UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO HOSPITAL

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Issue 6
January 2015

And a happy new year!!

Happy New Year Rockstars! Good things are
in store for 2015. We
are holding interviews
for the new inpatient
Associate Nurse Manager this week, our service lines continue to
grow and our BOOM

team is up and running.

This year, lets celebrate
our successes as we
look forward to a solid
year of growth and
teamwork.
Cheers to
BMT/OMG in
2015!

Rockstar fund

Just for Fun!!

Hey Rockstars! Lets kick off

the new year with a rockstar donation! Remember
the Nurses and CNA appreciation parties in May
and June? The Susan G
Komen walk in September? The Giving Tree in
December? To keep those activities alive and
to provide others such as: recognition to those
accomplishing certification, baby showers,
birthday parties and more, please consider
donating $20 or whatever you can spare!
Give cash or checks (made out to Liz Klatt) to
Liz who heads up our Rockstar fund as well as
coordinates the Rockstar committee on our
In honor of No Fall November, Ian lived up to his
promise and attended the Christmas party in his most
floor. Go Rockstars!!
dazzling attire! Thank you, Ian, for commemorating
this achievement in style! Way to go everyone!

PAGE 2

BONE MARROW ONCOLOGY MONTHLY NEWS

Meet the EVS Housekeeping

Staff on Onc/bmt
EVS Housekeeping Staff daily routine:

Evelyn is a social butterfly and the

Evelyn Brown

sassiest housekeeper! She is so fun

and loves loves to talk to patients .
Evelyn is also from Ghana and speaks
Twi and English. She loves salads and
her favorite colors are purple and
white. Evelyn has 2 children (boy and
girl) one is 12 years-old and the other
one is 10 years-old. She is a rockstar!!

A housekeeper will service patient rooms between

7am 3pm.
The housekeepers will greet the patients in the morning and pull the trash from the room and bathroom.
Later, the housekeepers will return to the rooms to
clean the bathroom, floors, and countertop surfaces.
If the housekeepers round while you are having a
sensitive patient conversation or during patient care,
you may request they return later. Please call ext.
88351 with any cleaning requests and our star associates will take care of your housekeeping needs.

Cecelia works in the Oncology unit and she

Please note: housekeepers do not clean healthcare equipment or computers or change/pick up linens. Nursing staff
is responsible for this!
Ivette Rubio: Patient Experience Manager

has the brightest smile of our department

Patients report that when she smiles at them
all they can do is smile back because it is so
contagious! Cecelia is from Ghana and speaks
Twi and English. Her favorite food is called FuFu (which she made for thanksgiving and is
delicious!! Its like spicy rice with veggies and
sauce.) Her favorite color is violet and she has
a 24 year-old son who studies medicine in
Washington

The Patient Experience Manager will

address any concerns with room cleanliness. Ivette rounds on the units frequently and is very involved in how to improve
the patient experience! Her number is
87402. She is a star patient advocate!

Cecelia Nti

Ivette is originally from El Salvador, Cen-

Aubierge Azondekon

tral America. She moved to the US when

she was 18 years old and has lived in CO
for 9years going on 10 at the end of this
month. She has been working in the
medical field since 2008 as an RT and now working a different side of patient care by working for EVS. She absolutely
love love loves American Football more than boring soccer!! (weird since she is Latinaand every Latino loves soccer!) She is a huge Broncos fan! She loves snow sports and
must be the only weirdo who loves winter season more
than any other season!
Augustina Yeboah

Augustina works in the BMT

unit. She is from Ghana and she

speaks Twi (Ghanan language)
and English. Her favorite food is
rice and stew, and her favorite
color is pink. Augustina has a 14year-old daughter and hopes
one day she will win the lottery
(dont we all!). She loves to visit
patients and make them smile

Aubierge works in the Oncology unit.

She is so shy yet she is so sweet. Anyone who has ever talked to her can
tell you how sweet she is; even when she is
stressed she always has a sweet smile. I
dont think I have ever seen her upset, she
is so helpful to her peers and truly a great
addition to our team. Once Aubierge goes
into the patients room she makes sure she
writes her name up on the white board so
patients can get to know her. Miss
Aubierge is from Benin, she speaks French
and English (ooo la la!! ) She will teach
Yvette French next year, She is so excited!! .
Her favorite food is rice and chicken and
her favorite color is pink. Aubierge does not
have any pets nor any children.

