MRMC Recognizes Medical-Surgical Nurses Week

Medical-surgical nurses focus every day on caring compassionately for patients and families. The Academy of Medical-Surgical Nurses (AMSN) has designated a special week to shift that focus to the nurses themselves. Magnolia Regional Medical Center will participate in recognizing their medical-surgical nurses during Medical-Surgical Nurses Week, November 1-7, 2013.

Medical-surgical nurses possess specialized skills and knowledge of the entire spectrum of nursing care. They make a difference by building the profession of nursing and the medical-surgical nursing specialty, mentoring and nurturing each other, advocating for patients and families, serving their communities through care and education, and improving patient care.

More information about the work of medical-surgical nurses, Medical-Surgical Nurses Week and products promoting the event are available on AMSN’s Web site.

The special week is also meant to raise awareness of the medical-surgical nursing specialty among other nurses. One of the most diverse nursing specialties practiced today, medical-surgical nurses care for adult patients in a broad range of settings, applying their expert knowledge to all body systems and disease processes.

To learn more about medical-surgical nursing and AMSN, visit www.amsn.org.

------------------------------------------------------
For more information:
Karen Weido
870-235-3212
kweido@magnoliarmc.org

MRMC Home Health Celebrates National Home Care Month

Magnolia Regional Medical Center Home Health Agency will celebrate National Home Care Month during the month of November, as well as Home Care Aide Week on November 10 to 16. These critical workers play a central role in their patients’ lives, and the National Association of Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) recognizes their efforts with this year’s theme: “Home is the Center of Health Care.”

In coming years, home care and hospice are poised to play a central role in the delivery of healthcare throughout the country. A wide range of forces is joining to push care away from nursing homes and drive it toward home and community-based care. Based on demography and dollars, experts agree that the destiny of health care lies in the home.

There is growing demand for home care, yet the Medicare home health benefit has been cut by $77 billion over 10 years. The cumulative effect of these disproportionate cuts has been to weaken what was once a $17 billion industry by pushing thousands of providers to the point of bankruptcy. The cuts have an even more serious impact on patients by limiting their access to the care they need at home. 

There will be even more patients who need home care as the 78 million baby boomers continue to age. The first of the boomers turned 65 last year and the rest will reach their golden years over the next two decades. As they do, health care dollars will grow even scarcer, especially if Medicare provides the boomers with costly institutional care.

But there is a better way. Home care is not just the preferred choice for most patients; it’s also the best bang for our health care dollars. It costs Medicare nearly $2,000 per day for a typical hospital stay and $559 per day for a typical nursing home stay. Meanwhile, home care costs just $44 a day on average. And home care, combined with technology, helps the many U.S. seniors who live at home to stay independent, enrich their lives, and keep in touch with those they love.

Home care aides also play a central role by joining in patients’ lives, whether this involves running errands, going with them to the doctor, or assisting them with medical conditions. Aides are there to provide seniors with company and conversation, and many aides are more than caregivers for their patients. They are often friends who give warmth and comfort to the aged and ill.

NAHC looks to the future in its theme, “Home is the Center of Health Care,” the product of a brainstorming session at the NAHC Strategic Planning Congress in February 2013. The session brought together members of NAHC’s board of directors and the heads of its Forum of State Associations, along with key leaders from the home care and hospice industry. They exchanged their thoughts under the leadership of Dr. Lance Secretan, management expert, author, editor and former corporate CEO. Their joint expression of home care’s goals gained approval from NAHC’s board of directors in June.

For more information on the National Association for Home Care & Hospice - National Home Care & Hospice Month and Home Care Aide Week (November 10-16, 2013), visit www.nahc.org.

------------------------------------------------------
For more information:
Karen Weido
870-235-3212
kweido@magnoliarmc.org

MRMC Partners With Baptist Health For eICU care Services

LITTLE ROCK - Magnolia Regional Medical Center (MRMC) has recently partnered with Baptist Health eICU care to give their patients an additional team of critical care specialists who will watch over them 24/7.

With a simple press of a button by the physicians or nurses at MRMC, the staff will be instantly joined at their patient's bedside by Baptist Health's experienced critical care team in Little Rock. The eICU care team includes physicians and nurses specialized in critical care and trained to execute predefined plans or intervene in emergencies when a patient's attending physician cannot be immediately present.

Each critical-care room with eICU technology is equipped with a camera, microphone, and speaker that enable staff in the control center to communicate with caregivers and the patient in real time. The two-way video and "cockpit-like sensors" of this advanced telemedicine technology enables the eICU care staff to detect even the slightest change in the patient's condition and communicate more effectively with the bedside team to reduce the time between problem identification and intervention.

Staffed round-the-clock, every day of the year, the Baptist Health eICU care command center and its staff help rural hospitals like MRMC provide state-of-the-art intensive care to its sickest patients.

Typically, eICU technology is used in emergency departments, surgical ICUs, trauma ICU's, cardiac surgery, medical ICUs, coronary care units, surgical step-downs, extended care hospitals and progressive care units. Hospitals across the country using eICU technology with critical care specialists have seen reductions in complications, reductions in mortality, and better outcomes for patients.

