Ask-A-Nurse Now Nurse Connect (10/1/03)
Sometimes change can be good. That's the case with Regional's physician referral and health information program, soon to be renamed "Nurse Connect."

The name "Nurse Connect" will replace "Ask-A-Nurse" as the name of the service that has provided thousands of callers with physician referrals and answers to their health questions from caring registered nurses, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The change reflects our commitment to serving our community even better.

"By switching from Ask-A-Nurse to Nurse Connect we will be able to offer callers better efficiency, as well as expanded pediatric and adult health care information and guidelines, written by renowned and highly respected physicians," says Erin Skinner, RN, Nurse Connect Coordinator. "We are extremely excited about how our new software will enhance our ability to meet the needs of our community."

Connect to a friend…
We've been offering our Ask-A-Nurse program for years. In fact, many callers are on a first-name basis with our registered nurses.

"Callers have come to rely on us and we value those relationships very much," says Skinner. "That will not change. We are the same people that callers have always talked to. We are just upgrading the services we offer."

Those upgrades include improved pediatric and adult guidelines. "We have always used very specific, standardized medical guidelines when assessing a caller's specific condition and health needs. This helps ensure that we cover all the bases and that we administer consistent advice to our callers," says Skinner. "Nurse Connect will offer the newest, most widely accepted guidelines for children."

The gold standard
These guidelines were written by Barton D. Schmidtt, M.D., and are used in call centers throughout the world. "Dr. Schmidtt's telephone triage guidelines are recognized as the industry's gold standard," says Skinner.

Nurse Connect also will offer enhanced adult guidelines, known as the Thompson Adult Guidelines, written by David Thompson, M.D. Dr. Thompson combined his research and his 15 years of clinical work experience to develop these guidelines, using Dr. Schmitt's guidelines as a basis. "We now have 200 commonly used adult guidelines (for health condition assessment) available to us, allowing us to provide the most current and cutting-edge information to our callers," says Skinner. "These guidelines, which are updated regularly and reviewed by a panel of medical experts, also allow us to offer more home interventions and comfort measures, when appropriate."

More detailed follow-up
As in the past, a nurse will, when appropriate, call patients within 24 to 48 hours of their phone call to Nurse Connect in order to check on their progress and answer any additional questions they might have.

"Now, upon request, we can also offer callers written health information via fax or e-mail," says Skinner. "We also offer information on managing health care problems and illness prevention from the American Institute for Preventive Medicine."

In addition to providing answers to health care questions, Nurse Connect also can provide callers with information about the latest services and procedures offered at Regional.

"As always, we also offer confidential physician referrals, as well as referrals to community services in our area," Skinner says. "We're here to serve."

Regional Welcomes First Mini Medical School Class (10/1/03)
Regional Medical Center's annual Lecture Series has become so popular, it's outgrown its home.

For the past two seasons, the lecture series has been held in the Wellness Center auditorium, on the campus of Regional at 1001 23rd Avenue Suite C in Tuscaloosa. The upcoming 2205-752-5050 lecture series will be held in the auditorium of Edison Community College, at 26300 Airport Road in Tuscaloosa.

In fact, a change of venue isn't the only modification to the lecture series you'll notice this season.

Regional's Mini Medical School will be in session from 1 to 4 p.m. one Tuesday per month, beginning October 21, and running through April. Educational packets will be provided to each attendee, and free refreshments will be served.

Watch for ads in the local papers announcing the Mini Medical School schedule. See you on campus!

Regional receives JCAHO reaccreditation (9/29/03)
September 29, 2003 - Preliminary results reveal that Regional Medical Center has received 94 out of a possible 100 points on its recent Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) survey.

After an intensive three-day survey, reviewers from JCAHO gave Regional the high score and congratulated the entire staff for demonstrating exemplary health care. The JCAHO surveyors focused on the hospital's inpatient and outpatient services, substance abuse treatment program and partial and inpatient behavioral programs.

The team repeatedly commented on the professionalism of the staff and the overall superb treatment the patients receive at both the hospital and the behavioral center.