When you see these ladies on the floor, be sure to give

them a smile and a big thank you for all they do for our
team!
Next issue, we will meet our EVS Floor technicians

ISSUE 6

PAGE 3

Physician in the Spotlight :

I always knew I wanted to be a doctor
growing up as a kid originally thinking
that I was going to be surgeon. I ended
up becoming a hospitalist because I enjoyed taking care of seriously ill people in
the hospital setting. I had never heard of
palliative care during training but my
career naturally migrated in that direction. One of the things I enjoyed most in
medicine was the privilege to be present
for patients and families during their
most difficult times in life. Being able to
learn from our patients and families;
hoping to make things not as difficult by
focusing our care on their values and
how they define quality of life. Palliative
care is the best job you can have because you can just sit down to talk and
learn from patients and families and hear
their story.
Over the years, the palliative care team

at UCH has blossomed, especially around

the time and since our Joint Commission

Advanced Certification in Palliative Care

last November. The team really pulled

together and became leaders in delivering quality palliative care to our patients
and families, even reaching out to those
we never see. Collaborating with the staff
on the 11th floor/Oncology has been so
rewarding and greatly improved the care
we can provide. For example, the efforts
in working towards offering compassionate extubation outside of the ICU, in an
11th floor Inpatient Palliative Care bed, as
an option for patients at end-of-life.

See the signs: By now, I hope you all have

noticed the new sign with the bright red
stop sign on all of our patient room doors.
These signs are to help get the attention
of physicians as they make their rounds
on their patients. They are to be accurately updated with the nurse's name and
number for the day so the physicians can
either call the nurse in for bedside rounding, or simply update them on
that particular patient's plan of care.

ing the needs and suffering that patients and families experience during
serious illness. Most of all, the individuals on our team are the best you could
ever hope to come across- that is what I
believe is the secret medicine in the
care we provide.
Jeanie Youngwerth, MD

One of the things that makes our team so

special is the interdisciplinary nature-

pulling together different strengths of

individuals and disciplines social work,

spiritual care, advanced practiced nursing, volunteers and physicians in address-

Medi cin e M D round ing :

RN and physician communication is a vital
aspect of the everchanging hospital environment we work in. It
is essential in maintaining patient safety, patient satisfaction, and effective as well as
efficient care. In an effort to help aid in
providing excellent care and improving
lives, this month we have rolled out RNphysician rounding on all of the medicalsurgical units in the hospital for the medicine teams. The medicine teams include
Med 1-4, HMS 1-3, HTT, and Family Med.

Jeanie Youngwerth is an
attending provider on the
Palliative Care Service

B y M e g a n B ru c h

Nurses are also adding their name and

phone number for the shift under care
teams in Epic for those medicine teams
who do conference rounding.
How are we doing: So far we are doing a
fantastic job keeping our signs updated!
Nurses: 32 of 36 signs on OMG and 32 of
32 signs on BMT were accurate and correct! Lets aim for 100% on both sides!
Doctors: 50% of Medicine MDs on the
BMT unit and 27% on the OMG unit got in
touch and/or rounded with the primary
nurse on their patients.
I know this process has only been in place
for a few weeks, so I am hoping to see an
increase in these numbers as I continue to
audit. Oh and by the way, both Med Onc
1 and 2 are jumping on the band wagon
and are taking part in our rounding festivities! They called and/or rounded with the
nurse on 75% of their patients on the
BMT unit and 50% on the OMG unit. Keep
it up everyone!

There are just a few things we can improve on to help keep this process rolling
smoothly.
Nurses, please take a few minutes to
update your phone number and D/N
shift under care teams in Epic.
Physicians, please take the small
amount of time to call the nurses
when rounding on your patients, or
for just a brief update of the plan of
care.
Its about the patient...and the
nurse...and the doctor...: In the end, we
hope this process will help in expediting
care and discharges, decreasing the
amount of pages to MDs, increasing HCAHPS scores, saving time for nurses
tracking down answers, and just increasing overall satisfaction for all. Just like in
Renees story below, communication is
the key to the patients and the caregivers satisfaction!
About Megan: Megan is a Colorado
native and has a sister. She loves
nursing because she loves making a
difference in others lives. Interesting
fact: She has played piano since she was 7
years old. Her last name rhymes with truck:)

ISSUE 6

PAGE 4

The Nurses perspective: to be a patient

Each issue, we will highlight one of our nurses. For our this installment of The Nurses perspective, Renee Roberts will give us a spin on the nursing perspective...as a patient.

