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Welcome to the employee newsletter of Brattleboro Memorial Hospital!
Sent monthly, working@bmh features employee news and announcements.
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National Healthcare Quality Week
by Kat McGraw, MD, Chief Medical Officer & Chief Medical Information Officer
This week we are excited to celebrate National Healthcare Quality Week. I hope as many BMH employees as possible will attend the hospital's 1st Annual Quality Showcase on Thursday, 10/20.
The Showcase will be held in the Brew Barry Conference Rooms between 11:00 am and 1:00 pm. A short presentation of awards will start at noon!
We look forward to highlighting some of the impressive work accomplished by your peers in the name of quality and performance improvement!
These projects will have positive, far-reaching impacts in areas such as patient safety, quality of care, patient experience, and employee satisfaction!
While there, also enjoy:
- Festive snacks and drinks from our amazing cafeteria!
- Raffle prizes to some great local spots!
The entire week is about celebrating high-quality healthcare--and that is not possible without each and every one of you. While the projects and efforts on display at the Showcase are not all-inclusive, they do demonstrate our collective commitment to constantly improving the quality of healthcare delivered to our community.
Thank you all for your dedication and commitment to continuous improvement at BMH!
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NEW FACES @ BMH - September 2022 |
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CMS Continual Survey/Next Patient Readiness 101
by Travis Kumph, Director, Quality and Patient Safety
Please do your part to ensure BMH is always next patient/survey ready!
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Keep an eye out for expired products--try and make a habit of checking supply closets monthly to identify and properly dispose of any expired or outdated supplies or medications.
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Report any environmental issues to your supervisor or to Plant Services--examples include wet/broken ceiling tiles, leaks, rips/tears in furniture, broken furniture, missing fire extinguishers, chipping paint, etc.
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Know your department's policies and procedures and where to find them--CMS surveyors will ask staff if they know where policies and procedures are located and will validate that those policies and procedures are actually being followed.
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Service Animals in the Hospital Setting:
What's OK and What's Not
by Konstantin von Krusenstiern, Director of Patient Experience
It’s not unusual to see BMH patients and visitors accompanied by service animals. But it’s important for staff to know that a number of specific rules and regulations govern the use of service animals in public places—including hospitals.
For instance, there are very specific questions that staff can ask, and some you should never ask, when engaging people who bring animals onto campus. And did you know that there are even some circumstances that dogs are allowed off leash? Or, that service animals do not require certification?
Service animals must be allowed on campus provided the dog and its handler meet certain requirements. One of those requirements is that the dog be individually trained to do work or perform specific tasks for people with disabilities.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) provides very specific guidance on service animals and how hospital staff can interact with individuals who bring them into public spaces.
Click here for answers to some of the most Frequently Asked Questions that come up around service animals in public spaces.
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National Pharmacy Week: October 16-22
This week we celebrate and acknowledge the invaluable contributions pharmacists and technicians make to patient care in hospitals, outpatient clinics, and other healthcare settings. We are very fortunate to have some of the best pharmacists and technicians here at BMH!
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National Physical Therapy Month
The goal of National Physical Therapy Month is to raise awareness of the key role that physical therapists and physical therapy assistants can play in helping people find relief from pain, improve mobility and overall functional ability, and live healthier, more physically able lives.
How well do you know the BMH Physical Therapy Department? Can you give the correct answers to the questions below? Submit your answers to ecasey@bmhvt.org. The person with the most correct answers will win a prize!
1) How many physical therapists work at BMH?
A) 6 B) 5 C) 8 D) 7
2) How many physical therapy assistants work at BMH?
A) 2 B) none C) 3 D) 4
3) How many referrals from BMH providers did PT receive in 2021?
A) 2124 B) 1070 C) 3007 D) 985
4) How many collective years of service at BMH does the PT clinical staff have?
A) 98 B) 207 C) 117 D) 53
5) How many new patients did our PTs evaluate in 2021?
A) 999 B) 1064 C) 2032 D) 1131
6) How many patient visits have the PT staff seen from January to August of this year?
A) 5785 B) 6756 C) 6321 D) 5984
7) When did the BMH Rehab Department move off site?
