Dear Colleagues:
It has been some time since the last Pulsecheck. We all have experienced a ‘tachycardic’ last few months – our successful Joint Commission survey seems long ago and several of us still experience challenges associated with our December 2, 2018 transition to Epic. Expressions of gratitude seem almost inappropriate at this time but they must be offered. High quality, high value, patient centered care remains as the testament to the fortitude, patience and expertise of our medical staff even as everyday challenges have been intensified with the transition to our new electronic health record.
Our patients will greatly benefit from all the hard work each of you and the entire Shore Regional Health team have done for this important change. Thank you to all! This transition has been exceptionally supported by many, but a few need to be called out: Chief Nursing Officer Ruth Ann Jones has led and will continue to lead this transition, and her attention to detail has been critical to our success; Drs. John Botsis and Hazem Elariny, our physician champions, have been instrumental in this change as well. Our team of ‘super-users’ are and will continue to be most appreciated during our Epic ‘epic’!
Our Medical Staff Office has seen change as well. Most welcome additions to our team are Cynthia Yost, who recently joined as regional director, Credentialing, and Michelle Emrick, our new credentialing specialist. Fresh perspectives are always welcome and will help us move our activities forward.
On a bit of a humorous and facetious note, I encourage you to enjoy some light reading – a recent blog post on Kevin MD.com written by an irreverent ED physician. In her entry, “Death by patient satisfaction,” Dr. Rada Jones muses about the “new Holy Grail” of health care. She shares challenging, frustrating but frankly hilarious anecdotes of everyday situations that occur as we all embrace this new reality. The post concludes with a less than positive view of our opportunity to create a positive, patient satisfying experience for those we care for. The reality, of course, is that we must do this – to assist in our patients’ healing, to avoid penalties (and help in creating “margin for our mission”), and to create a positive work environment for each other and all our team members. Here is the link: https://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2019/03/death-by-patient-satisfaction.html
Finally, a special day is traced back to March 30, 1933. This is when Doctor’s Day was first observed in Winder, Georgia by Eudora Brown Almond, the wife of a prominent Georgian doctor, who wanted to create a day just for recognizing and honoring doctors. She decided the best way to do that was to mail greeting cards to all of the doctors she knew of and to place flowers on the graves of deceased physicians. The flowers that she placed on the graves of these doctors were red carnations–a flower which is still used to this day for National Doctor’s Day celebrations.
Why did Eudora Brown Almond choose March 30 as the date for Doctor’s Day? Because that is the day Dr. Crawford W. Long used an ether anesthetic for the first time during surgery in 1842. Doctor’s Day became an actual, nationally-recognized holiday in 1991 when Congress passed Proclamation 6253.
I look forward to your comments and thoughts and hope this finds each of you well and in the best of “ready for spring” spirits. Happy Doctor’s Day!
Sincerely,
William E. Huffner, MD, MBA, FACEP,
FACHE
Chief Medical Officer, Senior Vice President – Medical Affairs
219 S. Washington Street
Easton, Maryland 21601
Phone: 410-822-1000, ext. 5867
Fax: 410-822-2147
Email: whuffner@shorehealth.org