Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

What's Happening: July 29, 2019, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.

Using Shared Decision Making And Team-Based Care To Overcome Socioeconomic And Cultural Barriers To Colorectal Cancer Screenings, Amanda Powell, Debra L. Pyle, Kristin Rowse, Misty Weeman, Rachel Kidder, Ruth Hanselman, Suneela Nayak, Stephen Tyzik, Amy Sparks

Operational Transformation

Colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of cancer death in the United States. It disproportionally affects minorities and those in lower socioeconomic groups. The use of fecal immunochemical testing (FIT) is a low barrier, low cost and low risk screening tool as compared to the traditional colonoscopy exam. The use of FIT offers the opportunity to overcome barriers such as cultural, economic and low health literacy.

As part of a large health care system, an internal medicine clinic wanted to increase the use and return of FIT in their clinic patients. A team developed a plan for implementing improvement …

What's Happening: July 22, 2019, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.

Increase Staff Utilization Of Occlusive Interface In Micro-Preemie Babies On Bcpap, Deborah A. Igo, Kimberly Kingsley, Faythe Henry, Misty Melendi, Amy Mcbee, Valerie Cook, Christopher Woods, Angela Rojecki, Lauren Walley, Amy Sparks, Stephen Tyzik, Suneela Nayak, Ruth Hanselman

Operational Transformation

Premature neonates born before 26 weeks gestation present many care challenges as they need special precautions to be taken to overcome their fragility. Intubation is often needed for this patient population as their lungs are not fully developed. However, due to their high susceptibility for skin breakdown invasive ventilation often can create subsequent problems. A respiratory therapist team in an academic tertiary medical center wanted to explore the use of an occlusive interface for intubation while providing various forms of non-invasive ventilation in their NICU with the hopes for fewer complications.

The objective of this project was to reduce the …

Increasing Advanced Care Planning In An Ambulatory Care Setting, Jennifer Aronson, Elizabeth Eisenhardt, Ruth Hanselman, Suneela Nayak, Stephen Tyzik, Amy Sparks

Operational Transformation

Maine is experiencing an increasing percentage of its population being over 65 years old. Advanced Care Planning (ACP) is an important part of this aging population medical care so those ends of life preferences are known well in advance. An adult internal medicine clinic in a large academic tertiary medical center decided to create a performance improvement project that addressed ACP with embedded workflows.

The goal of this project was to have a minimum of 40% of patients 65 or older have an Advanced Care Directive or Serious Illness Conversation documented in EPIC.

Baseline metrics demonstrated that ACP discussion rates …

Nicotine Replacement Therapies To Decrease Withdrawal Symptoms And Improve Patient Experience, Cheryl Pawloski, Holly Stewart, Devon Gillis, Dena Whitesell, Maya Bulman, Christopher Racine, Raymond Serrano, Leslie Gatcombe-Hynes, Elizabeth Mullany, Amy Mcauliffe, Jayne Weisberg, Amy Sparks, Suneela Nayak, Stephen Tyzik, Ruth Hanselman

Operational Transformation

Smoking is one the leading causes of preventable death in the United States. Patient centered care revolves around encouraging patients to reduce their chances of preventable disease and death. To that end, nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) prescribed within 24 hours of hospital admission increases the chance of quitting and decreases the chance of nicotine withdrawal.

A pilot performance improvement project was initiated on two cardiac units at an academic tertiary medical center. The goal the project was to have NRT ordered within 24 hours of admission 100% of the time. Baseline metrics demonstrated admission NRT orders were below acceptable levels …

What's Happening: July 15, 2019, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.

Intensive Care To Intermediate Care Bridge Program, Natasha Bartlett, Sally Langerak, Lindsey Lucas, Jonathan Archibald, Tayla Robbins, Miranda Thompson, Patrice Tetu, Calla Hastings, Megan Garland, Suneela Nayak, Stephen Tyzik, Ruth Hanselman, Amy Sparks

Operational Transformation

To deliver the highest quality of care across the continuum, a large academic tertiary medical center envisioned a project that would provide an internal source of cross trained nurses for their medical intensive care unit (SCU2) and their medical intermediate care unit (R4/IMC/AVU). The hope for this program was to improve communication and collaboration between nurses and enhance the care that they provide to patients and their families.

