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SLHS prepares to launch innovative cancer survivorship program Oct. 1
A cancer diagnosis can be traumatic, and so can life-saving  treatments. Survivors struggling with the ravages of cancer now have access to a uniquely personalized program at Saint Luke's Health System, designed to help them recover from the debilitating physical and emotional side effects and after effects of cancer therapy.
STAR (Survivorship, Training, And Rehab) ProgramŽ is a nationally recognized cancer survivorship program that focuses on helping survivors heal as well as possible. Based on conventional medicine, as in orthopaedic and cardiac rehabilitation, the STAR Program utilizes an interdisciplinary approach in which caregivers from different specialties team up to help patients increase strength and energy, alleviate pain, and improve daily function and well-being.
"Saint Luke's has a longstanding commitment to providing the best possible care for people undergoing cancer treatment," said physical medicine and rehabilitation physician Lisa Hermes, M.D. "We're proud to offer enhanced survivorship services as an extension of that continuum of care."
Patients at any stage of treatment, or experiencing late effects or unresolved issues from past treatment, can benefit from the program. Survivors are commonly plagued with symptoms such as fatigue, weakness, insomnia, memory loss, fear, anxiety, and depression. Newly diagnosed patients may want to increase their strength and endurance and prevent future medical problems. Survivors living with cancer as a chronic disease may need help managing treatment-related conditions. Individuals who are cured or in remission may enroll in the program with a goal of boosting their immune systems so they can optimize their recovery.
Specialty caregivers from a pool of disciplines, including physicians, physical and occupational therapists, speech pathologists, dietitians, and mental health professionals, will work together with each patient on a personalized rehabilitation plan. When evaluating needs, the team addresses the full spectrum of post-cancer care beyond symptoms, including diet, sleep issues, existing pain, endurance, strength, exercise habits, and emotional outlook.
Services are available at Saint Luke's Hospital, Saint Luke's South Hospital, Saint Luke's East Hospital, and Saint Luke's North Hospital - Barry Road and Smithville campuses. Most of the survivorship services integrated into the STAR Program are reimbursable by health insurance. A physician referral is required.
To learn more about the program, visit saintlukeshealthsystem.org/STAR.
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Kathy Sanchez named Employee of the Month
Kathy Sanchez, East 1, has been named September Employee of the Month. Sanchez received several nominations.
Comments from her nominations include:
- "When I come to the unit, no matter what she is doing she will come and help with a patient that I am transporting."
- "She is always willing to help all the transports out when we are out on the floor. She never says, 'That is not my patient.' She can be working on the SE1 side and she will come down on East 1 and help us out."
- "She always speaks without you speaking first and has a smile when she greets you and is a very hard worker."
- "I can't help but notice how helpful she is as a team player, not just for her floor and her patients."
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Information security awareness: USB drive security tips
Universal Serial Bus (USB) drives are small portable devices used for data storage (also known as jump drives or flash drives).They are good for the transfer of computer files, storage, and back-up. The benefits are many: they are small, inexpensive, very portable, easy to use, readily available, and help you easily transport electronic data. All the features that make them so attractive to use are also the same features that introduce security risks.
What are the risks?
Being small and portable, USB drives are easily lost or stolen. It's almost as easy as losing a pen! Electronic data is saved in plain text, so if lost, it can be easily read. USB drives also increase the risk of spreading a virus from computer-to-computer because many viruses load onto a computer as soon as a USB is plugged in.
SLHS electronic Protected Health Information (PHI) should never be put on a USB drive without approved encryption. Unsecure PHI can lead to HIPAA violations and fines of the organization and the individual. Contact the Client Support Center (ishelp@saint-lukes.org) for guidance if required.
Alaska's Medicaid to pay OCR $1.7 million for potential HIPAA violations; second largest settlement to date
Alaska's Deptartment of Health and Social Services was fined $1.7 million after a USB drive was stolen from an employee's vehicle on June 26, 2012.
How to protect your personal USB drive
- Separation of work and personal - It is best to not mix business and personal info on the same USB drive, or use work USBs on home computers, and vice versa (personal USB drives on work computers). The use of USB drives for SLHS business use requires management approval.
- Back-ups - If your info is important, back it up!
- Security software helps - PC firewalls and anti-virus software on home systems helps to reduce the risk of infections. Keep them current!
- Unknown USB Drives - NEVER USE a USB drive you found! A common trick is to place USB drives in places people may pick them up and plug them in to try to identify what is on it or who owns it. Then the virus or malware on the drive launches and infects the system, circumventing the established security controls, such as a personal firewall, that are in place.
- Turn off autorun - By default on Windows systems, USB drives run software automatically when they are plugged in to the computer. This feature can be turned off.
- Secure USB drives - The best defense is to purchase a secure USB device that provides the ability to password protect your USB drive and encrypt the data.