A) 2020 B) 2021 C) 2022 D) Never, they are still on campus
8) Name the patient service representatives who work the Rehab front desk:
________________________________________________
9) The Rehab department has this many private treatment rooms:
A) 4 B) 5 C) 6 D) 7
10) In the Covid surge in January, several PT staff were re-deployed to do this:
A) Do Covid testing B) Give Covid vaccines C) A and B D) none of the above
BONUS question: Name the four (4) PT staff who were redeployed in January:
________________________________________________________________________
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Recent Practice Moves Completed Successfully! |
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Sterile Processing & Operating Rooms - Ronald Read Pavilion,
Ground floor and 1st floor
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Four Seasons OB/GYN & Midwifery - Ronald Read Pavilion, 2nd floor |
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Cardiology & Podiatry - Ronald Read Pavilion, 3rd floor |
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Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehab - Ronald Read Pavilion, Ground Floor |
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Brattleboro Family Medicine - Gannett Building |
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BMH Laboratory Re-Accredited
The Accreditation Committee of the College of American Pathologists (CAP) has awarded accreditation to the Laboratory at Brattleboro Memorial Hospital (BMH) based on results of a recent on-site inspection as part of the CAP’s Accreditation Programs.
The laboratory at BMH is one of more than 8,000 CAP-accredited facilities worldwide. The U.S. federal government recognizes the CAP Laboratory Accreditation Program, which was started in the early 1960s, as being equal-to or more stringent than the government’s own inspection program.
“CAP accreditation is a testament to the high standards of excellence we strive for in our laboratory; and this achievement is evidence that BMH provides the highest laboratory quality and accuracy for the best patient care,” said Douglas Kim, MD, medical director of the BMH Laboratory. “Our staff truly understands the significance of the work they perform, and I am extremely proud of each one of them.”
The CAP accreditation process is designed to ensure the highest standard of care for all laboratory patients. Inspectors examine the laboratory’s records and quality control of procedures for the preceding two years. CAP inspectors also examine laboratory staff qualifications, equipment, facilities, safety program and record, and overall management.
President and CEO, Chris Dougherty, said, “We are so proud of the wonderful job done by Dr. Kim, by our Laboratory Director Imogene Drakes, PhD, FACHE, and by the entire BMH lab staff to ensure our hospital continues to offer our patients outstanding service. This great team has worked tirelessly, especially through the added stress of the pandemic, to ensure that every aspect of our lab meets the highest qualifications and provides the very best care to our community.”
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Parking Lot Re-striped
by Rob Prohaska, Director of Plant Services
The striping pattern of the parking lot has been modified slightly to give patients and visitors better access to the Richards Building and hospital entrances.
The employee spaces are closer to Belmont Ave. to add spaces closer to the hospital for patients and visitors, especially into the hospital main entrance since many patients will access the Ronald Read Pavilion through this entrance. See the updated map below. Employees please only park in the yellow marked spaces.
As a reminder, plenty of additional parking is available behind Brattleboro House of Pizza. You are always welcome to park there anytime. This is also a good option if you arrive later in the morning/day when employee spots are not as available. The House of Pizza lot is only a 5-minute walk and a great way to get a little exercise before and after your shift!
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BMH Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine |
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Open House and Dedication of Conference
On Wednesday, October 5, BMH Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine celebrated their new space with an open house and dedication of the Pollio Conference Room.
The Pollio Family made a very generous donation to BMH to cover the Orthopaedic conference room expenses as an expression of gratitude for the great care they have received by the team.
The conference room plaque reads:
Conference room gratefully gifted by The Pollio Family
in recognition of BMH’s amazing orthopaedic team
Thank you to all who came by to see the new space and enjoyed the cookies and lemonade!
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Thomas Thompson Trust
Born in 1797, Thomas Thompson was an eccentric philanthropist and patron of the arts. He inherited his considerable wealth from his family of successful merchants.
Thompson's wife Elizabeth of Lyndon, VT, emerged as a truly outstanding personality in Vermont history. After her husband’s death, she traveled the world funding an eclectic collection of programs ranging from research on yellow fever to the expansion of the western United States.
Despite Elizabeth's globetrotting adventures, Mr. Thompson’s estate left explicit instructions to provide a perpetual charitable trust to solely support the working women of Brattleboro, VT, and Rhinebeck, NY. Any surplus funds were to be applied “to kindred charitable purposes."
BMH has been the fortunate beneficiary of such charitable purposes since 1904 when Thompson Trustee Richard M. Bradley used $100,000 to purchase The Hemlocks—the site where Brattleboro Memorial Hospital stands today.
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REMINDERS AND UPCOMING EVENTS |
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