A highly qualified team of nurses was established to create a performance improvement project. The overall goal of this endeavor was to build a more collaborative relationship between the units and ultimately …

Retrospective Evaluation Of Weight Loss In Maine Medical Center Cancer Institute (Mmcci) Patients Receiving Radiation Treatment For Head And Neck Cancer, Julian Johnson, David Debartolo-Stone, Jessica Moore, Ruth Hanselman, Stephen Tyzik, Suneela Nayak, Amy Sparks

Operational Transformation

Treatment for head and neck cancer often results in weight loss as a side effect. One option to mitigate this weight loss is placement of a percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube placement. Radiation oncologists at a academic tertiary medical center discuss the option of PEG placement during patient consultation.

A retrospective evaluation of weight loss in patients receiving radiation was conducted over a two-year period. The goal of this data collection was to create a standard for oncology consultations regarding PEG tube placement.

Baseline metrics and a root cause analysis drove subsequent data collection steps. After analyzing the raw data, …

Increasing First Case On Time Starts In An Ambulatory Surgery Center, Diane Fecteau, Shannan Reid, Sydney Green, Ruth Hanselman, Suneela Nayak, Stephen Tyzik, Amy Sparks

Operational Transformation

In an ambulatory surgical center, first case on-time starts directly affects the patient experience. In addition, in order to treat as many patients as possible, delays of first case on-time starts negatively impacts the rest of scheduled surgical patients and increases staff overtime expenditures. An ambulatory surgical team within a large urban health care system initiated a performance improvement initiative to enhance the patient experience, increase staff accountability and care team well-being.

The goal of this project was to start 70% or more first cases on time. Baseline metrics demonstrated that patients and surgeons were the largest cause of delay. …

Increasing Access To Spiritual Care Services In The Emergency Department: A Patient And Staff Support Model, Heather Weidemann, Tia Jamir, Ruth Hanselman, Suneela Nayak, Stephen Tyzik, Amy Sparks

Operational Transformation

In trauma centers, there is evidence that interfaith spiritual care reduces emotional distress and improves health outcomes. In order to be effective in providing timely support, chaplains must be integrated into the clinical care team.

In an academic tertiary medical care center, a spiritual care team felt there were numerous missed opportunities to offer support to ED patients and its staff due to lack of being part of the care team. As a result, a performance improvement project was developed with the overall goal of integrating spiritual care into the ED clinical setting.

Baseline metrics and a root cause analysis …

A Provider-Driven Approach To Preventative Oral Care In Nursing Home Facilities, Molly Anderson, Brandon Mccrossin, Kary Franchetti, Ruth Hanselman, Suneela Nayak, Stephen Tyzik, Amy Sparks

Operational Transformation

Oral care is an essential part of preventative medicine as it minimizes risk for pneumonias and other infections. In nursing home settings, often oral health care is not routinely provided due to a number of issues. A health care system that either owns or contracts nursing home facilities initiated a performance improvement plan to address this patient care concern.

The first goal of this project was to reduce the variation in oral care between nursing home facilities within the system. The second goal was 100% of their patients will have one oral health care exam documented in EPIC once a …

What's Happening: July 8, 2019, Maine Medical Center

What's Happening

No abstract provided.

Faculty Entrustment Of Students In The Core Clerkships: A Comparison Between The Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship And The Block Clerkship, Robert L. Trowbridge, Marybeth D. Ford, Jenny L. Carwile, Eliza R. Bullis, Robert G. Bing-You

Journal of Maine Medical Center

INTRODUCTION: Entrustable Professional Activities (EPAs) have been proposed for use in undergraduate medical education. The ability of faculty to entrust students with EPAs may differ between Longitudinal Integrated Clerkships (LICs) and traditional block clerkships.

METHODS: Participants were core clerkship faculty, 64 in a LIC and 31 in a sequential block clerkship. We administered a web-based survey at the end of the core clerkship year to measure preceptors’ typical entrustment (on a scale of 0–10) in students for the 13 American Association of Medical Colleges Core EPAs. We compared entrustment between LIC and block faculty using a Mann-Whitney test.

RESULTS:LIC …

Welcome To The Journal Of Maine Medical Center, Robert Bing-You

Journal of Maine Medical Center

No abstract provided.

