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For internal use only. Please do not distribute.
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Key Items to Check Out Below
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Upcoming Dates - Mark Your Calendar! - Tuesday, August 23 > Mutual of America On-Site > Woburn office
- Tuesday, September 20 > Charlestown/de Rham Town Meeting
- Thursday, September 22 > Danvers/Gloucester Town Meeting
- Thursday, September 29 > Worcester/Rose Monahan Town Meeting
- Tuesday, October 4 > Southborough/New Horizons Town Meeting
- Thursday, October 13 > Needham/Tippett Town Meeting
- Tuesday, October 18 > Woburn Town Meeting
- Thursday, October 27 > Quincy/Weymouth Town Meeting
- Thursday, November 10 > Leominster Town Meeting
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IN THIS ISSUE:
SERVICE EXCELLENCE
ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPDATES
CERTIFIED CLINICAL SERVICES
CERTIFIED QUALITY & RISK MANAGEMENT
HUMAN RESOURCES
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
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August 8, 2016
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Volume 5, Issue 32
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Service Excellence Standard of the Week
Service Standard #9: Teamwork
We work collaboratively with a spirit of teamwork, holding each other accountable.
Here are some behaviors that demonstrate standard #9:
- Promote a positive work environment by being courteous and respectful to everyone.
- Support each other, learning from each other's challenges, and celebrating each other's accomplishments.
- Constantly role model a willingness to help each other.
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Submitted by Judy Sojack, Patient Services Manager
I got a call from patient J.A., who will be readmitted to VNA Care tomorrow. Stephanie Kealey was her primary RN previously, and she credits her with healing her foot. She told me "Stephanie was so professional and so warm at the same time - she made me feel that I could get better". So Boston Health Center referred her to a different agency - she declined their services and went back to the health Center to request a VNAB referral. She loves Stephanie!
Submitted by Melissa McCarthy, Transitional Nurse Liaison
I just wanted to let you know how wonderful I think Denise Mandeville is! She is always so helpful when I need something and is pleasant and responds quickly!
We all get caught up in the negative sometimes! I had a second so I thought I'd share something positive!
Submitted by Michelle Donlin, Registered Nurse I wanted to send a note to let you know how fantastic she is. About 1 1/2 years ago I contacted her because there was a man on service who needed so much more than the skilled nursing service. We discussed his case and that case was actually written up in something praising the perfect transition to services he needed. Since then I tend to call on Kerry for advice with numerous patients. She has taught me what to look for and things to think about if a patient may need Palliative verses Hospice. I had the pleasure of meeting her a month or so ago at Michael Lavergnes home. I stayed for the visit so I could watch and listen to how she did what she does. She has helped me give better care to my patients, helped me with how to say something to a family. I have needed her guidance in a pinch and she has always been there for me. The patients of course respect her and gain so much from her but I have learned much more.
Submitted by Dorene Gillis, employee at Atrius Health
I just wanted to let you know how lucky I feel to work with Jacque. She is always helpful and works until complete resolution on everything.
I appreciate everything that she does. I love it when patients and patient families are happy!
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Service Excellence Champion Group
The Service Excellence Champion group meets monthly to discuss ways to further our organization's commitment to exceptional service excellence. Key Initiatives Being Worked On:
- Improving patient experience
- Initiatives to improve patient CAHPS outcomes
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- Town Hall Meetings
- Streamlining communication methods and tools
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- Huddle strategies
- Ongoing Service Excellence training
- Staff professional growth opportunities
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Please contact the Champions listed below if you would like to have an initiative or issue reviewed at the next meeting. Thank you!
- Jennifer Bauman
- Ann Bohac
- Debbie Brown
- Katie Callahan
- Jen Casper
- Simone Charpentier
- Lori DeRosa
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- Wendy Drake
- Jill Enwright
- Kelly Frew
- Dave Hanley
- Brielle MacDonald
- Cindy McHenry
- Cheryl Milas
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- Mary Ann O'Connor
- Adele Pike
- Lorraine Potter
- Dave Rose
- Geri Spina
- Charlvic Williams
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Scenes from the Street
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ANNOUNCEMENTS AND UPDATES
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www.vnacare.org
As many of you may have noticed, we have begun the transition from the legacy websites, www.vnacarenetwork.org, www.bostonvna.org, and www.vnahospicecare.org, to our new website, www.vnacare.org. All of the same functionality and access points are available on the new website. The optimal browser to view the site on is Google Chrome. We are working with IT to ensure this is the primary browser used on your computer/devise.