In a patients shoes: I was always curious

about what it would actually be like to
be a patient in my own hospital, and I
got a chance to do that in December. I
was lucky to be well and not in pain and
not zonked out on pain meds. Other
than an ischemic pinky finger, I felt pretty good. It was an unusual
opportunity. I was on a
heparin drip for a clot in my
arm that was causing the
pinky to have poor perfusion.
I wasnt bothered by a lot of the things
our patients complain of. I thought the
food was great! I thought the beds were
comfortable, so long as I didnt sit with
the head up for hours and hours. What
I hated was the challenge of taking a
shower with one hand and a closed
bottle of shampoo, annoyed by the
gown falling off me, and irritated by
needing to unplug something and push
a pole every time I walked across the
room.

The hardest thing for me, though, was sitting in a room wondering what was going
to happen next. I had 5 different teams of
doctors, and both doctors and nurses kept
telling me that some other doctor was trying to decide what he should do to resolve
the problem. I reminded myself that I was
going to have the final decision, because
no one else seemed to remember, or at
least no one mentioned it to me. My possible treatments ranged from a vascular surgery to going home with some aspirin. I
was always clear with everyone which one
I preferred. I ended up going home on
baby aspirin. Even knowing my own choices and a good bit about my health, the
uncertainty, the constant back and forth,
the surprise of being in the hospital when Im usually so well,
was hard for me.

Excellent: I got excellent care, top to bottom, from the ER to the nurses on the 9th
floor who cared for me. One of the best
things about being here was feeling so
proud of where I work. There are so
many good nurses and CNAs at UCH
who made every scary thing so much
better.
About Renee: Renee was born

in Maryland and her family is

from New Castle, PA. She has
lived in Maryland, Georgia,
Iowa, Congo, DC, Colorado
and Idaho. Her parents, a brother, sister
and two nephews are in Atlanta, GA and
another brother in Omaha . Interesting
fact: She knits most of her socks herself!
It is important for us to hear perspectives from all
levels of experience throughout our institution to
understand how we can best work as a team. If you
have a perspective you would like to share with the
team, please email Mandy Johnson. Dont forget to
include your picture!

B r i g h t i d e a s : W e wa n t to
h e a r f ro m yo u !
Those working the most closely with patients, healthcare equipment and the patient care environment often have the best
insight into how to solve problems and
make things both more efficient and
safe...That means you!

ideas or concerns. Many of you freely

offer good suggestions for new ways to do
things, and now we want to give you all
an open, consistent communication channel so you can know that you're being
heard.

Our BOOM representatives recognize this

and want to give you a place where your
voices are heard. We realize that there are
always ways we can improve and things
that need to be fixed on our unit. We would
love to hear your ideas on what we can do
to make this a better place for our patients
and our staff.

We will be implementing a new Bright

Ideas EMAIL inbox for the unit. The
email address will be
UCH11thFloorBrightIdeas@uchealth.org.
Please email your thoughtful, bright
ideas to this email address. We would
like to see your email written out in clear
and concise SBAR format. Do your best
to focus on providing solutions to the
problem you want addressed. Our goal is
to both hear what the problem/situation
is and find constructive ways in which to
solve this problem. Emails will be read
on a monthly basis. Your leadership
group and BOOM representatives will
review your suggestions, issues or im-

While our leadership is open to feedback,

the annual Employee Engagement, NDNQI
surveys and Executive Rounding, are the
only ongoing formal avenue for staff to
share thoughts and opinions.
Additionally, there is no consistent method to close the
loop with staff regarding their

provements and collaborate on implementing feasible ideas for our unit.

We will follow up with a Stoplight
Report to communicate the status
of moving your idea forward.

We are excited to move this forward

on our unit to hear all of your brilliant ideas!
Contributed by Mary Hendrickson, a permanent
charge nurse on Onc/BMT,
in partnership with the
BOOM. Mary is married
and a new mom! She is also
a Colorado Native. Interesting fact: She
worked with a winner of the show Survivor at
a rafting company after college.

News and events

Congratulations to Katie Donovan, Hanna Crosby, Joe
Marosey, Megan Harper, Mary Hendrickson and Matt
Franklin for passing the OCN last month!
Congratulations o Renee Abdella for being the first on

our unit to become BMTCN!

