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MGHHOTLINEA PUBLICATION FOR EMPLOYEES AND STAFF OF THE MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL0

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Sixty-nine SwimmerS – alongside former Olympic athletes – gleefully jumped into the Boston Harbor on June 11 to raise money for pediatric cancer programs and research as part of the 21st annual Swim Across America (SAA) event. The 22-mile relay swim was part of a three-day event that raised more than $350,000 for the MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) Cancer Center and pediatric cancer programs at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

This marked MGHfC’s second year partnering with SAA, a nonprofit organization that raises money and awareness for cancer research, prevention and treatment through community-driven, open-water and pool swims in cities across the country.

The event began at MGHfC on July 10 with a special visit from Olympic swimmers Craig Beardsley, Kristy Kowal, Janel Jorgensen McArdle, Alex Meyer, Heather Petri and Eric Wunderlich (see page 4). Pediatric patients were excited to don the Olympians’ medals and receive autographed swim caps.

“We were thrilled to partner with Swim Across America for the second year,” says Howard Weinstein, MD, chief of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at the MGHfC. “How can you beat a visit by seven Olympian swimmers and a grant to support one of our cancer research projects?”

The Olympians led the first dip into the Boston Harbor for advanced swimmers at Rowes Wharf. On July 12, they led another 137 swimmers into the waters of Nantasket Beach for easier half-mile and one-mile swims. This year also introduced a rowing relay, in which members of the Craic and Bare Cove CrossFit facilities continuously rowed on a rowing machine for 24 hours at the Red Parrot in Hull. n

No. 1 in New England, No. 2 in the nationU.S. newS and world report again has ranked the MGH among the top hospitals in the nation on the 2014-2015 “Best Hospitals” list. Of the nearly 5,000 hospitals evaluated, the MGH has consistently placed on the Honor Roll of the top hospitals since the survey began in 1990. This year, the MGH is ranked No. 1 in New England and No. 2 in the United States. For the first time, the Mayo Clinic claimed the No. 1 Honor Roll spot, edging out the MGH by one point. Johns Hopkins, which in 2012 lost a 21-year first-place reign to the MGH, was No. 3, Cleveland Clinic was No. 4, and UCLA Medical Center was No. 5.

In 10 specialties, the MGH ranked among the top five in the nation – including Diabetes and Endocrinology; Ear, Nose and Throat; Gastroenterology; Geriatrics; Gynecology; Neurology and Neurosurgery; Ophthalmology; Orthopedics; Psychiatry; and Pulmonology. The MGH also ranked in the top 10 in Cancer, Cardiology and Heart Surgery, Nephrology, Rehabilitation and Rheumatology.

The “Best Hospitals” list ranks 144 medical centers nationwide in 16 adult specialties. U.S. News reviews data including death rates, patient safety and hospital reputation, and the Honor Roll features the 17 that score near the top in at least six specialties. A full list of the MGH specialties and their rankings appears below.

Pediatric specialties are ranked separately from adult specialties, and in June the MassGeneral Hospital for Children (MGHfC) was highly ranked in five specialties – Diabetes and Endocrinology, Pulmonary, Gastroenterology, Neurology and Neurosurgery, and Neonatology – as part of the report’s “Best Children’s Hospitals for 2014-15.”

A detailed list of rankings is available at www.usnews.com/besthospitals.

The MGH’s ranking in all 16 specialty areas:

Cancer 7

Cardiology and Heart Surgery 6

Diabetes and Endocrinology 3

Ear, Nose and Throat (with MEEI) 4

Gastroenterology and GI Surgery 3

Geriatrics 5

Gynecology 5

Nephrology 7

Neurology and Neurosurgery 4

Ophthalmology (with MEEI) 4

Orthopedics 5

Psychiatry 1

Pulmonology 4

Rehabilitation (with Spaulding) 6

Rheumatolgy 7

Urology 12

Positive plunge

FEEt First: Charity swimmers jump into the Boston Harbor.

Serving communities with the click of a linkimportant health care information and valuable resources are just a click away for thousands of local seniors and low-income residents, thanks to the MGH Access to Resources for Community Health (ARCH) Program. For the last 14 years, ARCH has partnered with community organizations on eight projects to provide high-quality health information and resources to residents who do not have easy access to a home computer.

The newest ARCH partner is the John F. Kennedy Family Service Center in Charlestown, which offers early childhood education, a community resource center, adult education and job-readiness programs, as well as services for senior citizens. Through funding from the National Library of Medicine (NLM), the Kennedy Center recently received nine new computers and three iPads from ARCH. A project goal is to provide more health education and activities to the center’s culturally and linguistically diverse clients through the ARCH website.