As a part of this transition, we now have a new, combined HR Portal that combines all of our job listings and employment information in one location. Take a moment and check it out! It can be accessed by going to https://careers.vnacare.org/jobs.aspx or by clicking on the Careers tab on the main website.
Stay tuned for more information and we hope you enjoy the new site!!
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American Heart Walk
The VNA Walking Warriors want to invite you to please Join Our Team Today!
The 2016 Boston Heart Walk
Saturday September 10, 2016
Registration : 9:00am Walk Starts 10:30am
DCR's Hatch Shell on the Charles River Esplanade - Boston, MA
VNA Care is making a difference by participating once again in the American Heart Association's Annual Heart Walk. I need your help to make our team a success. Are you ready to build healthier lives by joining our team?
It only takes 3 easy steps!- Click on the link below to visit the team web page.
- Click the blue "My Team Page" button.
- Click the "Join our Team" button and follow the prompts to register.
Once you've joined the team, we'll need your help to reach our team fundraising goal. Don't worry - fundraising is easier than you think. The American Heart Association provides all the tools you need, including your own personal fundraising page. Plus, I'll be here to support and encourage you along the way. Please don't hesitate to contact me with any Heart Walk questions.
Why Heart Walk? Did you know 1 in 3 Americans have some form of cardiovascular disease and that heart disease kills more women than all forms of cancer combined? We can change these statistics by joining together to walk and fundraise for Heart Walk.
Help grow our team, please feel free to forward this email to anyone you think will want to walk, raise funds and make a difference in our community. All are welcome; it's the more the merrier, when it comes to our Heart Walk team!
Each registered participant is eligible for an Atrius Heart Walk Tee-Shirt. Please contact me no later than August 8, 2016 with size information.
Thank you, in advance, for your participation.
Follow This Link to visit our team web page and help with the efforts to support American Heart Association.
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CERTIFIED CLINICAL SERVICES
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Safety Tips for Field Clinicians
- Be observant and trust your gut feelings regarding your safety in your immediate environment. If you are making visits in an area that has crime activity, make your visits early in the day
- Prepare for new visits by clarifying exact location of apartment and entrance; chart details in record.
- Park as close to the house or apartment door as possible and have your car keys in your hand when returning to your car.
- Do not share personal information with patients and families, including personal phone numbers, home town, address, email.
- Follow the Agency dress code and avoid wearing clothing that will call attention to you in public areas
- Where minimal, simple jewelry and watch
- Do not carry your purse. Carry your wallet in a secure pocket on your person. Carry very little in terms of money and credit cards
- Carry your keys in a pocket on your person
- Keep your car's gas tank at least half full at all times
- Keep your cell phone's battery well charged (get in the habit of charging it over night)
- Wear your seat belt while driving
- Do not text or check email while driving; only make phone calls while driving if you have a hands free device
- Walk in the center of sidewalks away from buildings and parked cars.
- Don't carry your identification and keys in your clinical bag.
- Keep your clinical bag in the trunk or covered in the car.
- If you find yourself in need of help yell, "FIRE" instead of "help."
- If the structural integrity of the home being visited is such that it poses a risk of injury to the clinician, the clinician should not enter the home or should leave the home and call his or her manager for guidance.
- If there is oxygen in the home and patient or someone else in the home is smoking the clinician should leave the home and call his or her manager for guidance. Use the phrase, "Now does not appear to be a good time to visit, I'll leave and call you to reschedule the visit." OR, "I need to go get something out of my car."
- If you feel unsafe in a home situation, LEAVE, and speak to the team manager about the situation. Use the phrase, "Now does not appear to be a good time to visit, I'll leave and call you to reschedule the visit." OR, "I need to go get something out of my car."
- If patients or residents in the home demonstrate inappropriate behavior, including aggressive, threatening or abusive language; threatening behavior, sexually explicit or suggestive touching, behavior or language; behavior that suggests being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, leave immediately and call your manager. Use the phrase, "Now does not appear to be a good time to visit, I'll leave and call you to reschedule the visit." OR, "I need to go get something out of my car."
- If there is activity outside the building or patient's home that makes you uncomfortable, DON'T GO IN! Notify your manager, then call the patient and make arrangements for a visit at a later time. Ask to make a joint visit with your manager to assess the situation. Be sure to communicate concerns with other disciplines.
