Quality and Safety

SB Safe Launches in June

Stony Brook Medicine's new online patient safety reporting system, SB Safe, will be available on the hospital intranet beginning June 15. Replacing Patient Safety Net, SB Safe is a user-friendly system. It allows employees to quickly identify and enter information, including adverse events, near misses and safety concerns, using convenient drop-down menus.

Another feature to SB Safe include the ability to create comprehensive reports, which can help reduce the overall severity of events. Employees will receive written acknowledgement and can view the progress of the occurrence report once an occurrence is entered into the system.

For questions on using SB Safe, call the Department of Risk Management at (631) 444-2823.

Joint Commission Survey Readiness Tip: New multipurpose carts for distribution of linen are now available on the patient care units. After distributing linen, the carts should be returned to the clean storage/clean utility room. The remaining linen is to be placed back on the covered linen carts. Extra linen required for patients with multiple or frequent changes is to be kept in the patient room, either on the shelves in patient cabinets or a dedicated drawer in the patient bedside table. Prior to placing clean linen on these carts, the carts must be disinfected using germicidal wipes.

Chest Pain Center Earns National Reaccreditation

Stony Brook University Heart Institute recently earned reaccreditation for its Chest Pain Center by taking part in an accreditation survey conducted by the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care. The surveyor, who was very complimentary about the program and Stony Brook University Hospital in general, noted the hospital's "commitment to innovation, education, research and most importantly, improving the lives of your community."

Stony Brook's Chest Pain Center is one of only 10 accredited centers in New York State and was the first on Long Island to receive accreditation in 2005. It is also the only accredited center on Long Island that provides percutaneous coronary interventions (angioplasty).  

Hospitals that receive accreditation from the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care have achieved a higher level of expertise in dealing with patients who arrive with symptoms of a heart attack. Accredited facilities emphasize the use of standardized diagnostic and treatment programs for more efficient and effective patient evaluation, as well as more appropriate and rapid treatment of patients with chest pain and other heart attack symptoms. Accredited centers also help to promote healthier lifestyles in an attempt to reduce patients' risk factors for heart attacks.

Members of the Stony Brook University Heart Institute Chest Pain Center team following their recent reaccreditation from the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care.

Service

'Batter Up' for the Annual Kids Health and Safety Expo

Join Stony Brook Children's Hospital for an evening of family fun and the upcoming Long Island Ducks game on Thursday, June 18.

For the third consecutive year, Stony Brook Children's will host the Kids Health and Safety Expo as the Long Island Ducks play against the Sugar Land Skeeters at Bethpage Ballpark (3 Court House Drive, Central Islip). The gates open at 5:35 pm, and the first pitch is at 6:15 pm.

Stony Brook Children's experts will offer health tips and provide treats for kids of all ages. This family-friendly event includes free first aid kits for the first 1,500 fans, health screenings, interactive exhibits and other hands-on activities, and demonstrations and health information. Throughout the game, fans can watch Stony Brook staff participate in on-field games and contests in between innings.

Show your Stony Brook pride and don't miss out on the excitement. Discounted tickets are available to all Stony Brook University Hospital employees. Send this ticket order form to the Long Island Ducks to reserve your tickets.

Four High School Seniors Inspired by HOPE to Attend Stony Brook

Judith Berhannan (center), Dean of Undergraduate Admissions, with Longwood High School seniors bound for Stony Brook University. From left, Jocelyn Adams, Nusrat Jahan, Dilsa Perez and Rubie Palma.

Sixteen high school seniors from underserved communities on Long Island who completed Stony Brook's Health Occupations Partnership for Excellence (HOPE) Program celebrated their graduation from HOPE on May 12 and are on their way to college. The students are from the Brentwood, Longwood and Wyandanch school districts. Four students will be attending Stony Brook University in the fall.

Under the mentorship of Stony Brook University faculty, the two-year program fosters the academic development of 11th and 12th graders and preps them for future careers in the healthcare industry. Since its inception in 2005, HOPE has helped open new avenues for some 140 promising high school students.

"This is a special day for the young people we are here to congratulate and support," said L. Reuven Pasternak, MD, CEO, Stony Brook University Hospital. "HOPE is much more than an afterschool program. Through our doctors, nurses and many other healthcare professionals, it teaches students life lessons and exposes them to the broad field of healthcare."

In addition to Stony Brook, some of the other colleges these HOPE graduates will attend include SUNY Binghamton, Penn State, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Rochester, Suffolk County Community College, Mercy College and Molloy College.

Trauma Center Promotes Road Safety at Copiague Elementary School

Third graders from Deauville Gardens East Elementary School in Copiague share their safety messages during Global Road Safety Week. Back row from left are Kristi Ladowski, MPH, Trauma Center Injury Prevention and Outreach Coordinator; Steve Bellone, Suffolk County Executive; and Joseph Buccello, Principal.