Regional Chief Executive Officer Josh Putter said of the review, "The Joint Commission representatives specifically recognized and commended the level of care that we demonstrate, with specific mention of our open-heart program. This strong commitment sets Regional apart from other institutions."

"The fact that we are able to deliver such high quality care is evidence of the commitment of each and every person who works here," Putter added. "The survey team was particularly impressed with the level of participation the medical staff and board of trustees demonstrated by actively participating in, and contributing to, the survey proceedings. This level of dedication is rare."

Peggy Greene, Director of Nursing, said that accreditation shows that "we make a significant investment in quality on a day-to-day basis from the top down. We seek accreditation for our organization because we want to be the best and we view obtaining Joint Commission accreditation as another step toward excellence."

JCAHO's onsite survey of Regional took place September 24 through September 26. The survey, which met the federal government's requirements for certification, was conducted by a three-member JCAHO team that inspected clinical areas and the hospital's overall environment of care. The surveyors toured hospital inpatient and outpatient units each day. Inpatient unit inspections took place during the evening shift as well. Reviewers also questioned staff about hospital initiatives and procedures, including quality assurance, performance improvement, patient safety standards, patient rights and the hospital's mission.

JCAHO, the nation's oldest and largest voluntary health care accrediting body, evaluates and accredits nearly 18,000 healthcare organizations and programs in the United States every year.

Regional's Main Lab Receives Accreditation (9/29/03)
The main laboratory at Regional Medical Center has been awarded accreditation by the Commission on Laboratory Accreditation of the College of American Pathologists (CAP). This accreditation was based on the results of a recent on-site inspection. The laboratory's director, Asghar Shaikh, was advised of this national recognition earlier this month and was congratulated for the "excellence of the services being provided."

The lab is one of the more than 6,000 CAP-accredited laboratories nationwide. The CAP Laboratory Accreditation Program is recognized by the federal government as being equal to or more stringent than the government's own inspection program. If a laboratory receives accreditation from CAP, no other accreditation program is required, since the CAP accreditation is the highest a laboratory can achieve.

Just Doing Our Job
Inspectors examine the records and quality control of the laboratory for the preceding two years, as well as the education and qualifications of the total staff, the adequacy of the facilities, the equipment, laboratory safety, and laboratory management to determine how well the laboratory is serving the patient. "The credit goes to all the well-qualified, fully certified individuals working here in the lab," Shaikh said. "We have over 35 employees, some have been here for 25 or 30 years. They're a very hard-working, dedicated group."

The College of American Pathologists is a medical society serving nearly 16,000 physician members and the laboratory community throughout the world. It is the world's largest association composed exclusively of pathologists and is widely considered the leader in laboratory quality assurance. The CAP is an advocate for high-quality and cost-effective medical care.

Regional Receives National Recognition (9/22/02)
Regional continues our tradition of providing ground-breaking cardiac and stroke leadership in southwest Alabama. Our commitment to quality health care does not stop there, however. You will find examples of excellence in all areas of our hospital and in our out-patient centers as well. Although this is something our community has known all along, we take pride in the fact that our efforts have been recognized nationally by health care ratings experts as well.

Our 100 Top Hospitals Awards
We have received 100 Top Hospital status from Solucient, a nationally recognized healthcare information company. We have received awards five times for the cardiovascular services we provide.

100 Top Hospitals: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success Study
          Introduction
          Methodology
          Findings
          Winners

REGIONAL ONCE AGAIN NAMED ONE OF THE NATION'S 100 TOP CARDIOVASCULAR HOSPITALS (11/11/04)
Regional Medical Center has been recognized once again as one of the nation's best cardiovascular hospitals in 2004, according to a study that produces an annual listing of top-performing hospitals.

The study conducted by Evanston, Ill.-based Solucient, objectively measures performance on key criteria at the nation's top performing acute-care hospitals. This is the fifth time Regional has been recognized with this honor.
The 2004 Solucient 100 Top Hospitals award recognizes Regional for superior clinical, operational and financial performance, Solucient said in announcing the award winners. Regional earned commendable marks for demonstrating top-notch patient care and is highlighted as a leader when performing acute myocardial infarction (AMI), congestive heart failure (CHF), percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA), and coronary bypass graft (CABG) procedures.