- When a patient signs the consent to receive service, they agree to provide a safe work environment for VNA Care clinicians, including:
- Securing all pets at the start of the visit until after the clinician has left the home. Securing can mean putting pets in a room where care is not provided and closing the door; putting pets in a secured crate, cage or fenced area; leashing the pet and having a family member keep the pet restrained on a leash away from the area where care is being performed
- Telling clinicians if there are guns and/or weapons in the home and where they are kept and agreeing to have care provided in a room where guns/weapons are not kept
- To treat clinicians with respect and courtesy
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CERTIFIED QUALITY AND RISK MANAGEMENT
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Shingles Vaccine among our Patients 60 years and older
By Susan Stiller, QI Nurse and Infection Control Officer
We now must prepare a report on the percentage of patients 60 and older that have received the Shingles vaccine for CMS. The preliminary report for July 1 to July 15 shows the percentage of patients receiving the vaccine.
This is an early report which shows our patients receiving the shingles vaccine less than the national average. We anticipate that we will be higher than the nation as clinicians are educating patients on the benefits of the vaccine. At present, vaccination is the best way to reduce the risk of developing shingles and the long term pain from post-herpetic neuralgia caused by shingles. As both Encore and McKesson have updated where to document herpes zoster vaccine information, the attachments will provide guidance.
Talking points for patient education are as follows.
- The vaccine is recommended for persons 60 and older regardless of a prior episode of zoster (there is no data to guide the timing although some physicians will say to wait 1 year after a shingles episode before receiving the vaccine). There is no need to ask for a history of prior varicella (chickenpox).
- As our immune systems age when we get older, the vaccine will work best the earlier received as our bodies will mount a better response.
The vaccine is a live vaccine so people with a weakened immune system should not receive the vaccine.
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Functional OASIS Refresher - Part 1: Ambulation
By Kyra Mihalick, PT, DPT, COS-C, Patient Care Manager
In Quarter 2 OASIS Education, SHP outcome data reports detailing individual outcomes were provided to clinicians. In the next 3 weeks, a different publically reported functional outcome will be reviewed to help you bring your data up to the top 20%. Look at your individual SHP data and compare to the most recent data for the top 20%. If you need a copy of your SHP data, please ask your PCM.
Improvement in Ambulation: 72.7%
Improvement in Bed Transfer: 69.1%
Improvement in Bathing: 78.0%
Ambulation:
- Assistance at All Times vs. Intermittent Assistance
- Assistance at All Times: Patient should always have someone there for physical assistance, cueing, or stand by assistance "just in case" for safety. This is response 3.
- Intermittent Assistance: Patient only needs assistance in certain situations. For example: ambulating in a certain room due to obstacles, in the morning first thing for a reminder to use the walker, negotiating a doorway, only "sometimes" etc. This is not assistance at all times, and therefore is a not a 3. The correct response would be 2.
- Impaired vs. Informed Decisions
- Score based on the pt's ability, not performance.
- Impaired Decision Example: Pt has poor safety awareness as a result of dementia and pt therefore needs assistance at all times for reminders to use the rolling walker.
- Informed Decision Example: Pt is cognitively intact and understands the risks associated, but CHOOSES not to use the walker.
- At SOC: It may be difficult to determine if pt is making an informed vs. impaired decision, so score based on the best recommendation for safety at that time.
- At DC: You have a better understanding of the pt's cognition, follow through, safety, etc, so you likely will be able to better distinguish between an informed vs. impaired decision, so you can score based on pt's ability vs. performance more accurately.
- Endurance: Not included in this item and the 50% "usual status" convention does not apply:
- If a patient uses a wheelchair the majority of the day, but is able to ambulate more than the few steps required to transfer, score the patient's ability to ambulate SAFELY.
- Chairfast vs. Bedfast
- Chairfast: Pt can tolerate being out of bed. If the pt can only take a "few" steps safely (such as to transfer), they are not ambulatory.
- Bedfast: Patient is UNABLE to tolerate being out of bed. Per OASIS guidance, if the patient is a hoyer to a chair/recliner/commode or other surface- s/he is not bedfast.
Remember: Unless the question specifies otherwise, the OASIS assessment is based on the time spent in the home and the 24 hours prior. So at SOC you are scoring the patient based on the ability to perform the task(s) PRIOR to any interventions, cues, or recommendations. You may not know the patient's full ability until you get to know the patient and continue with your plan of care, so at SOC you should score based on the best recommendation for safety. Interventions provided at SOC will be captured at the next OASIS assessment.