Stony Brook safety experts Kristi Ladowski, MPH, Trauma Center Injury Prevention and Outreach Coordinator, and Susan Katz, RN, DNP, PNP, Safe Kids Suffolk Coordinator, led third-grade students in a discussion about staying safe on the road. Topics and demonstrations included car, helmet and pedestrian safety. Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone joined in on the effort that day in support of the initiative.

"In the U.S. and around the world, road injuries are the number one killer of kids, but these injuries are preventable," said Ladowski. "We know it's important for drivers to slow down and reduce distractions, and for kids to take proper safety precautions, including always wearing helmets when biking, always buckling up when in the car and being careful when walking on roads."

Following the presentation, students drew safety messages and took "safies" (selfies with their safety messages). They shared their messages using the hashtag #SaveKidsLives to encourage parents, friends and community members to sign the United Nations' Child Declaration and pledge to help keep kids safe.

People

Critically Injured Suffolk County Police Officer Thanks His Stony Brook Medicine 'Angels'

On Sept. 22, 2014, Suffolk County Police Officer Nicholas Guerrero's chances for survival were slim. The victim of a hit-and-run driver, Guerrero, age 36, suffered a serious head injury and spent weeks in a medically induced coma at Stony Brook University Hospital.

But with the help of more than 70 dedicated medical staffers, who he refers to as his "angels," Officer Guerrero is now on his way to a full recovery.

To acknowledge the dozens of people who cared for him during his months in the hospital, Guerrero recently thanked each one of his "angels" with a pin shaped like a police shield, and a green ribbon.

Some members of Officer Nicholas Guerrero's team of medical "angels" proudly share the police shield pins he gave to them as a thank you for the care he received at the Stony Brook University Trauma Center.

Stony Brook Children's Ads Honored with National Awards

For the second time in four years, Stony Brook Children's Hospital has won national Best of Show in the 32nd annual Healthcare Advertising Awards competition, the nation's largest healthcare marketing awards competition.

Stony Brook Children's "Inquisikids" TV campaign took top honors in the category of Television Advertising -- Series. Sponsored by Healthcare Marketing Report magazine, the competition drew more than 3,500 entries from across the United States and multiple foreign countries, making it one of the 10 largest advertising awards competitions in the nation.

The Stony Brook Children's TV campaign received a gold award, and online advertising for the Pediatric Emergency Department received a gold award in the category of Online Display.

Stony Brook Children's was also honored at the 2015 Aster Awards for Medical Marketing. This elite competition is dedicated to recognizing the nation's most talented healthcare marketing professionals for outstanding excellence in advertising.

Stony Brook Children's received two gold Aster Awards for both the ER and OR television ads in the categories of TV/Video Advertising Single and TV/Video Advertising Series. The Aster Award-winning pieces will appear in Marketing Healthcare Today magazine.

Employees Strike It Big at Stony Brook Medicine Bowling Tournament

On May 3, Stony Brook Medicine held its Second Annual Bowling Tournament at Smithtown Lanes. More than 300 faculty and staff participated in the fun event, with 31 teams competing for bragging rights as bowling champions and the huge trophy to display all year long. The event was led by Reuven Pasternak, MD, CEO, Stony Brook University Hospital, and Fred Schiavone, MD, Vice Dean for Graduate Medical Education.

The top eight teams to make it to the playoffs were the Surgical Intensive Care Unit, and the departments of Emergency Medicine, Client Support, Hospital Facilities and Construction, Medicine, Patient Access, Psychiatry and Radiology. Richard Connor from last year's tournament winning team Pharmacy, had the highest score of the night and six strikes in a row.

But at the end of the night, nothing could stop Hospital Facilities and Construction from taking home the tournament trophy. Kevin Lorio, Tony Pinzone, Roy Clarkson, Chuck Eiserman, Jennifer Fiore and Dan Kelley, led by team captain Diane Stuart, became this year's bowling tournament champions.

View photos from the tournament. 

The team from the Department of Hospital Facilities and Construction proudly holds the Stony Brook Medicine Bowling Tournament championship trophy. Front row, Diane Stuart and Jen Fiore. Back row, from left, Chuck Eiserman, Kevin Lorio, Tony Pinzone, Roy Clarkson and Dan Kelly with L. Reuven Pasternak, MD, Hospital CEO, and Fred Schiavone, MD, Vice Dean for Graduate Medical Education.

Growth

Nocturnist Program Expands

The full-time nocturnist program was recently expanded to include the Intermediate Care Unit (known as the ICR service), allowing for a dedicated in-house attending physician from 7 pm to 7 am, seven days a week. Hospitalists Frederick Hunte, MD, and Stanley Sam, MD, are covering this new shift.

Drs. Hunte and Sam conduct nightly rounds with every patient being treated in the ICR service. They reinforce the plan of care with the patients and their family members, provide continuous clinical care through the overnight period and round with the nurses during each shift. The hospitalists also coordinate inter-hospital transfer requests overnight, assist with admissions through the Emergency Department and coordinate the morning assignments for all hospitalist teams.

