Please contact the Champions listed below if you would like to have an initiative or issue reviewed at the next meeting. Thank you!

By Karen Chirsky, VP of Transitional Care and Business Development

 

I'm thrilled to announce that Christine Gill, RN has accepted the position of Resident Service Director at New Horizons in Marlborough.

 

Chris has exceptional experience in the health care field that will make her a valued asset for the VNA Care Advantage team at New Horizons. Her previous roles include staff nurse positions in emergency department at UMass Memorial, Marlboro Hospital; ICU staff nurse at UMass Memorial, Clinton Hospital; Wayside Youth and Family Support Network; and clinical manager at BAYADA Home Health Care. Her most recent position was that of a Patient Care Manager within our certified division.

 

Beginning this week, all patients will receive the new "Home Health Patient Handbook" instead of the old admission folders/packets. During June, PCMs will attend clinical meetings and discuss the handbook in more detail.

 

Please note the enhancements associated with using the new "Home Health Patient Handbooks":

If you have any questions, please contact the PCM in your office for more information (see below for PCM list).

 

We have recently developed a kit that offers protection against bed bugs. As of this week, the kit will now be available in all the offices. The kit is in a plastic bag, labeled bed bug kit. The supplies include a gown, shoe covers, blood pressure liner, plastic zip lock bag for supplies or portable device removed from the home and a large plastic sheet that can be used as a seat cover.

 

Also available will be Kleen Green in small spray bottles not stored in the kit. Kleen Green is a natural bug repellant that is mixed with water in preparation and can be sprayed on legs and arms prior to entering home or when you leave if did not know bed bugs were going to be present in the home. Kleen Green is prepared by mixing 1 ounce Kleen Green concentrate with 7 ounces of water and put into small spray bottles. This was done in the Worcester office (thank you Worcester team, it was no small feat!)

 

 

As best practice and according to CMS expectations, all patients with a diagnosis of heart failure should receive education related to symptom management. This includes rehab only cases and education should be clearly documented on admission, first evaluation, reassessments, throughout the plan of care, and reviewed at discharge. Here are a few examples of education you can provide related to heart failure as a rehab clinician.

Remember to score M1500/M1510 accurately at transfer and discharge.

• Mr. Hart is a 65 yo male who was referred to the VNA s/p R TKA due to OA. PMHx includes OA, migraines, GERD, L TKA 2013, asthma, and well managed heart failure.
• Pain: R Knee 4 /10 at rest, 6 /10 with ambulation, aggravated to 8 /10 with stretching. Pain interferes with the ability to sleep throughout the night. Manages pain with medications, ice and rest.
• Dyspnea: 1 /4
• Height: 5'10", Weight: 200 pounds and stable
• Skin integrity: R knee incision C/D/I with sutures measuring 18cm in length, no signs of infection, RLE swelling, ecchymosis R knee distally to R foot.
• Throughout the evaluation, patient reported he was more short of breath than usual and thinks it is likely due to the hospitalization and surgery resulting in deconditioning. He is anxious to get started on a home exercise program to strengthen his knee, improve his ROM, and improve endurance to baseline. Education was provided related to proper breathing with activity, pacing, and energy conservation.

• This question asks if a patient with heart failure exhibited any symptoms that could be related to heart failure, even if there are co-morbidities that could also produce the symptom. In the above example, Mr. Hart could have had dyspnea as a result of deconditioning and/or heart failure and/or asthma. Therefore, M1500 should be answered "yes," because the symptom could be related to heart failure.
• "No" means the patient has heart failure, but throughout the entire episode of care, displayed no symptoms that could be related to heart failure. Remember, even though Mr. Hart reportedly has "well managed" heart failure, dyspnea of 1 /4 is a symptom that could be related to heart failure.
• "NA" is chosen when the patient does not have a diagnosis of heart failure.

• Education was provided to Mr. Hart on dyspnea management and conditioning.

 

Many clinicians are back on laptop and need to transfer in order to get up to date patient information. This involves changing your mindset from always live to remembering to perform transfers. Please remember to:

If you are still trying to get used to the laptop after using an iPad you may need to find a way to remember to transfer in the beginning but soon it will become routine. As an additional note you may feel that if you transfer in the evening you do not need to transfer again in the morning. However we have many clinicians all transferring at different times and the scheduling department also makes changes in the evening. The only way to make sure that you have accurate information is to transfer again in the morning. If you have any questions or problems please call the Clinical Applications Help line at 617-886-6730.

 

On Tuesday, June 28, 2016 Encore will be upgraded via a "Codeload." This upgrade is for Home Health Care Value Based Purchasing Reporting purposes, and there are a few clinical and billing changes that will be explained in the next Connecter.

Please read these instructions carefully. Further instructions will be distributed next week.

See directions below. This file will sit dormant on your laptop until activated on all laptops simultaneously on Tuesday June 28 at approximately 6am. You will be able to work on your laptop but not on the server, and you are not to communicate the laptop until you are notified that work on the server is complete.

• We strongly encourage you to do this one time communication in the office but it may be done at home on the VPN.
• Ensure that your wireless is on.
• Select Revision Update (Click on it)
• Select Direct Connect. F8. The communication will be done within 5 minutes.
• The 3rd communication option should be gone, but please do another laptop communication.
• Then, use your laptop normally

• Administrative, Secretarial, and Clerical
• Clinical Management
• Home Health Aide
• Hospice
• Information Services and Technical
• Nursing
• Professional and Non-Clinical Management
• Rehabilitation

To learn more about career opportunities listed in the links above, contact Debbie Brown, Human Resources Manager at debbie_brown@vnacare.org.

• Any Office
• Charlestown
• Danvers
• Gloucester
• Leominster
• New Horizons
• Needham
• Southborough
• Weymouth
• Woburn
• Worcester
• de Rham Hospice Home
• Monahan Hospice Home
• Tippett Hospice Home
• Children's Garden

To learn more about career opportunities, contact a human resources representative:

• Cheryl Milas at cheryl_milas@vnacare.org or 888-663-3688, ext. 6951
• Bev Riley at beverly_riley@vnacare.org or 888-663-3688, ext. 4717
• Ann Bohac at ann_bohac@vnacare.org or 888-663-3688, ext. 6964

 

To suggest an area of focus to the Employee Advisory Team (EAT), please email your suggestion to EATSuggestionbox@vnacare.org. Suggestions can include ideas to improve current processes and procedures, remove redundancies, or even to provide feedback on something you think is/is not working.

 

Please feel free to discuss any issues that you would like brought to EAT with the following members of the committee:

Liz Bourne Ray Brackett Kim Dio Kelly Frew

Mary Helen Mahoney Susan Marlin Procter Mary McCarthy Ilona O'Connor

Mary Ann O'Connor Mae Powers David Rose Danny Yang

EAT is also on the lookout for new members. If you're interested in participating, or for more information on what EAT is all about, please reach out to any of the members listed above. Meetings are held monthly in the Charlestown office.