SLH ranks in U.S. News & World Report list of Best Hospitals

Saint Luke's Hospital moves up in state rankings

Saint Luke's Hospital was recognized on U.S. News & World Report's annual Best Hospitals rankings for 2013 - 2014, released yesterday. The rankings, now in their 24th year, recognize hospitals that excel in treating the most challenging patients.

Saint Luke's Hospital of Kansas City ranks No. 2 in Missouri (up from No. 6 in 2012), No. 2 in the Kansas City metro area, and is recognized among the Best Hospitals in northwestern Missouri. The hospital also ranks as high-performing in eight specialty areas:

• Cardiology & Heart Surgery
• Gastroenterology & GI Surgery
• Geriatrics
• Gynecology
• Nephrology
• Neurology & Neurosurgery
• Pulmonology
• Urology

Recently Saint Luke's Health System achieved a ninth place ranking nationally (out of 156 health systems) in patients' perspectives in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey of patients' hospital experiences in health systems with five or more hospitals.

U.S. News evaluates hospitals in 16 adult specialties. In most specialties, it ranks the nation's top 50 hospitals and recognizes other high-performing hospitals that provide care at nearly the level of their nationally ranked peers.

U.S. News publishes Best Hospitals to help guide patients who need a high level of care because they face particularly difficult surgery, a challenging condition, or added risk because of other health problems or age. Objective measures - such as patient survival and safety data, the adequacy of nurse staffing levels, and other data - largely determined the rankings in most specialties.

The specialty rankings and data were produced for U.S. News by RTI International, a leading research organization based in Research Triangle Park, N.C. Using the same data, U.S. News produced the state and metro rankings.

The rankings have been published at http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals and will appear in print in the U.S. News Best Hospitals 2014 guidebook, available in bookstores and on newsstands Aug. 27.

Help SLHS be recognized among KC's Best Places to Work

For the past several years, SLHS has been recognized as one of the "best places to work" in Kansas City, according to the Kansas City Business Journal.

SLHS is a proud nominee for the honor again this year. But we need your participation in the annual survey to ensure we are eligible to be recognized once again among Kansas City's best employers.

Please complete the survey at the link below by midnight on Friday, July 26. You'll be asked a short series of questions regarding SLHS's team effectiveness, people practices, and your opinions about working at SLHS.

An independent firm, Quantum Workplace Inc., is conducting the survey and tabulating results. Quantum does not release your individual responses to Saint Luke's or anyone else. Your honesty is critical and appreciated.

The survey will take less than 10 minutes to complete. If possible, try to finish in one session. To access the online survey, click on this link: Best Places to Work.

Saint Luke's Neuroscience Institute 2013 Symposium

Sept. 20, 2013

Kansas City Public Library - Plaza Branch

Register now for the Saint Luke's Neuroscience Institute 2013 Symposium, Sept. 20, at the Kansas City Public Library - Plaza Branch. This conference will focus on new approaches for the diagnosis and treatment of common and "not so common" neurological disorders.

The conference is intended for primary care physicians, family physicians, neurosurgeons, neurologists, neurointensivists, psychiatrists, nurses, case managers, social workers, and other health care professionals. This educational event is a joint sponsorship of the University of Missouri - Kansas City School of Medicine and Saint Luke's Hospital of Kansas City.

For more information and to register, click here.

Epic credentialed trainer position available

Next year SLHS will be launching the largest training initiative in its history to implement our new electronic medical record, Epic. In order to successfully train all necessary employees in the allotted time, Saint Luke's has created a temporary position to assist, develop, and deliver the training program.

This 19-week temporary full-time position is designed for those with clinical backgrounds to be temporarily assigned to the SLHS training team. As a credentialed trainer (CT) you will learn how to train others while collaborating with the training manager, instructional designers, project leaders, and application teams. At the end of this temporary assignment, you will return to the role you had prior to the temporary transfer and can serve as a super user for your department after the go-live launch.

To apply for the position of credentialed trainer, please email EpicSLHS@saint-lukes.org by August 4 with the following information: Name, department, job title, and the best contact number to be reached between 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. from August 5 - 9. You may be contacted for a phone interview and will learn more about the position.

Hospice House open for tours

Mark your calendar for a special employee/volunteer open house at the new Saint Luke's Hospice House on Friday, July 19, from 2 - 5 p.m.

Located at 3516 Summit St. in Kansas City, Mo., the beautiful new $10 million facility includes 12 individual patient suites, a full-service kitchen, a family dining room, guest showers, indoor and outdoor chapels, community education room, children's space, pharmacy, and family living rooms.

Employee/volunteer open house

Friday, July 19

2 - 5 p.m.

Public open house

Saturday, July 20

9 a.m. - noon

Parking

Penn Valley Community College, free shuttle provided.

(Turn onto 33rd Street from Southwest Trafficway or Broadway, then park in surface LOT B).

Click here to view map.

Watch for more information about Saint Luke's Hospice House in Making Rounds.

SLHS launches Emergency Alert System (EAS)

SLHS has initiated a voluntary service to allow staff to sign up to receive timely, accurate, and useful information in the event of an emergency situation at our hospitals/campuses, on health system property, or in local areas that poses a risk to health and safety.

This service (TextCaster) uses text messaging and email alerts to broadcast pertinent information and, when appropriate, provide directions to those in the affected area(s).

Signing up is easy:

Click here to go to the registration webpage (you can also find a link on the Employee eLink under Announcements).

Enter your name, ZIP code, email address, and cell phone information. Select your campus or geographic location to receive notifications. A five-digit authorization code will be sent to the mobile phone/email address entered for verification.

Note: This service is FCC CAN-SPAM compliant, and users may update message preferences or unsubscribe at any time. Users should check their wireless provider for any message and data rates that may apply. Any messages sent will be from security@saint-lukes.org.

Sign up today! When an actual emergency occurs, it's too late.