"This dedicated coverage may result in a decreased length of stay in the ICR and should also improve various patient satisfaction scores," said Eric Niegelberg, Associate Director of Operations for Emergency Services and Internal Medicine. "Physicians will be more visible and readily available to respond to questions from patients and families regarding the plan of care."

Stony Brook and Southampton Move Forward with Affiliation Efforts

This month, team leaders representing Stony Brook University Hospital and Southampton Hospital joined forces to begin integration efforts in key priority areas, including medical staff, quality, regulatory efforts, facilities, purchasing, contracting, information technology, human resources and clinical operations. Key goals and timelines were discussed at this kickoff meeting.

Under the planned affiliation, the 125-bed Southampton facility will join the Stony Brook Medicine healthcare system, as the two hospitals work more closely to improve healthcare quality and access, coordination of care and efficiency for patient care through shared resources and managing the flow of patients between the two facilities. Southampton Hospital will provide care under Stony Brook University Hospital's New York State operating license, an affiliation that combines a financially sound community hospital with a high-quality tertiary academic medical center to improve healthcare delivery and education in the rapidly changing landscape of healthcare reform.

The affiliation will help both hospitals move toward creating a regional healthcare system, with a network of hospitals, community physicians, shared best practices and electronic medical records.

Sustainability

Successful Efforts in Department of Psychiatry Help to Improve
Length of Stay

Reducing inpatient length of stay has been a major area of focus for Stony Brook, and concerted efforts by many throughout the hospital have resulted in substantial gains.

Following the length-of-stay successes achieved with the growth of the Hospitalist Program, leadership and front-line staff within the Department of Psychiatry developed a plan to reduce length of stay on 10 North, the adult inpatient psychiatric unit. Fifteen specific goals were developed and a plan to achieve them was put into action. Both broad targets and narrow metrics were established to keep the team focused on what had to be done, with the overall goals of improving the patient experience, improving population health and reducing healthcare costs. Some of the broader targets of the initiative included:

• Focusing on achieving national average in length of stay through use of evidence-based practices
• Reducing the cost of patient care for both the patient and the hospital
• Improving clinical outcomes by delivering services at the appropriate level of care in the correct location
• Improving unit throughput and serving more individuals who require care

Efforts to achieve the goals included:

• Improving the percentage of patients discharged by 1 pm
• Developing a discharge checklist, which includes required discharge components
• Improving processes for treatments and transfers, as well as their turnaround times
• Carrying out weekend discharges, whenever possible

The work of the 10 North team has paid off: average length of stay decreased by approximately three days from the first quarter of 2013 to the first quarter of 2015. While making these improvements in length of stay, the team encountered a greater number of admissions than in years past, increased the average daily census and exceeded its goal related to the percentage of patients being discharged by 1 pm.

The length of stay initiative will grow to other areas of the hospital, including the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery and the Department of Surgery.

New Suffolk Care Collaborative Website Launches

Suffolk Care Collaborative launched its new website dedicated to providing information and fostering communication on behalf of the more than 500 organizational partners in the Stony Brook-led Performing Provider System (PPS) for Suffolk County. Known as the Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment (DSRIP), this federal program represents a historic opportunity to change how healthcare is delivered in Suffolk County, particularly for Medicaid beneficiaries and patients who are uninsured.

Stony Brook University Hospital is leading one of approximately 25 Performing Provider Systems throughout New York State. The goal is to build a coordinated, population-based system of care throughout Suffolk County and achieve a 25 percent reduction in avoidable hospital use and emergency room visits over a five-year period.

Collaborating partners in the system include Suffolk County Community Health Centers, all Suffolk County hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, certified home health and long-term-care agencies, federally qualified health centers, behavioral health and social service agencies, substance abuse agencies, individual physician practices, pharmacies, community-based organizations and other integral healthcare delivery system partners.

Suffolk County's official DSRIP grant application was submitted on Dec. 16. The application included a community health needs assessment, plus plans for governance, information technology, budgets and workforce needs. The operational phase of the project began in April. To learn more, visit the Suffolk Care Collaborative website.

Financial Results Report

Through March 2015, discharges at Stony Brook University Hospital were 28,038, which were 678 discharges above budget. Average length of stay was .05 of a day higher than the prior year at 5.45 days.

Case mix index was 5.4 percent higher than the prior year at 1.81. Significant increases in case mix index occurred in the surgical DRGs for tracheostomies and transplants, cardiology and infectious diseases, and the medical DRGs for neonates and infectious diseases.

Total Emergency Department visits increased by 4,928 from the prior year to 76,728 year to date. Inpatient surgeries increased by 437 to 6,973, and outpatient decreased by 84 to 10,147. Endoscopy volume was 854 above plan at 10,699.

P/L (profit/loss) was $4 million versus budget of $3.8 million. Revenue was $32 million above plan due to the recognition of $6.5 million of DSRIP (Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment) program revenue as well as disproportionate share hospital (DSH) revenue, and inpatient and outpatient volume being above plan.