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Patient Care Managers and QI Support Contacts
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Name
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Phone
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Position
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Covering Office
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Marilyn Bowden
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774-502-7478
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PCM
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Danvers & Gloucester
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Maria Dunn
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508-688-2449
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PCM Program Mgr
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SS02 S-boro
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Elaine Gardner
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617-680-1105
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PCM
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Charlestown
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Kyra Mihalick
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617-913-6823
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PCM
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VNAB Therapy
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Carol Morris
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617-913-3006
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PCM Program Mgr
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Quincy
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Surabhi Saxena
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774-463-7336
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PCM
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Leominster & SS55 S-boro
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Maura Vitello
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774-502-7475
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PCM
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Needham
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Kim Hughes
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617-886-6501,
ext. 5419
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QI Support Coord
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All VNAB
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Chris Schultz
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617-886-6501,
ext. 6527
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QI Support Coord
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All VNACN
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Shamala Rao
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508-756-7176,
ext. 6876
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QI Nurse
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All VNACN
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Patients and Families Honor Staff through Thanks for Caring Society
Congratulations to the following staff who were honored in July through a charitable donation to VNA of Boston, VNA Care Network, or VNA Hospice & Palliative Care:
Jaya Asthana, MSW
Kyle Brown, LPN
Catherine Bukley, RN
Stephen Cannon, PT
Joanna Donato, PT
Susan Drapeau, PT
Nicole Gagnaire, PT
Phyllis Giblin, PT
Larissa Haas, RN
Carolyn Hanke, MSW
Michele "Shelley" Humphrey, OT
Janet Lucey, OT
Maureen Mallett, RN
Delsye West Mason, RN
Maureen McCartney, RN
Anna Murphy, PT
Jean O'Connor, LPN
Sue Parenti, RN
Cheryl Peabody-Nutting, PT
Chaplain Dan Retelle
Chaplain Nancy Small
Kathleen Sullivan, PT
Chaplain Dan Twomey
Mary Veysey, PT
Carolyn Wirth, RN
Offices/Residences
Charlestown Staff
Needham Staff
Rose Monahan Hospice Home Staff
Woburn Staff
If a patient or family member needs more information or assistance making a donation, please ask them to contact Karen Webber, development officer, at 888-663-3688, ext. 1365 or Karen_Webber@vnacare.org or Laura Wise, manager of fund development, at 617-886-6460 or Laura_Wise@vnacare.org.
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The new hire referral bonus program includes employee referrals for RNs, LPNs, PTs, PTAs, OTs, COTAs, and SLPs. If you would like to refer a friend, family member, or colleague, please inform the appropriate Human Resources Representative at your location prior to the applicant coming in for an interview. Please note, when two or more employees refer the same applicant, the referral bonus will be split equally amongst the employees.
Referral bonuses are paid out after the referred employee's three and six month anniversary, as long as they are in a paid status at those intervals. Please contact Cheryl Milas at cheryl_milas@vnacare.org or Debbie Brown at debbie_brown@vnacare.org for more information.
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Job Postings
To learn more about career opportunities, contact a human resources representative:
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Employee Advisory Team Suggestions
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.
Key Initiatives Being Talked About:
- iPad to laptop conversion
- Speech recognition software
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- Strategies to become the Employer of Choice
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- Communication pathways
- Office/department moves
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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
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- Mary Helen Mahoney
- Susan Marlin Procter
- Mary McCarthy
- Ilona O'Connor
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- Mary Ann O'Connor
- Mae Powers
- David Rose
- Danny Yang
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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.
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Worcester Phone Downtime on 8/17
The Avaya phone system in Worcester will experience a brief downtime on Wednesday, August 17 at 8:30pm. There should be less than 30 minutes of downtime.
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One Number for After-Hours Technical Support
To simply the IT support offering and eliminate the need to know who to call in each office, our organization has switched to using a single number with which to contact IT for all your phone support. From now on and from any VNA Care office, you need only call extension 6822 to reach the IT department. From outside our properties, the new off-hours number doubles as the daytime contact for IT support: (508) 751-6822.
By calling these numbers you are virtually assured of reaching an available technician who can then make a determination of the best course of action to solve your problem or meet your request. So remember: Inside, 6822. Outside and after-hours, (508) 751-6822.
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| August 8, 2016 | The Connecter |
Volume 5, Issue 32
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FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA!
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Confidentiality Notice: The Connecter newsletter is an internal communication intended only for employees of VNA Care and Atrius Health. Information contained within this newsletter includes confidential, proprietary, and privileged content. Unauthorized forwarding, printing, copying, distribution, and/or negligent handling is strictly prohibited and could result in disciplinary action.
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