Recognition for hard workand determination

Christiana and Wilmington hospitalsreceive Environmental Excellence Awards

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Reducing medical wasteand training staff

Pioneering environmentalresponsibility

Reaching higher

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Researchers from Christiana Centerfor Outcomes Research (CCOR)

collaborated with colleagues at Emoryand Johns Hopkins Universities in astudy that found that the glucose chal-lenge test (GCT), commonly used toscreen for diabetes in pregnantwomen, may be an accurate, conven-ient and inexpensive way to screen thegeneral population for undiagnoseddiabetes and prediabetes.

Christiana Care collaborates in study of new usefor glucose challenge diabetes screening

Senior social worker Danielle Brownearns prestigious Patient Service Award

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■ Implemented MD5605,an order set for initiatingwarfarin therapy, whichwas the topic of a FocusApril 23 article. Withthis order set, a pre-scriber can order abaseline INR, documentthe goal INR, initiate afollow-up INR monitoringschedule, and select amethod of dosing war-farin. The order set alsoprovides informationabout the most common-ly encountered druginteractions with warfarinin the acute care setting.

■ Implemented revised UFHprotocols (MD5613), the topicof a Focus May 23 article, toguide physicians and nurseson dosing and monitoringheparin. It includes bothstandard and lowered doseprotocols for use with patientswho are not being treated fora stroke.

■ Folded the Christiana Careanticoagulation reversalguidelines into one compre-hensive document thataddresses UFH, LMWHs andwarfarin.

Anticoagulation Monitoring Program

■ Monitor a patient access list(PAL) each day to determinepatients who are ordered anti-coagulation. For thesepatients, the pharmacistsmonitor each order for appro-priateness looking at dosages,drug interactions, lab valuesand patient characteristics

such as body weight andrenal function.

■ Under the direction of thePharmacy and Therapeuticscommittee, order a baselineINR before dispensing war-farin, if one is unavailable.

■ Monitor daily INR levels andalert prescribing physicians toany potential interactionsbetween warfarin and othermedications patients arereceiving.

■ Provide counseling sessions toinpatients receiving warfarin,including, but not limited toinformation about how to takewarfarin, what to do in theevent of a missed dose, theimportance of monitoringtheir INR, and potential drug-drug interactions.

■ Offer patients an information-al video on warfarin andprovide them with education-al materials and handouts.

And Christiana Care nurses startbleeding precautions and otherappropriate interventions as partof the patient’s plan of care.

Therapeutic NotesNational Patient Safety Goal 3E (NPSG 3E)

Live surgery Webcasts put a global spotlight on Christiana Care surgeons

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In June, the State Senate confirmedHolly Wright, MSN, FNP,

Department of Family Medicine, asthe inaugural representative of theDelaware Nursing Association on thenew Adult Correction HealthcareReview Committee.

Created by the Delaware GeneralAssembly, the seven-member commit-tee will advise the Commissioner ofthe Department of Corrections oninmate healt care.

Although the committee will meetquarterly, Wright expects ongoingcommunication among committeemembers as they review healthcareservices, inmate deaths and autopsies,healthcare contracts, and all inmatehealth care statistics.

Wright has a long history of caringfor underserved populations—11years in alcohol and drugrehabilitation at the New OrleansVA Hospital, six years at theHenrietta Johnson Medical Center inWilmington.

Now, as part of her work with theDepartment of Family Medicine’sgeriatric practice in the WilmingtonSenior Center, Wright spends oneday a week at Howard HighSchool’s Wellness Center and oneday at the Ferris School for BoysWellness Center.

“I enjoy working in challenging situ-ations where I’m teaching andempowering people—helping themtake better care of themselves andtheir families,” says Wright. “My life is

Holly Wright to represent Delaware Nurses Associationon Adult Correction Healthcare Review Committee

so blessed. I feel I’ve been called towork with families in our communitywho have less. I am richly rewardedby my associations with them.”

2010 Cardiovascular Disease FellowshipProgram announces 2010 match results

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Asix-week, free public lectureseries jointly sponsored by

Christiana Care and the DelawareAcademy of Medicine finished onMay 27 with excellent ratings fromparticipants.

Open to adults and high schoolstudents, the program is designedto educate the public aboutadvances in clinical medicine andscientific research being conductednationally.