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Pain management, not pain free
We would all love to have no pain, but that is not realistic. Pain goals must be realistic; pain can be managed but not always eliminated. Patients, as well as families, need to be educated on this.
Pain is challenging to manage, and one size does not fit all. For some a procedure may be indicated and for others it may be medication or a combination of therapies to help manage the pain. Obviously not everyone will have the same results, so the meds may need to be tweaked and it takes time to reach the appropriate dosing for an individual. Pain is personal; one person's ten is another's two, which can add to the challenge of managing the patient's pain and having realistic goals. Family members can also add to the challenge of managing pain. One grimace or moan and some feel their loved one is not being properly cared for. We've all had that patient who was doing fine until the family showed up.
It is not always a quick fix in the world of pain as the patients and their families have often come to expect. Television commercials and the internet have patients/families believing they know what medication or procedure is needed to treat the condition without understanding the full details and it may not be appropriate in their case.
Clearly acute pain, as time passes and no complications, does eventually subside. Though after surgery or the trauma, the patient may initially have trouble believing this. Whether the pain is acute or chronic, the goal is to manage the patient's pain so he/she can tolerate and perform daily activities and return to baseline to enjoy a quality of life. Nothing in these paragraphs is new information; we deal with patients' pain every day. Pain management education should be the focus, not expectations of being pain free. Properly educating the patients and their families is the initial step in quality pain management. - Charla Hess, R.N., East 4
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Calling all actors
So you think you can act? Here's your chance to prove it. The I.S. Training Team is searching for volunteers who want to become movie stars in future SLHS training videos. Pop in any time during one of our casting calls:
Date: Monday, Oct. 1
Time: 9 a.m. - noon
Location: SLEH IS Computer Training Room (Third Floor)
Date: Friday, Oct. 5
Time: 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Location: SLH - MAHI IT Conference Room (A-Level, next door to the Computer Training Room)
Your audition time should take less than 10 minutes. Need more information? Interested, but can't make one of the casting calls? Send us a 60-second (or less) video clip of yourself to ISTrainingTeam@saint-lukes.org. Be sure to type "Casting Call" in the subject line and include your contact information.
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2012 influenza vaccinations for SLH
Saint Luke's Health System is committed to preventing the spread of
the influenza virus. Following the same process as last year, we are requiring all employees to complete an educational module on the importance of vaccination. All employees will be expected to access HealthStream to review this education and indicate their
 acceptance or declination of the vaccine. They must do this no later than midnight, Dec. 31, 2012. Following our usual process for employees who fail to complete their mandatory requirements during the year, employees who don't complete this assigned education will receive the appropriate disciplinary action effective Jan. 1, 2013. Failing to complete this requirement before the deadline will result in disciplinary action up to and including termination. This will be managed just like our other entity mandatory requirements. Employees will need to log in to HealthStream by Dec. 31, 2012, to complete the education and indicate their decision about receiving the vaccination. The online education was assigned to all employees and they may now begin accessing HealthStream to complete the assignment. It will appear under "My Learning," just like our other annual education titles. Distribution of influenza vaccine for SLH will kick off Sept. 25, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the courtyard. Your employee health nurses will be ready to assist you in obtaining your vaccine, answering your questions, and making this vaccination campaign the most successful ever! Protect yourself, your family, and your patients! Take the time to get immunized! |
Michelle Neville Memorial nursing scholarship
Family and friends established the Michelle Neville Memorial Nursing Scholarship at Saint Luke's College in 2002 to celebrate Michelle's love of nursing and Saint Luke's.
Michelle first came to Saint Luke's in 1976 as a student nurse, graduating in 1979. During these years, Michelle met her future husband, Denis, who was also a Saint Luke's nursing student. After graduation, Michelle worked as a staff nurse on North 3 and then as an assistant head nurse. In 1982, she joined the faculty of Saint Luke's Hospital School of Nursing as an assistant clinical instructor. Following a master's of arts degree in gerontology and health services management, Michelle became the director of the Learning Resource Center and an assistant professor on the faculty.
Michelle was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, leiomyosarcoma, in August 1998. Michelle's journey was challenging as she coped with many complications of her disease. Her undaunted spirit was a testimony to her strength and was shared with those who knew her at Saint Luke's.
The Michelle Neville Memorial Nursing Scholarship is awarded twice annually to a third semester, full-time, traditional B.S.N. nursing student who exhibits the caring spirit of nursing - sensitivity, creativity, intelligent understanding, sense of humor, and compassion - that meant so much to Michelle.
Please nominate a Saint Luke's College nursing student enrolled in their third semester as a full-time, traditional B.S.N. student. The $2,000 will help with expenses for the recipient's final semester of their B.S.N. program.
An electronic version of the scholarship application may be found at saintlukescollege.edu or email Jan Whitlow at jwhitlow@saint-lukes.org.