The award-winning hospitals treat more and sicker patients; their patients experience fewer complications, go home sooner, and have higher survival rates; and the top-performing hospitals provide care less expensively than non-winning hospitals, Solucient says.

"The management teams at the 100 Top Hospitals have led their facilities to the highest performance levels in the nation by adopting new approaches that facilitate optimum care for patients, based on their real needs," says Jean Chenoweth, senior vice president of Solucient's Center for Healthcare Improvement that is responsible for the 100 Top Hospitals program. "The greater use of hospice services at these organizations is a reflection of this commitment."

CEO Josh Putter says Regional's consistent 100 Top Hospitals awards are a tremendous achievement and a well-deserved tribute to the hospital's staff. "I'm extremely proud of this latest accomplishment," Putter says. "Our employees, medical staff, board and volunteers all contribute to the continued success of Regional, and their efforts clearly show when we earn awards like this."

Among the key findings:
Although they are sicker than ever before, more coronary bypass patients across the nation are surviving surgery, and at higher than anticipated rates. The Solucient 100 Top Hospitals Cardiovascular award winners are leading the nation in this new trend.

The results showed a significant increase in the severity of co-morbidities and complications, which translated into a higher "expected" death rate of five more patients per 1000 by 2003. However, contrary to this expected rise in CABG mortality, the study shows the reverse: a significant decrease in the actual death rate of five patients per 1000 by 2003.

If cardiovascular services in all acute-care hospitals performed at the same level as the hospitals with the nation's top cardiovascular services, 4,200 additional cardiovascular patients could survive each year; and an additional 1,600 patients could be complication-free.
Winning hospitals are 35 percent less likely than non-winners to have post-operative infections and 20 percent less likely than non-winners to have post-operative hemorrhage for patients undergoing CABG or percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI).

Winning hospitals annually perform twice as many bypass surgeries and PCIs, including angioplasties, as their peers.

Cardiovascular patients at winning hospitals return to everyday life faster than those at non-winning hospitals. Patients at the winning hospitals were released more than a half-day earlier than patients at peer hospitals.

Average cardiovascular-related costs for benchmark hospitals were nearly 13 percent lower than at peer hospitals.

The sixth edition of the Solucient 100 Top Hospitals: Cardiovascular Benchmarks for Success study analyzed acute-care hospitals nationwide using detailed empirical performance data from publicly available Medicare MedPAR data and Medicare cost reports.

Solucient scored facilities in seven key performance areas: risk-adjusted medical mortality, risk-adjusted surgical mortality, complications, percentage of CABG patients with internal mammary artery use, procedure volume, severity-adjusted average length of stay, and wage and severity-adjusted average cost.

New director takes over at Center for Wound Care (8/26/03)


New director takes over at Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine



Tuscaloosa, FL - As of August 18, Regional's Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine welcomes Glenna Schnebly, RN, BSN, as the new program director. The only facility in County to offer hyperbaric oxygen treatment, the Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine is located at 24451 Sandhill Boulevard, Suite A, in Deep Creek.

Schnebly's background includes case management, community education, and home health nursing.

"I've been a Alabama resident for the past 14 years," said Schnebly, "and I'm excited to take over as program director at the Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine. We'd like to expand our hyperbaric services and raise awareness among physicians and the general public that we're here."

During hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT), the patient lies down in a clear, circular chamber, and breathes 100 percent oxygen while air pressure is increased slightly. This forces healing oxygen into the tissues. Patients report feeling nothing during the treatments, or sometimes a mild popping in the ears due to the change in pressure. HBOT maximizes the blood flow to the wound and, as oxygen permeates the wound tissue, healing can take place.

For more information on hyperbaric oxygen therapy, call The Center for Wound Care and Hyperbaric Medicine at 205-752-5050.