January 2005

Medical Staff Bulletin

Message from the Chief of Staff

Happy New Year to all members of our Medical and Affiliated Staffs. We wish you, above all, good health in 2005. We would like this month to celebrate and recognize the leadership and staff of our General Clinical Research Center (GCRC). Throughout 2004, at the direction of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), a monumental effort took place to develop a "new" GCRC by combining the adult and pediatric units into a single unit. Dr. Robert Sherwin was appointed Program Director; Dr. William Tamborlane, Deputy Program Director; Dr. James Lechman, Associate Director; and Dr. Barbara Gulanski, Assistant Director for Operations. Drs. Rosa Hendler and Thomas Carpenter shared responsibility as Research Subject Advocates. Tahiry Sanchez accepted the position of GCRC Patient Service Manager and Gina D'Agostino that of Research Nurse and Protocol Coordinator.

One might have anticipated that substantial egos and personal agendas might have frustrated the consolidation of two units that existed separately for several decades. Instead, leadership and staff demonstrated remarkable teamwork and the new GCRC has been an unqualified success. Oversight of human subject protection has been greatly enhanced, protocol review and approval have been facilitated and streamlined, and utilization of the GCRC has met target goals for the entire year. Moreover, the Dean's Office and Yale-New Haven Hospital have acted to ensure that the necessary resources for clinical research have remained available, despite contraction of NIH support.

The GCRC is critical to the missions of the Yale School of Medicine and Yale-New Haven Hospital. Translation of basic research to clinical applications requires the controlled setting of a GCRC and capacity to execute intricate protocols. We expect utilization of the new unit will increase dramatically in the next decade and that the NIH, which site-visited the new unit in December 2004, will provide extended funding in recognition of the unit's recent accomplishments.

Union attacks YNHH in TV ads

In mid-January, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) began a divisive, misleading TV ad campaign featuring a few Yale-New Haven Hospital employees complaining that their salaries, health benefits and pensions are inadequate. This ad campaign - which is reportedly costing the union $100,000 per week - is yet another attempt to embarrass the hospital into agreeing to an alternative organizing approach instead of a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)-sanctioned secret ballot election.

The hospital is running newspaper ads so the public will be able to hear the truth, rather than let these distortions go unanswered.

The truth is: Yale-New Haven Hospital pays 90% of the cost of providing full health insurance to its employees, on average. Individuals featured in the ad campaign - along with all other full-time employees with five or more years of service - qualify for health coverage that costs $156 a year for individual coverage and $421 a year for full family coverage. In addition, it is a well known and easily documented fact that Yale-New Haven offers very competitive wages and benefits.

The hospital's position remains consistent: Yale-New Haven respects its employees' rights to consider unionization and to have the opportunity to vote with the privacy and protection afforded by an NLRB-supervised secret ballot election. If after seven years, the SEIU thinks it has the interest and support of a majority of hospital employees, they should call for an NLRB election.

Performance Management Update

Below are Yale-New Haven Hospital's performance numbers for the set of measures we report to Medicare and JCAHO each month. Our goal for 2005 is to exceed the national 90th percentile for every measure, and we are close to that goal. Yale-New Haven Hospital still has significant opportunity, however, to improve the treatment of patients with community-acquired pneumonia. Beginning this month, we will initiate the process of reporting our performance in preventing infections in hip and knee replacements, cardiac surgery, vascular surgery, colonic surgery and gynecological surgery by delivering pre-operative antibiotics within one hour of incision, selecting the correct antibiotic, and discontinuing prophylactic antibiotics within 24 hours after surgery.

Much work has already been done to improve our performance in these evidence-based practices, and both the surgical and pneumonia measures will be a major focus of improvement efforts over the next months. Many thanks to all whose hard work has benefited our patients. If you have questions, please call Dr. Tom Balcezak at (203) 688-1343.

September Performance

Medical Staff donates $25,000 for tsunami relief

At its January 5 meeting, the Yale-New Haven Hospital Medical Board voted unanimously to donate $25,000 from the Medical Staff funds for tsunami relief. AmeriCares and Save the Children will each be provided with $12,500. The donations were made on behalf of all members of the Medical Staff. In addition, several members of the Staff personally volunteered to travel to Asia to work in the relief effort, and the Yale-New Haven Hospital REMEDY Program and Pharmacy contributed surgical supplies and medications for tsunami survivors.

After nearly 34 years of distinguished service, Brian Condon is retiring at the end of January. Since 1971, Brian has worked with nearly every operating department and most of the clinical services in the hospital, in addition to extensive health-related community service including the Connecticut Sports Foundation, Tommy Fund, New England Organ Bank and Connecticut Kidney Foundation.

Concurrent with Brian's retirement, other key appointments have been announced, including several that will lead Yale-New Haven Hospital through the process of building a cancer center. Pat Luddy and Bill Mahoney will join Norman Roth's team to help lead the project. Steve Merz will be promoted to Vice President, Administration, and will oversee environmental services, protective services and the Yale-New Haven Psychiatric Hospital.

ICU leadership group formed

Over the past 3 months, medical and nursing leadership from all of Yale-New Haven Hospital's ICUs have met regularly to improve the coordination, communication and quality of care across the institution's ICUs. This ICU leadership group has set some impressive goals to improve the quality of care at Yale-New Haven Hospital in 2005. The 2005 goals include: a major effort to reduce the risk and incidence of hospital-acquired pressure ulcers in the ICUs; continued refinement of the insulin-drip protocol to tightly control hyperglycemia in the ICUs; a comprehensive analysis of unplanned transfers to the ICU from floor beds; and an effort to develop and disseminate across the institution best practices for the recognition, resuscitation and control of sepsis. These efforts are integrated with many other institutional projects and the ICU leadership group works closely with other groups from nursing and quality improvement.

Refer items for the next issue of Medical Staff Bulletin via phone, fax, e-mail or mail to:
Peter N. Herbert, MD
1063 Clinic Building
P: (203) 688-2604, F: (203) 688-7152
herbertpn@ynhh.org
or
Katie Murphy
Marketing & Communications
GB 443
P: (203) 688-2492, F: (203) 688-2491
Katie.Murphy@ynhh.org

Back issues of the Medical Staff Bulletin:

• December 2004
• November 2004
• October 2004
• September 2004
• July 2004
• June 2004
• May 2004
• April 2004
• March 2004
• February 2004
• January 2004
• January/February 2003
• October/November 2002
• August/September 2002
• April/May 2002
• February/March 2002
• January 2002
• November 2001
• July/August 2001

Return to medical professionals page

Last revised: February 16, 2005 (mv)

Home page URL: http://www.ynhh.org

All information is intended for your general knowledge and is not a substitute for medical advice or treatment for specific medical conditions. You should seek prompt medical care for any specific health issues and consult your physician before starting a new fitness regimen.