The application deadline is Monday, Oct. 15. If you have any questions, please contact Whitlow at 816-932-6746.
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Kronos timekeeping: Attestation module
Please note this system update is applicable only to those entities using Kronos Timekeeping and supported by Central Payroll Processing (CPP).
To enhance time sheet accuracy and ensure organizational policy compliance, SLHS will enhance our time clock system in September. As part of the enhancement, employees will be able to access, review, and approve or reject their timecards using the time clocks through Smart Views or the Kronos web-based tool. As always, our goal is to have employees submit accurate timecards that reflect and include all hours actually worked.
Accordingly, employees will attest to the accuracy of any input, changes, and totals prior to manager approval of the timecard. This also allows any inaccuracies to be addressed before the pay period is processed and closed, which will assist in ensuring accurate pay period records.
With the Smart Views or the Kronos web-based tool, employees will also be able to indicate whether they took their 30-minute uninterrupted meal break during the out punch/end of shift process. If the employee indicates that they did not receive a 30-minute uninterrupted meal break, then no deduction shall occur and a notice will be sent to the employee's manager. This process ensures compliance with the SLHS meal break policy.
Kronos Timekeeping managers and employees will soon receive detailed instructions on this new process. This communication will also include the functionality go-live date and any other additional information. Please pay special attention to future communications on this topic from your CPP team.
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Noteworthy
2012 Employee Satisfaction Check-In Survey
As you know, SLHS conducts its annual Employee Satisfaction Survey in the spring each year to provide our employees with the opportunity to anonymously share their thoughts about working at SLHS. We know a lot can happen between surveys, so this year we are introducing a Check-In Survey in the fall to give you a chance to share additional feedback.
This survey will be open for participation through midnight Wednesday, Sept. 26. This survey is much shorter, and as usual, the survey is outside the system network so no identifying information can be tracked back to any individual employee.
You can access the survey until Sept. 26 by clicking here. Thank you in advance for your participation.
Schwartz Rounds
Thursday, Oct. 4
Noon
SLH, BMW Conference Room
"Domestic Violence and our Workplace" (October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month)
Panelists will be Kate Mallula, Bridge Coordinator, and Liza Albidress, M.S.W., Saint Luke's Home Care and Hospice.
Other panelists TBA. Tarris Rosell, Ph.D., D.Min., will facilitate. Lunch will be provided.
Save the Date
Saint Luke's College of Health Sciences 2012 Homecoming reunion
October 5 - 6.
Friday, Oct. 5
4 - 7 p.m.
Open House
Saint Luke's College of Health Sciences
624 Westport Road
Kansas City, MO 64111
Saturday, Oct. 6
10:30 a.m.
Tour of Saint Luke's College of Health Sciences
Noon
Luncheon and Program at Hampton Inn
4600 Summit
Kansas City, MO 64112
Program provided by the Class of 1962 in honor of their 50th reunion
For more information, contact Jan Whitlow at 816-932-6746 or jwhitlow@saint-lukes.org.
Note of appreciation
Kudos to Amy Mott and Carolyne Mireles who moved mountains during the off-hours to locate vital records from a recent hospitalization for a patient who returned before the records had been scanned into the HPF. Thank you ladies! - Brent W. Beasley, M.D., F.A.C.P., medical director, Saint Luke's Care
Blood drive follow-up
During the Sept. 11 blood drive at SLH, the Community Blood Center registered 50 volunteers and collected 38 units of blood. There were 22 first- time donors. Thank you for your commitment to the Community Blood Center and patients in need!
2013 SLH Summer Student Scholars Program
The Student Scholars Program is designed to provide an opportunity for eight college undergraduates with an interest in health care to spend six weeks in a clinical or research area of emphasis at SLH. The hope is to someday see some of these students become members of the SLH medical staff.
The SLH-funded program will begin the week of June 10, 2013. Orientation will be held June 7, 2013. Application deadline is Jan. 4, 2013. Applicants accepted to the program will be notified by March 4, 2013.
For more information or for an application, please contact Jeanne Kimball in Medical Education at jkimball@saint-lukes.org.
LifeWise Golf Classic
The registration deadline for the LifeWise Golf Classic is quickly approaching. Registration forms and tournament fee are due by Friday, Sept. 21. The LifeWise Golf Classic is an annual golf tournament offered to Saint Luke's Health System employees and their guests. The Center for Health Enhancement is proud to host the tournament to show our appreciation for the hard work SLHS employees put forth in providing high quality health care services.
If you have a team that would like to play in this year's tournament, please fill out the registration form and return it to Bethanie Schemel at CFHE. Please feel free to contact Bethanie Schemel at 816-932-3798 or bschemel@saint-lukes.org with any questions you might have.
The tournament will be held Sept. 29. For more information, click here.
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