Mite (Mmc Institute For Teaching Excellence) Highlights

Journal of Maine Medical Center

No abstract provided.

2018 Year In Review - Maine Medical Center Research Institute

Journal of Maine Medical Center

No abstract provided.

Costas T. Lambrew Research Retreat At Maine Medical Center - Abstracts From 2019

Journal of Maine Medical Center

No abstract provided.

Maine Medical Center Quality And Safety Storyboards: Operational Excellence As Platform For Improvement

Journal of Maine Medical Center

Physician and other healthcare learners and clinicians must prepare to assume an active role in the design, implementation, and improvement of emerging models of health care delivery while concurrently improving quality, workflow efficiency and safety. While these expectations are building, few practicing clinicians have training or experience with these challenges. Maine Medical Center’s Operational Excellence Team builds on a framework of Lean Thinking, the Model for Improvement* and PDSA cycles** to advance improvement capacity among care teams across our organization. Interprofessional Teams are coached to use proven tools and techniques to identify and remove barriers to care and establish sustainable …

Tufts University School Of Medicine Mary Y Lee, Md, Medical Education Day Poster Abstracts

Journal of Maine Medical Center

The following abstracts represent posters of Tufts University School of Medicine (TUSM) research and innovation projects in medical education (in progress and completed).

The goal of this conference is to promote faculty educational research and provide faculty development with opportunities to engage in cutting-edge topics in medical education. Faculty have the opportunity to show their scholarly medical education work to TUSM's community through posters and oral presentations, and participate in educational workshops.

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

To have participants:

1) Share their work on medical education research with TUSM's community.

2) Analyze new trends in today's health professionals' education.

3) Select in …

Poster Presentations From The 2018 Maine Medical Center Research Institute (Mmcri) Summer Student Research Program

Journal of Maine Medical Center

The following posters were presented as part of the 2018 MMCRI Summer Student Research Program. This program offers undergraduates and medical students a unique opportunity to conduct research in diverse clinical and biomedical science fields during the summer months. During the paid ten-week program, students participate in mentored independent research projects either in our state-of-the-art research facility, or working with physicians in a hospital setting to impact patient care or the outcome of treatment. Students also attend lectures and workshops featuring topics including bioethics, animal use in biomedical science and scientific presentation skills, and have the opportunity to attend presentations …

Time-Out In Madrid: Considering The Role Of Time-Outs In Clinical Practice, Colin T. Phillips

Journal of Maine Medical Center

No abstract provided.

Medical Professionalism: Who Needs It?, Daniel C. Bryant

Journal of Maine Medical Center

Anecdotal and public opinion evidence that respect for physicians may be decreasing could be explained by a decline, or perceived decline, in medical professionalism. Causes for the latter are discussed, and physician embrace of “the new professionalism” is suggested.

Increasing Actual And Perceived Burden Of Tick-Borne Disease In Maine, Robert P. Smith Md Mph, Carol A. Mccarthy Md, Susan P. Elias Phd

Journal of Maine Medical Center

Introduction: The burden of tick-borne disease (TBD) in Maine has steadily increased since the first case of Lyme disease was reported in the late 1980s. The emergence of five different agents of TBD in Maine has been challenging and confusing for clinicians and the public.

Methods: We reviewed the ecology of emerging of tick -borne disease, then reviewed risk factors for tick bites and tick-borne disease in Maine. We then compared the burden of TBD versus community-acquired comparison infections in terms of hospitalizations, deaths, and media attention.

Results and Discussion: In Maine, risk of exposure to bites from the vector …

A Case Report Of Water Hemlock Poisoning, Blue Butterfield, Alicia Bond Md, Dan Meyer, Gary Diperna, Tamas Peredy Md

Journal of Maine Medical Center

Introduction: Water hemlock poisoning is an uncommon cause of seizures, gastrointestinal upset, and renal failure. This poisoning occurs infrequency and is likely to go unrecognized without a proper history and consideration in the differential diagnosis.

Clinical Findings: A 23-year-old male with an unremarkable past medical history presented to the emergency department after being found unresponsive at a farm where he was employed. He had several tonic-clonic seizures en route. Initial evaluation was unremarkable and included toxicology screening, lumbar puncture, and brain imaging.

