Dear Colleagues,
The ‘front door’ for many of our patients needing medical attention is the emergency room, and their first interactions are with the wonderful people in our emergency department (ED).
Chief Nurse Executive Shanon Fucik, Executive Vice Dean Ross Zafonte and I recently stopped by the ED at University Hospital and attended their early morning huddle as they prepared for another busy day. We arrived early and nurse manager Julie Hyde and nurse educator Emily Woods gave us a quick tour of the new trauma/resuscitation bays.
The bays have been completely reorganized so ED doctors, nurses and staff can quickly locate supplies and equipment. We were very impressed with the thoughtful optimization and how it helps our teams take better care of our acute patients.
Huddle began, with one of the newer nurses, Amber Huste, leading the show. She went through a status report on the day’s staffing, equipment and supplies. The group reviewed the ED’s activity from the previous day and how many patients were currently in the emergency room, and if any were at a high risk of falling.
Charge nurse Natalie Barnard then took over and announced that there had been zero falls for two weeks in the ED. As many of you know, we take fall prevention seriously and have implemented a number of precautions to prevent patient falls. I commend the ED team on their success and appreciate their dedication to patient safety.
I must also congratulate resident Daniel Kowalczyk on getting married! Natalie asked if there were any celebrations, and the team revealed this wonderful news.
Next, Natalie asked if the team had any ideas, innovations or observations to share. This gave Shanon an opportunity to compliment the team on their organized and efficient huddle structure, as well as the metric board that displayed all the data discussed.
Before huddle ended and the team left for their individual assignments, Shanon gathered everyone for a quick group photo.
It was wonderful for our leadership to spend a short time with our amazing ED team as they prepared for their day taking care of the patients from across mid-Missouri. Thank you to all who are part of the ED team!
Sincerely,
Rick Barohn, MD
Executive Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs and Hugh E. and Sarah D. Stephenson Dean, School of Medicine
rbarohn@health.missouri.edu
