Last Week in Review, Workplace Safety: Thoughts from the Field

Beth Mena, IV Program Manager

My small team had our huddle today on Workplace Safety. We had some good discussion on workplace safety centered on our safety and that of others related to driving and talking on the phone. I think this is a huge issue that many of us have difficulty with for a variety of reasons. I pointed out important items from our agency policy on cell phone use(which I had hard copied and sent to staff a couple of weeks ago) and we were able to in part, convince ourselves that answering a call on our cell can always be deferred for a few minutes, regardless of how important that call could be. If we were waiting for a call that we expected to come in soon, we could likely wait for the call back before driving. When we get calls while driving we can pull over to take the call only when it is safe to do so or we can stop at the next convenient and safe location to check the call and return the call if needed. (We all thought pulling over on the high way is dangerous).

The "safety" standard discussion also morphed into a conversation about our practice safety and the need to document very clearly in the MR about patient safety: what we observed, what we taught, our action plan interventions, etc. We discussed how important it is to let other clinicians know when there are potential safety risks in the homes of our patients. Of great importance, the area Clinical Manager should be made aware of situations and circumstances that cause us concern and worry about our safety and or that of our patients.

So then, in this stimulating 20 minute huddle we morphed even further (my fault) to discuss a malpractice suit case study highlighted in the most recent NSO newsletter I happened to have read the day before. I forwarded the link (https://www.nso.com/pdfs/db/x-10704-514.pdf?fileName=x-10704-514.pdf&folder=pdfs/db&isLiveStr=Y) of the case study to my staff and have deemed it required reading, saying: This case could have easily been a TPN or 5FU RX case, and it emphasizes the necessity of required assessment and teaching that we need to give our patients. It also emphasizes the need for us and our staff to know our policies and to know about the particular meds that we are infusing. TPN can be a vesicant depending on the mix and the amount of med that extravasates into the tissue, 5FU is an irritant but can cause prolonged soreness, interruption of use to a port, delay of RX, etc.

Behavioral Health Program Update

By Molly Lukason, Behavioral Health Manager

We are pleased to announce that referrals for the Behavioral Health Program have begun! We have received so many calls asking great questions about the specifics of the program. Currently, we are focusing on referrals in the Boston area but this will soon expand. Making a referral to the Behavioral Health Program is quite easy. A verbal order to the patient's MD for an initial behavioral health evaluation is needed, along with an interim order ("110") followed by an internal referral (using the BH code and macro).

Once we receive the referral, a member of the Behavioral Health team will contact the primary clinician to schedule a joint visit with the patient (with the patient's permission, of course). During this joint visit, the primary clinician will complete their visit and then leave the patient's home, allowing the behavioral health clinician and patient to talk more about the Behavioral Health Program and to answer some additional questions. The results will assist the behavioral health team, along with the primary clinician's input, to make sure this program will be of benefit to the patient.

Currently, the program focuses on patients with a diagnosis of anxiety, depression, and early stage dementia and with Medicare as the primary insurance.  We all know that a patient's mental health greatly impacts their ability to get well and move forward. So, we are offering the following challenge to all teams:  the team that makes the most referrals to the behavioral health program by April 30, 2015 will be treated to a massive and delicious breakfast from the Behavioral Health Team. Let's make sure we are letting our patients know that we care about all aspects of their health. We are proud to be offering such a unique program.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns regarding the Behavioral Health Program or referrals, please do not hesitate to contact Molly Lukason at mlukason@vnacarenetwork.org or call Molly at (774)502-5545.

Updated Schedule for VNAB Supply Order Classes

• Tuesday March 10, at 8:00AM in Quincy
• Thursday March 12, at 2:30PM  in Charlestown
• Sunday March 22 at 5:00PM in Charlestown

As you know from previous Connecter articles, the VNAB will be making changes in how we order patient supplies. VNAB clinicians will be able to order supplies for all patients, regardless of insurance plan, using the Byram Medical Supply Phone Order System. This process will be similar in many ways to using the VNAB Supply Line, except that you will be speaking live with a customer service representative.

The training sessions will be conducted by Stacie Craig, our Byram Account Manager and will take approximately 30-40 minutes. Please see your manager with any questions.

Infectious Disease Conference

See below for an invitation to the Infectious Disease Conference to be held on Tuesday, March 31, 2015. While this free event is not offering CEU credits, it promises to be a great presentation on infectious disease preparedness. Please see the bios of the confirmed speakers to date.

• Colin Basler, DVM, MPH, who is an Epidemic Intelligence Service Officer with the CDC. Dr. Basler was a part of the CDC's response team for Ebola and can speak to both national and international infectious disease response.
• Alfred DeMaria, Jr., M.D., who you may know as our State Epidemiologist. In addition, Dr. DeMaria serves as the President of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and will be speaking to the work done by that organization, as well.
• Alexander Isakov, MD, MPH, who serves as the Director, Section of Prehospital and Disaster Medicine and Executive Director, Office of Critical Event Preparedness and Response at Emory University.