Baptist Health was the first in the state to use eICU technology back in 2005, the first in the region to implement its use in patient care, and among the first 20 healthcare systems in the country to have a command center.


------------------------------------------------------
For more information:
Karen Weido
870-235-3212
kweido@magnoliarmc.org

MRMC Earns "Century Club" Membership

LITTLE ROCK - Magnolia Regional Medical Center is one of 34 Arkansas hospitals to earn "Century Club" membership through its achievements to improve care and reduce preventable readmissions. Its work with the Arkansas Hospital Association's (AHA) Hospital Engagement Network (HEN) program is part of the largest HEN in the nation, led by the American Hospital Association's Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET) with 31 states and more than 1500 hospitals participating. To earn membership in the Century Club, a facility must report outcome data in all 10 of the HEN's areas of focus or all that apply to their hospital - quite a feat!

The HEN's goal is to help hospitals improve quality of care in the following areas: adverse drug events, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, central line-associated blood stream infections, injuries from falls and immobility, obstetrical adverse events, pressure ulcers, surgical site infections, venous thromboembolism, ventilator-associated pneumonia and preventable readmissions.

Through the HEN, the AHA makes available training, one-on-one technical assistance and peer-to-peer learning collaboratives to participating hospitals, as well as access to national resources, toolkits and cutting edge information.

The HEN project contract was awarded to HRET and 25 other organizations nationally by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to support their Partnership for Patients campaign. The project assists hospitals in adopting new practices that have the potential to reduce inpatient harm by 40 percent and preventable readmissions by 20 percent. There are 46 hospitals participating in the AHA HEN; several of the state's other hospitals participate through other HEN contractors.

"Arkansas hospitals have a solid commitment to delivering the best quality care possible," said Pam Brown, RN, BSN, CPHQ, vice president for quality and patient safety at the AHA. "But the dedication of the Century Club hospitals goes above and beyond. These facilities have taken on the challenge of achieving improvement in all 10 areas of focus and serve as an example to their peers."


------------------------------------------------------
For more information:
Karen Weido
870-235-3212
kweido@magnoliarmc.org

Hospital Association Recognizes MRMC for Work in Statewide Collaborative

LITTLE ROCK - Magnolia Regional Medical Center is one of 46 hospitals participating in the Hospital Engagement Network (HEN) led by the Arkansas Hospital Association (AHA) in partnership with the Health Research and Educational Trust (HRET).

The HEN project contract was awarded to HRET and other organizations nationally by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to support their Partnership for Patients campaign. The project assists hospitals in adopting new practices with the goal of reducing inpatient harm by 40 percent and preventable readmissions by 20 percent. A number of the state's other hospitals participate in HENs through other contractors.

Through the HRET HEN, the AHA offers specialized training, one-on-one technical assistance and peer-to-peer learning experiences to its participating hospitals. In addition, the AHA makes available access to national experts, toolkits, webinars and other resources to help hospitals stay on the cutting edge of quality improvement.

The project is broken into specific ares of work to improve quality of care in the following areas: adverse drug events, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, central line-associated blood stream infections, injuries from falls and immobility, obstetrical adverse events, pressure ulcers, surgical site infections, venous thromboembolism, ventilator-assisted pneumonia and preventable readmissions.

"Arkansas hospitals have a solid commitment to delivering the best quality care possible," says Pam Brown, RN, BSN, CPHQ, vice president for quality and patient safety at the AHA. "It is a privilege to work with the 46 hospitals in our HEN as they improve quality of care and to see the dedication from all levels of staff, from the administrators, physicians and front-line staff to those in housekeeping and nutritional care as they implement the latest and most effective evidence-based programs."

------------------------------------------------------
For more information:
Karen Weido
870-235-3212
kweido@magnoliarmc.org

Wave of Light Ceremony Planned

Each year on October 15, at 7pm in each time zone, families gather to remember the babies we have lost. Whether through pregnancy loss, infant loss, or the loss of a child, the memories of our babies forever have a place in our hearts.

Participants are invited to join us in this simple ceremony to light a candle in memory of our angels.  Parents, grandparents, and loved ones will be allowed the opportunity to mention those they light a candle for, or may participate silently.

Families may feel free to bring their own remembrance candle, but MRMC will provide candles for those that need them.  We will take approximately an hour to join those in our community as we remember our angels.

The MRMC Wave of Light Ceremony will take place in the MRMC Wellness park on the corner of Columbia and Jackson.


------------------------------------------------------
For more information:
Karen Weido
870-235-3212
kweido@magnoliarmc.org

Employee of the Month: October

Gina Smith has been named the October Employee of the Month at Magnolia Regional Medical Center.

Gina works in the Materials Management department and has been at MRMC for one year.  When she is not working, she enjoys life as a wife and mom to three boys.


------------------------------------------------------
For more information:
Karen Weido
870-235-3212
kweido@magnoliarmc.org