now CEO, jokingly told a group of UCH staff Tuesday.  >>More
Records, anyone? The numbers of medical/surgical admissions and inpatient surgeries in April were the highest recorded by the hospital since it began tracking the data in 2005. Those two volume indicators set the tone for another solid financial month in a so-far very successful year. >>More
Tomosynthesis
3-D that's worth the price of admission A new mammography system at UCH produces three-dimensional images of the breast with twofold benefits. Seeing the breast better means radiologists can not only detect cancers earlier, but also reduce the number of women they call back for additional, anxiety-producing views. >>More
 
Bundled Payments
Bundling up for health care change UCH is applying to join a federal demonstration project aimed at testing a new reimbursement model. Under the arrangement, CMS would pay the hospital and physicians one "bundled" rate for the care they provide to Medicare heart failure patients during a 30-day period. It's a risk-sharing arrangement that puts a premium on coordinating care and preventing readmissions.   >>More
Crystal Foster
Reshaping RN shifts Concerned about having adequate staffing and resources for their busy units, 8 West Ortho/Burn/Surgery and 9 East General Surgery found creative ways to ease the crunch. Crystal Foster, RN (right), works short shifts on 8 West three days a week during the unit's heaviest turnover times. >>More
 
Bonnie Standing 2
Standing orders The Leprino Building cubicle of Bonnie Adrian (left) is unremarkable but for the fact that she spends much of her time in it on her feet. The quality-improvement specialist has joined the growing number of workers who aren't taking the widely reported risks of a sedentary lifestyle and workday sitting down.  >>More
Cathy Busby 4
No limits to growth In This Hospital Life: More than a decade after she returned to college, NICU Program Support Assistant Cathy Busby (right), earned her bachelor's degree from UCD. But for the 30-year UCH veteran, the hard-earned honor is simply more motivation to continue her journey along a lifelong path of learning.  >>More
 
Interns
Send in the cavalry Hospital departments with projects stalled or deferred because of a lack of resources -- namely time and staff -- got help late last month in the form of eight people (left) chosen for the hospital's 12-week summer internship program. For the new arrivals, the program is a chance to see hospital operations close up and work on real-life issues. Plus: how one intern turned her hard work in 2011 into a job at UCH.  >>More
Scoreboard The latest on how we're doing in quality outcomes, patient satisfaction, and other data we use to compete with ourselves and measure our success. This issue: late charge percentage improves >>More
 
Bariatric Support Group
The gains from losing Three bariatric surgery patients  who have benefited from the weight-loss procedure shared their experiences during a support group meeting last month. The surgery has helped them cumulatively to lose about 300 pounds, but it's not a cure-all or a substitute for the hard work needed to keep the pounds off, they warn. From far left: UCH dietitian Lisa Kassel with patient panel members Lee Ann Peluso, Jessica Bein and Michael Mayberry. >>More
Paired Kidney Transplant
Around UCH Our regular round-up of goings-on, big and small, in and around the hospital. This issue: Hospital joins historic kidney pairing effort (right); nurses sound off; new leaders chosen; hairy ending to Moustache Madness; more... >>More
 

UCH in the News The fatal five neighborhoods; Boots to Suits hits the ground; taking the gene pool plunge; more. Mentions: Daniel Bessesen; Cathy Bodine; Leann Clark; Lilly Marks; Kavita Nair; Genevieve Pham-Kanter; Comilla Sasson; Bruce SchroffelMatthew Taylor; Dan Theodorescu; Adam Tsai >>More
Like us Visit University of Colorado Hospital's Facebook page for more news and updates about what's going on at UCH.  >>More
Dean Krugman's news The latest at the School of Medicine. >>More
Fitz Credit Union March 2012 
Cancer Center Ribbon Cutting
Cancer Pavilion Cuts the Ribbon
Patients have enjoyed the bigger, brighter, better equipped facility since May 14. But a ribbon-cutting ceremony May 24 made it official, about 18 months after the ambitious expansion project began. >>Go
Tier 3 Units Climb the Ladder
Two-thirds of hospital work units with the lowest scores in last September's Employee Opinion Survey (EOS) moved to a higher tier after taking a "pulse" survey in April. The improvment puts the hospital on track to join the top 10 percent of health care organizations surveyed. >>Go

Tom Davis 
Sidebar: Full Speed Ahead
to Tier 1

Using post-graduate education and leadership skills developed during 23 years in the Navy, UCH Support Services Director Tom Davis (above) helped lead his work unit from the third to the first tier in the recent EOS pulse survey.  >>Go
 

Tornado Skies
The Hospital Plays Twister
A new National Weather Service app should help the hospital tighten its decisions about when to call a tornado or other severe weather alert. But regardless, one safety leader says, scanning the skies for twisters while standing near a window is never a good idea. >>Go
PSA Test
PSA Gets a 'D'
An influential federal task force recently sparked debate with its finding that  prostate-specific antigen screening for prostate cancer has failed to decrease overall mortality for the disease. But there is less than unanimous agreement on the findings, nationally or at UCH. >>Go