News from the University Hospital of Brooklyn | October 2021

A Message from David H. Berger, MD, MHCM, FACS
CEO of University Hospital of Brooklyn   

“Time flies like the wind; it’s like yesterday we started working together and today it’s a whole year.” -Anonymous

I find it hard to believe I have been back at University Hospital of Brooklyn and Downstate for a year. This has been a wonderful time for my family. In the past year, my wife Adrianne and I became grandparents for the first time, had our third daughter become engaged to be married, enjoyed holidays with our children in the Northeast, rekindled relationships with friends, and spent nearly every Sunday during the winter skiing. I am grateful that my return to Brooklyn has given us the opportunity to be close to family and friends.

Our team has accomplished a great deal in the past year.  Most importantly, we restarted our kidney transplant service. The entire Transplant team did an amazing job and we received full reaccreditation in June 2020.  In the first 10 weeks of the new fiscal year, we have already performed over 20 successful transplants. This year has also seen the revitalization of our Labor and Delivery service. With the recruitment of Dr. Camille Claire as the Chair of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and with the recruitment of Theresa Uva as our Nursing Director, we are well on our way to becoming the best Maternal/Child program in Brooklyn.

December saw the opening of our COVID-19 vaccine clinic. Tina Riha, Daniel Graves, Cynthia Margalit, and Patricia Winston were able to stand this program up in short order. Over 5,000 members of the Downstate community were able to receive this critical therapy that will pave the way to defeating COVID-19.

Under the leadership of Wren Lester, we have made significant strides in improving our patient satisfaction scores. We have improved our overall ratings for patient satisfaction from one star to three stars. A special shout out to Betty Jung and Dr. Sarah Marshall who have been spearheading our effort to contact patients within 48 hours of discharge. This past month we celebrated EVS week. David Charles our EVS Director was named Employee of the Month in recognition of his team achieving top quartile status in the patient rankings of hospital cleanliness.

Thanks to the entire team, but especially Delphine Mendez de Leon, Wren Lester, Lori Bruno, and Wolf Lacossiere for completing our strategic planning process. We will be rolling out the plan in the coming weeks with the start of our high reliability journey.

I have just named a few of our many accomplishments at UHB. We have been able to move the needle despite the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic. We face significant challenges as a result of this pandemic. The largest of these is the issue of widespread staffing shortages.  As you know by now we have put a vaccine mandate in place. Although this mandate has exacerbated our staff shortages this was the right thing to do. We will not get past the pandemic until all our staff are vaccinated. The staff shortages are not unique to UHB. This is a national problem without quick answers.  As a state institution, we are working daily with our colleagues in Albany to address this critical issue. We will continue working with our staff to ensure they are able to provide safe care.

In closing, I would like to thank you for what you do every day to care for each other and for the people of central Brooklyn.  We have only just begun in our effort to make University Hospital the “best place to get care and the best place to give care.”

Innovation through Interdisciplinary Rounds

Under the leadership of Dr. Mohammed Nakeshbandi, Cheryl Rolston, Dr. Mafuzur Rahman, and Susan Fraser-McCleary, Interdisciplinary Rounds (IDR)  has been implemented on five nursing stations: NS 61, NS 81, NS 82, NS71/73,  and NS 72. Each station was followed and audited for six consecutive months (see aggregated results from OPTUM below:

Rounds provided a forum for collaboration of the medical team including Facilitator, Doctors, Nurses, Care Managers, Social Workers, Pharmacy, Dieticians, Physical Therapy and all other ancillary staff. The team discussed and worked towards the patient/family members agreed upon goals, medical treatment, and disposition in order to prevent medically unnecessary length of stay (LOS) and avoidable admissions.   

The members of the team were trained and a workflow following best practices was given and initiated by the ER Care Coordination department to ensure appropriate admissions.

The goal of rounds:

1. Improve patient satisfaction results while decreasing excess days per patients;
2. Improve communication and collaboration between patient care teams and physicians;
3. Increase staff engagement and satisfaction;
4. Improve patient outcomes and satisfaction among care team members;
5. Reduce LOS;
6. Reduce Healthcare Cost;
7. Opportunity to involve patient and family members.

Rounds were audited daily, focusing on communication and collaboration between the care teams and the facilitator in regard to engagement, discharge summary, escalation of issues, follow up, and post-acute transitions—and to ensure all patients were discussed and all questions were clarified with a re-cap at conclusion.

All Nursing Stations exhibited improvement over the baseline year of 2019.    The IDR collaboration of the teams of professionals improved LOS, communication lag, and overall outcomes.

Total reduction in costs owing to Excess Days across all six Nursing Stations compared to the baseline year of 2019 was almost two million dollars.

Downstate’s Path towards the Walk to End Alzheimer's

We had 28 employees join Team UHB in Brooklyn on Sunday, September 19 for the 2021 Walk to End Alzheimer’s to raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Association/New York City Chapter. To date, Team UHB has helped raise over $22,000 to help end Alzheimer’s.

It was a great day with family, friends, and colleagues. We were able to build camaraderie, meet new people from all areas of the Downstate community, get some exercise, and raise funds for an important cause. Every dollar helped the Alzheimer's Association provide care and support to those facing Alzheimer's, all other dementias, and other neurocognitive disorders.

As you know, our very own Center of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease is doing an excellent job to fight Alzheimer’s by providing integrated, one-stop care for patients and caregivers.

If you would like to support Team UHB, click here.

Parents' Meals are Back!

The birth of a baby is a joyous occasion to celebrate. We are pleased to inform you that Parents' Meals have started again as of Sept 27, 2021. Providing a celebratory meal for the birthing person and their support person is one way we at Downstate want to help our obstetric patients celebrate their new addition. There is a menu provided for lunch along with a congratulatory card on the tray once the meal is provided. We feel that this is a great way to help our patients rejoice during this amazing time in their life.

Employee of the Month for August and September 

Amma Amanfo, RN

Nurse Amma Amanfo, RN, is our employee of the month for August 2021. Ms. Amanfo is very efficient, courteous, and effective while caring for her patients. She is always very pleasant while on her shift. Ms. Amanfo makes it her business to keep her patients in great health. Kudos to Ms. Amanfo who goes above and beyond the call of duty and is an asset to our hospital!

David A. Charles and Environmental Services

We would like to congratulate David A. Charles, who has been with Downstate since 2017 and is currently the Interim Director of Environmental Services, as September’s Employee of the Month.

In addition, we would like to applaud everyone in Environmental Services for helping us get outstanding HCAHPS scores in the 75th percentile for the hospital. Environmental Services excels at providing a safe and sanitary area for our patients, visitors, and staff. Mr. Charles and his team are committed to maintaining a high standard of excellence.

Mr. Charles says. “Leading the Department of Environmental Services has been a great honor. I am proud of my staff always going above and beyond their expected responsibilities to make Downstate a safe environment for our patients, visitors, and colleagues.”

Downstate Receives the City of New York Certificate of Recognition

On July 24, 2021, The City of New York Certificate of Recognition was presented to Downstate for its tremendous contributions to Brooklyn, especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic.  You can see the certificate signed by Mayor Bill de Blasio below.