N E W S F R O M T H E R E G I O N ’ S P R E M I E R A C A D E M I C M E D I C A L C E N T E R

ADVANCES FEBRUARY 23, 2017

Program Spotlight:Kirmayer Healthy Lifestyle Center

New device helps caregivers monitor patients remotely

A small butterfly-shaped de-vice is making life radically better for patients with heart failure.

Called the CardioMEMS HF System, the wireless sensor doesn’t treat heart failure, but it does monitor the patient’s pulmonary artery pressure and heart rate. It then transmits reports to the patient’s care team, allowing them to adjust medications as needed and monitor heart function remotely.

“It’s like a pressure gauge,” explained cardiologist Andrew Sauer, MD, director of The University of Kansas Health System’s Heart Failure Program. “You can essentially forecast when someone’s about to have symptoms of heart failure by watching the trends.”

Frequent trips to the emer-gency room and hospitalization

are common for people with heart failure, a chronic disease in which the heart doesn’t pump enough blood to organs. Physicians typically use medi-cations, such as diuretics, to remove fluids that build up behind the heart.

With the new device, which

received FDA approval in May 2014, the patient’s dedicated care team – nurse practitioners, physician assistants and heart failure nurses – can monitor heart function on a regular basis and

adjust medications as needed, meaning fewer trips to the ED or diuretic infusion centers.

Our health system has implanted 29 CardioMEMS total since the first case in October 2015, providing a significant history for the device’s success.

“We’ve been able to see the technology is very safe,” Sauer said. “Generally, if you’re checking it twice a week, you can prevent hospitalizations of heart failure.”

Our first CardioMEMS patient, Charlie Chatman, was an ideal candidate. At 66, the Poplar Bluff, Missouri, man was struggling with four separate heart condi-tions, causing him to be hospital-ized three or four times a year.

But after receiving the paperclip-sized device through a minimally invasive procedure 16 months ago, he hasn’t been hospitalized since for heart failure. Said Sauer: “This really is a game changer for him.”

A forecast for heart failure symptoms

By the Numbers: Medical Reprocessing The University of Kansas Health System works with Stryker Sustainability Solutions to reprocess a variety of single-use medical devices, such as compression sleeves and pulse oximeters.

To suggest a By the Numbers, email Advances@kumc.edu.

$2.7 million Saved in 2016 by using reprocessed medical items.

During reprocessing, which is regulated by the FDA, devices are cleaned and disassembled, their parts inspected. Once rebuilt, devices are in-spected and function-tested again, and many devices are sterilized before shipping back to the customer.

Savings Diverted medical waste

2013 2014 2015 2016 2013 2014 2015 2016

2.7

2.5

2.3

2.1

1.9

1.7

1.5

37,500

35,500

33,500

31,500

29,500

27,500

25,5001.62 25,700

29,049

35,384

37,101

1.94

2.472.66

Above, during a checkup last sum-mer, Charlie Chatman reviewed his CardioMEMS pulmonary artery pressure data with cardiologist Andrew Sauer, MD. Right, the new device is about the size of a paperclip.

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Events CANCER FEARS – Worrying

about cancer recurrence is nor-mal and experienced by nearly everyone who goes through treatment, even years afterward. This group will provide emotion-al support for these fears and explore ideas that have helped others. The sessions are 1-2:30 p.m. Thursdays, March 2-16, at Turning Point: The Center for Hope and Healing in Leawood. Call 913-574-0900 to register.

THE ART OF LETTING GO – Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live in a home that was perfectly organized? Sometimes all we need is less. Learn practical tips on organizing and how to keep clutter at bay. The class, which will explore the values we attach to our things and why we have a hard time letting go, is 2-3:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 14, at Turning Point: The Center for Hope and Healing in Leawood. Call 913-574-0900 to register.

BLOOD DRIVE MAIN CAMPUS – The Community Blood Center will host a blood drive 7 a.m.-7 p.m. Wednesday, March 15, and Thursday, March 16, at the main campus Hixson Atrium. To register, go to esavealifenow.org and use uofkansas in the sponsor code field. Walk-ins are welcome. A bone marrow registry also will be held during the blood drive. The center is the primary supplier of blood to patients at The University of Kansas Health System.

HEAD AND NECK CANCER FUNDRAISER – “A Celebration of Taste,” the eighth annual tasting event hosted by The University of Kansas Cancer Center’s Head and Neck Cancer Support Group, is 6-8 p.m. Wednesday, April 26, in the Westwood Campus Atrium. The event features a motivational speaker and samples of local restaurants’ specialties. Cost is $20 per person. Information: Jane Myer, LSCSW, or Dorothy Austin, RN, at 913-588-3630 or 913-588-6576.

PROGRAM SPOTLIGHT

At Kirmayer, a prescription for exerciseSince its debut 27 years ago on

the south side of the main cam-pus, Kirmayer Healthy Lifestyle Center has served primarily students, staff and physicians at the University of Kansas Medical Center and The University of Kansas Health System.