We are up to 41% RNs certified on inpatient Onc/BMT!
Joint Commission was here! The surveyors were exceptionally
impressed with ALL that we do. Yes, they had findings but with
our size and complexity, the survey was very positive and there
were ZERO show-stoppers!!. All of you were exceptional, professional and demonstrated sincere pride in caring for patients and
most importantly keeping our patients safe. Thank you all for
making this a great
Carolyn Sanders RN, PhD, NEA-BC
survey!!

Sharepoint: Remember to use the NEW site for all scheduling

and other updates.

Congrats to our proud new

moms! These boys are precious!
Nicole Martinezs baby
boy: Ben Martinez
Born November 19th
weighing 7lbs 5oz and
19 inches
long

Vice President of Patient Services & CNO

BMT NP/PA workspace: Due to the growth of the BMT NP/PA

group, they have been able to convert the BMT middle conference room into a workspace/sleep room. If you have scheduled
meetings in that room, please find alternate space!
Chain of Command Reminder: Please always follow the chain of
command rather than going straight to paging the attending.
Even if the patient is requesting to speak with the attending, the
chain of command should be followed to coordinate this.
Interpreters: If you can predict ahead of time that a person requiring translator services will need an in person translator at a
specific point during the weekend (ie. to explain a procedure,
discharge instructions, etc), please remember that a paper request form MUST be filled out and given to interpreter services
PRIOR to the weekend. In person interpreters are NOT available
on the weekends without this form!
Vinca Alkaloids: These are now IVPB!

A LITTLE FEEL GOOD

To Dr Rodriguez-Riesco (GynOnc resident):

She has been phenomenal to work with! She

has prompt and thorough communication
with nursing staff and patients and I have
heard several staff comment on how awesome she is to work with.
To Keri Halsema (BMT NP): Keri is so wonder-

ful to work with and it so inspirational to

watch her with her patients. She always sits
down with them to go over their plan of
care and never appears rushed (even though
we all know she is!!). She is so great with
patients!

Shugufa Asifis baby

boy: Amir Asifi
December the 28th at
12:37am 21
inches and
7lbs

Stem Cell checklist:

Katherine "Ren" Cowan RN, BSN, OCN

place in the patient's chart when complete."

BMT

RNs

DID YOU KNOW:

...You are required to complete the Stem Cell Infusion
Checklist? This is located on the last page of the UCH
Nursing Practice Guideline Bone Marrow Transplant: Autologous and Allogeneic Bone Marrow Re-Infusion, Peripheral Progenitor and Double Cord Re-Infusion.
...That the creation of the checklist was requested by
FACT in order to show that we, as Nurses, are ensuring
that all infusion related documentation is complete and
correct before giving a patient stem cells?
...That before EPIC all BMT admissions included a hard
copy red chart with a checklist to ensure everything was
included, complete, and correct? With the change to EPIC, these checks went away, which is why FACT requested they be re-implemented?
WHAT'S EXPECTED OF YOU:
The checklist is a requirement and is being audited.
The Guideline states that you are to "Complete the appropriate sections on the Stem Cell Infusion checklist and

The checklist will be placed in the admission packet by the PSC. If for some reason your patient does not
have a checklist then you can find one at the PSC desk in
the admission file drawer. The checklist is labeled "BMT
Checklist".
Leave this checklist on the computer workstation in
the patient's room from admission to the completion of
their stem cell re-infusion, then place in chart. The next
day, when giving the PSCs the 24 hours infusion reaction
form (after faxing), also complete the checklist and turn
both of them into the PSC.

This is an essential part of your nursing practice as a Bone

Marrow Transplant Nurse!! Think of Stem Cells as chemo-

therapy and we as RNs are not just giving the chemotherapy but assessing all pertinent values, treatment plan, and
other checks that go with administering it.
Thank you to all who have been doing their part in completing the checklist thus far and for everything you all
do to keep our patients safe!!!

About Ren: She is the middle of three girls and has been in Colorado for 10
years. She recently took a position as a Clinical Scholar with the
Professional Resources department and helps guide the next generation of nursing students to become professional nurses that are as
awesome as she is! Something interesting about Ren is that she
owns a whitewater raft and if she could, she'd "live in a van down by
the river."

