To all of my Medical Staff Colleagues:

I'm excited and proud to be serving as your Chief of Staff for the next two years!

I know how busy your schedules are and how difficult it is to attend medical staff meetings. At the same time, I am a strong believer in the importance of not only working together, but also sharing "quality" time outside of normal business hours. Therefore, with all due respect to your time, I have chosen to try holding our General Medical Staff meetings in the evenings in 2009. The first meeting will be held on:

Tuesday, March 17
5:30 p.m. - Auditorium
We'll have a special St. Patrick's Day menu!

I'm also going to try to assure that you will enjoy our time together by inviting special and interesting speakers. Our first presentation is entitled,

HAPPINESS
Presented by
Shawn Achor, Professor at Harvard University

Mr. Achor is the winner of over a dozen distinguished teaching awards at Harvard University. His research and lectures on happiness and human potential have received attention in the The New York Times, Boston Globe, The Wall Street Journal, as well as on NPR and CNN radio.

PLEASE INVITE YOUR SPOUSE TO JOIN US FOR THIS SPECIAL PRESENTATION AND DINNER!

Please RSVP to the Medical Staff Office at 619- 740- 4145.

And, because I truly do respect your calendar and realize that some of you will just not be able to make the evening meeting on March 17, Mr. Achor will also share his thoughts at a lunch on March 17 (12:30 p.m. - Auditorium).

Mike Musicant MD
Chief of Staff

There is the need to make the distinction between "verbal orders" and "telephone orders."

Verbal orders are almost never appropriate since the physician is in the hospital and can write/sign the order. In situations where immediate care to the patient is a priority (dire emergencies, codes, etc.), the verbal order can be given but it must be signed after the emergency is over and before the physician leaves the unit.

Telephone orders can be called in from the physician's home or office, but must be signed by the physician or the covering physician within 24 hours.

Telephone Orders and Verbal Orders - The most recent "combined" audit results show that only 40% of the orders were signed/dated/timed appropriately and timely. Future audits will separate the results for verbal orders from the results for telephone orders.

Patient Confidentiality
While it's always a priority to remember the importance of patient confidentiality in hallway conversations, phone calls, etc., it is also imperative to remember that a patient's rights may be violated if patient information is left in the physician lounges, on fax machines, or anyplace where others (who are not involved in the patient's care) can easily see it. Please be sure to discard patient-sensitive information in appropriate receptacles.

This is a physician's responsibility not only at the hospital, but also in the medical office and even in the home office.

MD Compliance with Handwashing

• October 08 compliance 79%
• November 08 compliance 64%
• December 08 compliance 74%

The American Dietetic Association Nutrition Care Manual is available on the Sharp intranet. The manual is research-based and disease-oriented. It is updated on a regular basis, and reviewed and approved by the P&T committee yearly.

For Sharp Specific Nutrition information, there is a Clinical Nutrition site on the intranet. The purpose of the site is to provide Sharp staff a place to share information and resources, and access useful sites. The diets used at Sharp Grossmont including "descriptions and indications for use" are found under Sharp Specific Diets.

There will be no CEO/COS Breakfast on Wednesday, February 25. Michele Tarbet will be out of town for the week. Please mark your calendar for the next CEO/COS Breakfast Wednesday, March 25!

Are you interested in seeing a recently published issue of the E-Bulletin?