August 15, 2022
In This Issue...
  • Welcome New Staff!
  • Case Note Subject and Template Reminder
  • iTransplant Update 
  • Troponin Level Correction
  • Pediatric Grief Resources 
  • August Organ Operations Meeting 
  • Kidney Blood Mailers 
  • Contacting the Winnebago Coroner  
  • Lavender Top Blood Tubes Out of Stock  
  • Ingalls EMR Access 
  • Fond Farewell
Welcome New Staff!
Melina Montesino and Alison Aldrich joined our team last week! Melina worked in critical care at Mercy Health System in Rockford and as a travel nurse in Lake Forest. Alison Aldrich worked in critical care at St Mary Medical Center in Galesburg and as a travel nurse in the satellite region.   

James Ott and Hubert Sowizral (pictured below) joined our team today as our newest Surgical Recovery Coordinators. James and Hubert come from the Tissue Department where they were Tissue Coordinators. 

Kathy Vongonh started as an Allocation Coordinator today. Kathy comes from the DRC where she was a donor resource coordinator. 

Please wish them a warm welcome when you see them out in the field! 
Case Note Subject and Template Reminder 
It’s important when documenting in iTransplant to use the appropriate case note subject and template. This helps keep key information related to a specific subject easily accessible by filtering the case notes in iTx.
iTransplant Update
There will be a short 15 -minute iTransplant downtime on Wednesday, August 17 at 17:30 to implement the most recent iTransplant update.
 
There are three changes to be aware of that will impact Organ Recovery:

  • The Schedule widget will be fixed to default back to the first schedule type
  • Transfusion Records has been added as a group in iTx attachments
  • New process for tracking referrals that were transferred after being referred by another hospital
  • Only used if referral was called in at original hospital
  • Document the following in the Preliminary Tissue Screening Information section
  • Check off box for is there another organization involved to activate fields
  • Organization – Previous Hospital Name
  • Role -- Referral
  • Date-Time – Leave Blank
  • MRN – Original Referral #
Troponin Level Correction
When Allocation uploads the iTx chart into DonorNet, it automatically documents the troponin value in units ng/ml. However, most of our hospitals now result troponins as pg/ml. Because 1 ng/ml = 1000 pg/mL, our centers are seeing a falsely elevated result.  Pay close attention to the unit value when documenting troponin results, and divide by 1000 as appropriate.
Pediatric Grief Resources
Donor Family Services is phasing out providing journals as a pediatric grief resource. Instead, they are replacing them with handouts that were developed through an amazing collaboration between Meg Pairitz and Andrea Byron. These handouts provide much more robust resources and help guide families to our website for even more resources.   
The physical handouts are available in the Supply Inventory closet in the Itasca office and in the Springfield office as well. They can also be found in the DFS category in Connect 2.0. 
The phase out should be complete in September. Please let Renata Krzyston know if you have any questions 
  
August Organ Operations Meeting 
Just a friendly reminder we have our August Organ Operations meeting tomorrow 8/16/2022 via Teams at 3pm.
Kidney Blood Mailers
There was a recent case without any kidney blood tube mailers sent back to the office at the beginning of the case. This can cause delays with allocation when cross matches are required. Please remember to draw two sets of kidney blood mailers if kidneys are being allocated for transplant. 
 Contacting the Winnebago County Coroner  
Please remember to contact Jen Muraski at the Winnebago Coroner's office prior to any approach. The medical examiner tab in iTransplant and the hospital PDF have been updated with specific instructions. Please reach out to Tony Cusinato with any issues or concerns.  
Lavender Top Blood Tubes Out of Stock
We are currently out of the lavender top blood tubes due to the vacutainer shortage. Please utilize the hospital supply until further notice. If you have a large supply of the lavender top blood tubes, please bring some back to the office for others to utilize.  
Ingalls EMR Access
Access to Ingalls can now be established through a current UChicago account. To gain access, a user just must update his/her password; usernames will not change. Here are the instructions: 
  
  
Call the help desk at 773-702-3456 with any issues. 
Fond Farewell
We are sad to announce that Anna Majka has resigned from her position as an Organ Recovery Coordinator. Anna has impacted hundreds of lives during her time at Gift of Hope. Her last day is August 20, we wish her the best.  
Acknowledgment
Organ Operations staff, please acknowledge that you have read this week's issue of Organ Ops Weekly Update.
What's up and what's ahead
Here is a roundup of Gift of Hope news and events to be aware of and related actions you may need to take. Click on the links or visit Connect 2.0 to learn more about each topic:
Passionate People. Outstanding Teams. Compassionate Service.