Contact precautions

Chris olson, Infection preventionist

Due to conflicting information given to patients concerning their responsibilities and restrictions by our healthcare team, the following information should be used by the healthcare team when educating patients.
All visitors must gown and glove while visiting. If staying the night, the visitor may remove his or her gown and gloves just before
going to bed for the night. Visitors must be as consistent as possible with wearing the gowns and gloves. If any visitor, refuses to
wear gown and glove, they need to leave the patients room.
The patient may leave his or her room only with staff supervision. He/she must wear a clean patient gown (over clothing if a gown is
not worn) and the IV pole must be wiped down prior to leaving the room. He/she must also wash hands prior to leaving the
room but does not need to wear gloves. Visitors may also remove gowns and gloves and wash hands when the visitor is leaving
the room with the patient and the designated staff member.
The patient may not go to the solarium or to the family waiting room or sit in any other chairs outside of the room. He/she may not
visit other patients in the hospital. He/she may go to the cafeteria accompanied by staff as this is considered general population.
In order to be clear and consistent with our patients going forward, please educate patients, visitors and healthcare team members
when you see behaviors that do not coincide with UCH infection control policies. The most up to date policies on isolation practices
can be found on the infection control website on the HUB.

Lets keep our patients free of hospital acquired infections!

UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO HOSPITAL

Ot h e r T h i n g s yo u s h o u l d k n ow
There is a new process for cleaning of soiled
procedure instruments.
Dana Ayer
In the AIP 1 exam room and in the AIP 2 south pod soiled
equipment rooms there are instructions attached to the wall or
shelving which explain the process in detail. Essentially you will:
Don PPE, including eye protection. Rinse off any visible debris
Spray the instruments with Pro EZ foam and wrap them in a
thin blue pad. We are no longer using Metrizyme.
Take them down to Sterile Processing using the container provided (bring it back). If you are unable to bring them to Sterile Processing, then shoot Dana Ayer an email.
Be sure you put the lid on the container pictured below for AIP
2 , or cover the yellow basin bin with a blue pad (on AIP 1) before
you walk them down. This is required. We will be getting official
containers for this shortly.
Be sure to fill out the procedure inventory form (make a copy
for me and leave it in the room), and give it to Sterile Processing. That way we know which instruments and how many
were sent down on which day.

Soiled Utility Room: Keep it Unsoiled!

Andrea Burnett

BEFORE placing commodes into the Soiled Utility Rooms,

please EMPTY the commode of any urine, fecal matter, bodily
fluids or whatever else may have ended up in the commode.
Dirty commodes with bodily excretions will not be picked up
by Central Supply.
NIGHT SHIFT-please stock cabinets AND GLOVES in
the rooms and please update the Glucometers as it is
very difficult to do during the day.
BiPAP: When a patient is discharged who was using a CPAP/
BiPap machine, do NOT put them in the soiled utility rooms.
Leave them outside the patient's room and call Respiratory to
come and pick them up. They do NOT get picked up from the
soiled utility rooms.
Shower chairs: Just a friendly reminder that the shower chairs in
patient's rooms REMAIN in the bathroom/rooms. Please do not put
them in soiled utility room. EVS (Environmental Services) cleans
them off and the next patient uses it.
Wheel chairs: you can call 88351 (any time, any where) to have
them picked up or if it belonged to a patient put in an order for
"transport, wheel chair pick up"
Oxygen tanks do not belong in the soiled utility room, they go in
the CNA supply rooms. PSC's take care of the oxygen tanks.
SCD sleeves: The green "leg squeezers" that go with SCD
machines do NOT get thrown away, rather they are recycled in a
hamper that is in every soiled utility room. I have taken a picture
and attached it so please take a look so everyone knows where
the hamper is and where to recycle the "leg squeezers"

Pro EZ Foam

Instrument container
located in soiled
utility room

Project Cure: Items that were left when a patient was

discharged and we are unable to credit that patient and
that were unopened and unused, get put in a "trash can"
looking bin that is labeled "Project Cure". This bin is for
the volunteer work that UCH does helping 3rd World
Countries get much needed medical supplies.

S ta n da r d s o f E xc e l l e n c e
Standard of
January

https://
spsites.uchealth.org/sites/
oncology/inpatient/
SitePages/Home.aspx

Thanks for this issue goes to Liz Klatt, Renee Roberts, Ren
Cowan, Jeanie Youngwerth, Megan Bruch, Dana Ayer,
Andrea Burnett, Chris Olson, Mary Hendrickson, and
Ivette Rubio!
Please Contact Mandy Johnson with any comments or
questions on this issue or if you have anything to add for
the next issue. Thanks for reading!