“The site has user-friendly links to highly-respected and reliable health information websites, so users do not have to sort through scores of online pages,” said Elizabeth Schneider, ARCH principle investigator and director of the Treadwell Library. “The Chinese-speaking seniors were thrilled to learn they could read about health topics in their native language by accessing the link to the NLM website.”

MGH Community Health Associates (CHA), MGH Treadwell Library, Chelsea Health Department and the MGH health care centers jointly established ARCH to serve Charlestown, Chelsea, Everett and Revere. As a division of MGH Center for Community Health Improvement, CHA works closely with the health care centers to strengthen primary care service delivery to patients and communities.

“With its well-vetted website, ARCH is serving the communities that need consumer health information and resources the most,” said Schneider.

For more information about ARCH, visit www.arch-mgh.org. n

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HElping Hand: Ming Sun, health educator for MGH Community Health Associates, left, shows vistors how to navigate the website.

The future is nowtelehealth iS no longer jUSt for the jetSonS. This summer the MGH TeleHealth Program, which provides patients options for virtual access to clinicians, is widening its net with the launch of virtual video visits in Primary Care and the MGH Cancer Center.

“We are eager to explore these tools and understand our patients’ experiences and preferences,” says Ben Crocker MD, medical director of the Ambulatory Practice of the Future. “We are confident that virtual video visits will be an important piece of delivering the best care to patients no matter where they are located.”

A replacement for an in-person office visit, video visits have increased across the MGH and across the nation. Since the launch at the MGH in spring of 2013, more than 50 clinicians across five divisions have conducted more than 1,000 virtual video visits with patients.

“Our patients are banking and shopping online, and soon they will expect to receive health care online too,” says Sarah Sossong, MGH TeleHealth director. “Patients like the option of avoiding the hassle and added cost of physically going to their doctor’s office. We are still learning; but early feedback from programs across MGH shows improved patient satisfaction, increased treatment compliance, and reduced hospitalizations and emergency room visits.”

COnVEniEnt COnnECtiOns: Janet Wozniak, MD, a physician in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, conducts a virtual visit.

Lung in a box"it'S revolUtionary," says Jose Garcia, MD, surgical director of the Cardiothoracic Transplantation and Artificial Heart and Lung Program. “It is just that simple. This could potentially expand the number of people who receive lung transplants by 50 percent each year.”

The MGH has become the first hospital in New England to successfully perform what’s being called a “lung-in-a-box” transplant. In this procedure, the

donor lungs are transported inside a portable organ-preservation device known as an Organ Care System, instead of being transported to the hospital in a cooler. While inside the “box,” the donor lungs are hooked up to a machine that perfuses the lungs with warm, oxygenated, nutrient-enriched blood. The transplant was part of a clinical trial with the Massachusetts-based device manufacturer TransMedics.

“Once lungs are disconnected from their blood supply, the tissue immediately starts to deteriorate and continues to do so until the organ becomes unusable – generally at about six hours,” explains Todd Astor, MD, medical director of the Lung and Heart-Lung Transplant Program. “As a result, an estimated 80 percent of donor lungs globally cannot be used for transplantation because it would take too long to retrieve the organs and bring them back. With this device the lungs can go generally 12 hours before transplantation because they are being infused with blood and essentially breathing the whole time.”

Adds Garcia, “By doubling the time we have to retrieve the lungs and get them ready for transplant, we are giving ourselves a much bigger radius in which we can travel to retrieve the organs. That means we have the potential to drastically increase the number of usable organs. Hopefully, it will lead to a drastic increase in the amount of lives we can save.”

The MGH also took part in the TransMedics clinical trial for their “heart-in-a-box” technology in which patient Amy DeStefano became the first person in New England to receive her heart transplant in 2011.

MGHHOTLINE

garCia, lEFt and astOr

A sunset celebration when night fallS during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, Iftar – the communal breaking of the daily fast – is celebrated. For the past 13 years, the MGH community has joined Muslim patients and staff members to share in what has become an MGH tradition. This year, more than 200 guests joined the July 15 ceremony in the Their conference room and quietly observed as Muslim attendees prayed at sunset.

 After prayers, all enjoyed traditional Middle Eastern food provided by Nutrition and Food Services. The event was sponsored by MGH Human Resources and supported by the Chaplaincy Department and Patient Care Services.

 “It is an honor to work for the MGH where diversity of the patients and staff members is respected and celebrated,” said Firdosh Pathan, RPh, of the MGH Pharmacy. “I am proud, MGH strong and deeply thankful to everyone who helps make this event a success.” traditiOn:

Iftar observed at the MGH.