Main diagnoses, therapeutics, interventions, and outcomes: The patient was treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics and antivirals with a suspected …

Signs Of Psychosis Leading To A Diagnosis Of Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy: A Case Report, Bryan L. Walker, Christina Holt Md, Msc

Journal of Maine Medical Center

Introduction: Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a rare demyelinating process of the central nervous system that occurs in in the setting of severe immunocompromise. Patients with PML develop varying focal neurological deficits and mental status changes that have not been well-described previously.

Clinical findings: We present a patient who was found by security wandering the lobby of this hospital. He was oriented only to self and unable to state a reason for presentation. Medical records were limited and included a visit to an outside hospital that documented a past medical history of HIV infection. He exhibited multiple signs of psychosis …

Increased 18f-Fdg-Pet Uptake In Granulomatosis With Polyangiitis: Case Report And Review Of The Literature, Rama El-Yafawi, Patricia Cantlin, Thomas E. Van Der Kloot

Journal of Maine Medical Center

We present an unusual case of granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA), which initially presented as a large lung mass, without renal or other systemic features. The lung mass was most concerning for malignancy, and positron emission tomography (PET) further supported this concern, with intense uptake in the mass as well as in mediastinal and hilar lymph nodes. Biopsies however were non-diagnostic, and the patient developed acute kidney injury with active urinary sediment, leading to a definitive diagnosis of GPA. With supportive care and treatment directed at GPA, she was ultimately able to discontinue hemodialysis, and the lung mass resolved. This case …

Rationale And Design Of An Endocrinology Education Program For Primary Care In Maine: Initiation Of Mainehealth Endo Echo Maine, Irwin Brodsky, Joan Ingram, Stacy O'Brien, Tho Ngo, Charles T. Winchell

Journal of Maine Medical Center

Introduction: Population health and quality of care initiatives for the management of common endocrine disorders often include algorithmic and protocol-driven workflows in primary care practices. Endo ECHO is a division of Project ECHO at University of New Mexico that engages primary care clinicians in didactic presentations and case discussions to augment conceptual (experiential, nuanced) rather than algorithmic (rote) learning.

Research Design and Methods: MaineHealth Endo ECHO was designed using the Project ECHO model. Project ECHO® is an interactive learning opportunity that uses video conferencing to connect specialty and primary care to share best practices for delivering care. Using …

Bringing Upstairs Care Downstairs; Integration Of Rehabilitation Medicine, Care Management, And The Hospital Elder Life Program (Help) Into An Emergency Department., Robert Anderson, Molly Anderson, Rhonda Babine, Farid Feghali, Elizabeth Dunstan, Matthew Glazer, Susan Horton, Stephanie O'Brien, Elizabeth Pontius, David Smith, Megan Viens, Heather Williams

Journal of Maine Medical Center

Introduction: Services such as physical therapy (PT), occupational therapy (OT), speech-language pathology (SLP), social work (SW), care management, and elder life specialists have long been an established part of care for patients admitted to Maine Medical Center (MMC) but not for patients in the Emergency Department (ED). Methods and Results: Driven in part by changes in Medicare reimbursement models, care management established a presence in the Emergency Department (ED) in 2003 with a focus on care planning and cost avoidance. In recent years PT, OT, SLP, SW, and the Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP) have increased their ED involvement substantially. …

Using Physician Champions To Extend The Reach Of The Let’S Go! 5-2-1-0 Obesity Prevention Program In Clinical Practice, Michael Dedekian, Jackie Vine, Jonathan Fanburg, Naomi Anderson Schucker, Victoria Rogers

Journal of Maine Medical Center

ABSTRACT

Introduction: There is limited evidence for large scale interventions to address childhood obesity. Let’s Go! is a Maine-based obesity prevention program that deploys a consistent message across multiple community settings to encourage children and families to make healthy choices. This report describes implementation of Let's Go! in primary care offices.

Methods: Consideration for physician champion recruitment included previous involvement with Let’s Go! and ensuring statewide geographic coverage. Champions received standardized training and became local leaders in obesity prevention and treatment. 13 champions engaged 99 practices at baseline; 71 practices were engaged all 4 years (2012-2015). Data were analyzed on …