Positive feedback“Feedback from the communityhas been extremely gratifying,”said Academy President BarryKayne, D.D.S.

The Wednesday evening classes atArsht Hall on the WilmingtonCampus of the University of

Delaware offered topics and inter-active discussion in pulmonarymedicine, renal medicine, infec-tious disease, diabetes and metabo-lism, and cardiology, as well as alook at the future of medical edu-cation.

Nearly 100 people attended eachweekly session, with more than 40people attending all six sessions.Christiana Care pulmonologist andAcademy programs chair AlbertRizzo, M.D., led the sessions.

Also participating were a pharma-ceutical research and developmentconsultant, faculty members fromthe Academy and Christiana CareMedical staff—nephrologist ArunMalhotra, M.D., endocrinologistJames Lenhard, M.D., and

cardiologist Mitchell Saltzberg,M.D., as well as faculty from theUniversities of Pennsylvania andDelaware and PulmonaryAssociates, PA.

The series returns to New CastleCounty in Spring 2010. And in thefall of 2009, Christiana Care andthe Delaware Academy ofMedicine hope to offer anothermini medical school simultaneouslyin Lewes and Dover, as organizerscontinue to seek financial under-writing.

If you are interested in supportingthis program, or know a potentialunderwriting source, please emailTracy Miller attmiller@delamed.org, or Tim Gibbsat tgibbs@delamed.org.

First ‘MiniMed School’ draws more than 100 participants

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G E N E R A L N E W S

Annual Resident Research Grand Rounds

Did you know?

■ Medicare analyzes outcomes for hospitals nationwide andpublishes the results on its Hospital Compare Web site. Onemetric Medicare uses to gauge hospital quality and safety is the30-day mortality rate after a patient leaves a hospital.

■ The latest Medicare data on mortality rates for patients with heartfailure and pneumonia places Christiana Care among the top fivepercent in the nation.

■ Christiana Care joins 213 out of 4,700 U.S. hospitals withheart-failure mortality rates better than the national rate and 253hospitals with pneumonia rates better than the national average.

Check these and more results at http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov.

Christiana Care Residents join free at the Delaware Academy of Medicine

Since 1930, the Delaware Academyof Medicine has served the

professional and lay communitiesthrough educational programs, libraryservices, database and e-resourceaccess, maintenance of the history ofmedicine and dentistry in Delaware,student financial aid, and many otherprograms.

As we enter into our 80th yearof operation, we acknowledge thatbudgets already stretched to the limitwill not support most of you joiningthe Delaware Academy of Medicine.So we have created a new class ofmembership in the Academy at nocost to you—Resident Membership

Membership in the Academy is asvaluable as you decide it will be.Consider these advantages:

■ In conjunction with the access youreceive from Christiana Care, youhave additional access to electronicresources via our DelMIRAprogram. You have a brochure onthis program in your materials andwill be receiving an e-mail with

your username and password.Robb Mackes is the personresponsible for this program and hecan be reached at 733-3989 or at hise-mail, rmackes@delamed.org.

■ We are located on the lower level ofthe John H. Ammon MedicalEducation Center and have aconference room that seats up to 12people comfortably. There iswireless and wired Internet accessin the room, as well as availabilityof an LCD projector. You haveaccess to this space on a first-come,first-served basis. Just call Liz Lenzat 733-3952 to reserve space, ore-mail Liz at elenz@delamed.org.

■ The Academy is committed tounderstanding and acting upon theneeds of the professionalcommunity. One of the ways weaccomplish this task is through theperiodic formation of specialinterest groups (SIGs) that maymeet only once, or have an ongoingexistence. If you have a topic orneed to be addressed, contact TimGibbs at 733-3919 ortgibbs@delamed.org and we’ll dowhat we can to convene a group.

■ Throughout the year the Academydirectly provides and underwriteseducational conferences andsymposia. Attendance at theseevents is discounted (in most cases)for members of the Academy.

Please consider, as a part of yourresidency, developing involvement inthe professional organizations thathave served those who came beforeyou and support you as you beginyour career.

Join the Wilmington BlueRocks for Family Health CareNight on Saturday, July 18, at6:05 p.m.

The Blue Rocks play theFrederick (Md.) Keys.

Christiana Care employeesreceive a special discountrate of $7 per ticket.