Partners eCare now livethe mgh/mgpo iS the Second partnerS Site to begin using the new Epic revenue cycle system. The MGH community – in conjunction with teams from Partners eCare, Accenture and Epic – rallied to complete its transition to Epic on schedule, going live on July 12. The new system is now supporting day-to-day activities for administrative processes including patient scheduling, registration, coding and billing.

“We are very pleased with how well the system is working, and the feedback from staff has been positive,” says Sally Mason Boemer, senior vice president of MGH Finance. “This has been a major undertaking, and we appreciate the commitment and hard work of our dedicated staff to successfully make the Partners eCare revenue cycle a reality for patients.”

The new system was well-received by staff on Wang 2. Debra Sybertz, manager of the MGH Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department, has gone through two system conversions during her 18 years at the MGH and says this transition has been the smoothest yet. “Everyone in our department has been very receptive to this change, and I think having that attitude has helped a lot with the implementation of Epic,” Sybertz says. “Personally as a manager, the system allows me to access patient and doctor information more efficiently.”

Approximately 500 super users – staff with additional Epic training in using the new system – continue to be available to offer in-person support, answer questions and assist users within their departments. A dedicated PHS Help Desk (x6-6868) is available to assist in resolving Partners eCare-related issues.

For more information, go to https://partnersecare.partners.org and sign up for email alerts to receive important updates. n

MgH YawkEY COMMand CEntEr

Nursing leaders learning together “Shared nUrSing experienceS and challengeS are UniverSal,” says Adele Keely, RN, nursing director for the MGH Phillips 21 Gynecology/Oncology unit. “As nurses we have so much to learn from one another despite the various cultures we come from or work in.”

Along with eight nursing colleagues from the MGH, Keely recently led a three-month nursing program in Leadership Exchange and Development (LEAD) at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC), a leading hospital network in Doha, Qatar. Through its relationship with Partners HealthCare International® (PHI), HMC was able to engage the MGH Norman Knight Nursing Center for Clinical and Professional Development to create programs in nursing, including leadership training and team building. A total of 240 nurse leaders participated in various interactive workshops.

“The program is part of a significant investment in professional development that is underway in support of HMC’s nursing strategy, which aims to build the foundations of a world-class nursing service by articulating the link between nursing practice, education, leadership and research,” says Ann-Marie Cannaby, executive director of Corporate Nursing at HMC.

Leadership development is just one of a few recommendations that came out of the initial assessment PHI and the MGH conducted for HMC last year. Marianne Ditomassi, RN, DNP, LEAD co-leader and executive director of Patient Care Services, focused on a second assessment specifically addressing how the LEAD program would be tailored to address HMC objectives, head nurse competency development, and match key faculty with program needs.

“The nurses were engaged, eager to learn and committed to translating their new skill and knowledge into practice,” says Ditomassi. “Concepts that appeared to resonate most with the participants were relationship-based care, communication skills and interdisciplinary teamwork.”

The first domain, a one-day module aimed at self-discovery, encouraged participants to identify key strengths and goals for leadership development through individual and group work exercises. The second domain, a five-day interactive workshop focused on leadership and management, gave the participants the opportunity to learn about and practice core leadership and management skills through the practice of self-reflection, didactic teaching sessions, case studies, and experiential and interactive learning.

Gino Chisari, RN, DNP, director of the Knight Center, and his team were instrumental in helping design the curriculum and identify faculty. “One of the most critical elements for the success of the program was embedding the curriculum with a philosophy of excellence that nurses could accept, see value in and adopt,” Chisari says.

Mary Ellin Smith, RN, professional development manager in the MGH Institute for Patient Care, also reflected positively on the experience. “I always learn so much when I spend time with nurses internationally. We all deal with the same issues – I always walk away enriched by the experience.” n

editorColleen Marshall

617-726-0275

AssistAnt editorEmily Williams617-724-2753

emAil Hotline@partners.org

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rOlE-plaYing: Maria Winne, RN, far left, nursing director on the Bigelow 9 Respiratory Acute Care Unit, facilitates a session on giving and receiving feedback.

inspiring grEatnEss: Former Olympians share their medals with MassGeneral Hospital for Children patient Rocco Spagna, 3, and his mom, Amy, while visiting the hospital on July 10 before the Swim Across America event, which raises money for pediatric cancer research and services. From left: Alex Meyer, Janel Jorgensen McArdle, Amy and Rocco Spagna, Kristy Kowal, Craig Beardsley and Heather Petri.

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