July 18 is also SNLCharacters Night andDelaware Lottery CapGiveaway Night at the BlueRocks game.

The first 1,000 adults receivea cap courtesy of theDelaware Lottery. Inaddition, Frawley Stadiumoffers tribute to SNL's mostpopular characters like theConeheads, church lady,Wayne Campbell and manyothers.

Order your tickets by faxingback the Family HealthcareNight order form found onthe portals under externalaf-fairsnews/FamilyHealthcareNight.pdf.

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Family centered activities support togetherness and fitness

Both parents and kids need regularexercise to get fit—so why not

build a healthy family by getting inshape together?

Grownups require at least 20 minutesof aerobic exercise a day to stayhealthy and reduce stress. And youcan turn exercise time into a mini fam-ily outing by including your kids.

So why not get the kids away fromtheir video games and into familyfitness?

Take a walkWalking is a great way to start. Allyou need to get started is a hat withvisor, sunglasses and sunscreen.

Your jaunt can be as simple as a strollaround the neighborhood with the

baby strapped in a stroller.You can hike in the city,carrying snacks and juiceboxes in a backpack so youcan enjoy a picnic in apark. Or put on bugrepellent, lace up sturdyshoes and head for thewoods with a pair ofbinoculars and a natureguide so you can spot birds

along the trail.

Walking together can add fun to rou-tine tasks, such as walking the dog. Oryou can exercise for a good cause bysigning up for a walk-athon.

Ride a bikeLearning to ride a bike is a rite of pas-sage. If your kids are already ridingand you haven’t pedaled for a while,don’t worry. It will come back toyou—like riding a bike.

Wear helmets and stay off busy roads.If you’re cycling more than a fewblocks from home, carry a repair kit soyou can fix flat tires and chains thatjump off track.

Roll awayRoller blading is another exercise thatbenefits parents and kids. You willlikely have fewer spills if you skate inareas designated for roller blading—but bike and walking paths work too.You do need a helmet, knee pads,

elbow pads and wrist guards to pre-vent injuries in a fall.

Dance the blahs awayTry square dancing or folk dancing,both mild forms of exercise. And theyhelp to develop coordination as wellas social skills.

Build a snowmanDon’t give up your exercise routinesin the winter. Unless it’s icy, you canstill take walks together as long as youbundle up and wear a hat. And youcan add cross country skiing, snowshoeing and ice skating to your list ofactivities.

Find creative ways to make fitnesspart of your family routine. Theimportant part is to get started. Soon,exercise will become a healthy habitthe entire family can enjoy.

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Diagnosis is key to early asthma intervention

Get kids involved

Consider low-cost get-aways

Plenty of time left for summer fun, rest and relaxation

Check out day camps

car pool parking spaces to employ-ees who register with Public Safetyand Rideshare Delaware, whichguarantees a ride home to regis-tered employees who are unableto ride home with their carpool. And employees can purchaseDART bus passes with pre-taxdollars.

In supporting our use of alterna-

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Car pooling and riding the bussave money and reduce pollu-

tion.

To ease the parking crunch on ourcampuses and to lessen the impacton the environment—as well as tosave you money—Christiana Careencourages employees to car pooland use public transportation. Christiana Care provides preferred

Learn commuting options to save the environment, time and cash when RideShare and DART First State visit

tive transportation, Christiana Carehas scheduled the staff ofRideshare Delaware and DARTFirst State to visit us and provideinformation about transportationoptions and answer questions.

Please attend one of the followingsessions to learn more about howyou can save money while helpingsave the planet:

■ July 20 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. inthe Christiana Hospital cafeteria.

■ July 22 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.in the Wilmington Hospitalcafeteria.

Literature & Medicine: Humanities at theHeart of Health Care program still open

The special Acute Care for theElderly (ACE) unit at Christiana

Hospital celebrates its fifth anniver-sary July 26.

The ACE unit’s mission is to reducemedical complications and readmit-tance to the hospital and improveclinical outcomes in elderly patientsusing an interdisciplinary approachto patient care.

ACE unit patients benefit from ahealth care team consisting of a med-ical director, a geriatric nurse special-ist, geriatric pharmacist, dietitian,physical therapist, social worker andcase manager.

Acute Care for the Elderly unit celebrates fifth anniversary