But a new certification reflects how the 50,000-square-foot center is increasingly valuable to patients, too.

The certification is from the Medical Fitness Association. Although approximately 40 fitness facilities worldwide have received the designation, Kirmayer is the first university-based center to achieve it.

Kirmayer features cardiovas-cular equipment, a variety of tra-ditional and functional strength training equipment, racquetball/squash courts, a basketball court, two group fitness studios, a suspended walking/jogging track, a 75-foot aquatic lap pool and outdoor field space.

Staff at the center began work-ing toward certification three years ago. The process included an on-site inspection and review of its public services, which include a variety of group fitness

classes, nutrition guidance and individual personal training.

Unlike traditional gyms or health clubs, certified medical fitness centers focus on helping each person get fit inside and out, instead of emphasizing physical performance and per-sonal appearance. In addition, the staff at a medical fitness center incorporate exercise as medicine to help prevent diseases and control or reverse many chronic health conditions.

Leslie Ranney, Kirmayer’s senior coordinator, said the designation not only certifies Kirmayer has demonstrated the ability to provide safe and effective fitness programs; the

facility also is expected to better integrate fitness into patients’ ongoing healthy lifestyles or continuum of medical care.

Kirmayer’s personal trainers use a multidimensional approach to help participants make lifestyle changes, including basic nutrition education, behavior modification and physical activity.

Ranney said Kirmayer trainers are working closely with health system physicians to expand ways to integrate the facility’s resources into patients’ health plans.

“A lot of it is understanding that exercise can be a prescription, too,” she said. “It’s a lifestyle that is proactive rather than reactive when it comes to your health.”

EXPOSURE

Pedestrian bridge now has a nameA signature feature of The University of Kansas Health System’s Cambridge North Tower, set to open late this year, is a two-level pedestrian bridge. The bridge will bear the Burns & McDonnell name, thanks to a $2.5 million donation from the Burns & McDonnell Foundation, the foundation’s single larg-est gift ever. Burns & McDonnell board members who toured the facility last week (from left) were David Yeamans, Denny Scott, Julee Koncak, Chair and CEO Ray Kowalik and John Olander.

Corie Cutshall, a program assistant at Kirmayer, works with patient referral John Mendez.

New

s Brie

fsIn the NewsA recap of recent articles, TV segments and other media coverage of the region’s leading academic medical center

A RUSH FOR LONG-TERM IUDS UNDER TRUMP – The Kansas City Star, Feb. 17. More women fear losing access to reasonably priced birth control if parts of the Affordable Care Act are repealed. Many of the IUD devices can be costly out-of-pocket, running $700 to $1,200, said Valerie French, MD, an ob-gyn at The University of Kansas Health System. Before the ACA, French said she often found discussions about how much IUDs cost to be a “hard conversation to have” with patients. But now, “as a physician, it’s freeing to say, ‘These are your options, and none of them is going to break the bank.’”

SUPPORT FOR ‘COMPREHENSIVE’ CANCER CENTER – World News.com, Feb. 17. U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (Mo.) and Claire McCaskill (Mo.), along with members of the Missouri and Kansas congressional delegations, teamed up to support the designation of The University of Kansas Cancer Center as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute. “Designating KUCC as a comprehensive cancer center will enhance its ability to drive progress toward new, lifesaving cures and strengthen the role the entire Kansas City biomedical commu-nity plays in cancer research,” Blunt said.

MAKING HOMES HEALTHIER FOR SENIORS – Builder Magazine, Feb. 15. A University of Kansas professor is working with researchers at the University of Kansas Medical Center’s Landon Center on Aging to develop a new type of “smart floor” that could track residents’ biometric data and monitor their health. The floors would monitor heel strikes to determine “if someone has fallen, if there is a stutter in their step that is a precursor of Alzheimer’s disease,” said Joe Colistra, an associate profes-sor of design and planning. The sensors would be “sensitive enough to use predictive algorithms. They would be most useful to seniors.”

NEWBORNS’ OPIOID ADDICTION ON THE RISE – Fox 4 News, Feb. 7. A study predicts at least eight of every 1,000 babies born in Missouri will be addicted to opioids, a staggering increase, according to physicians at The University of Kansas Health System. “I think it goes back to how we’ve been prescribing opioids to adults, particularly to pregnant mothers,” said neonatologist Krishna Dummula, MD, MPH. “The threshold to treat pain has dramatically gone down over the years, which is why you’ve seen a fivefold increase in the amount of expecting mothers being on opioid medications of some sort.”

Love from the kitchen Dietetics staff at The University of Kansas Hospital made Valentine’s Day a little sweeter for patients. For the second year in a row, staff provided 400 heart-shaped sugar cookies for all patients (without dietary restrictions). Dietetics’ Marcella Berymon and Andre Burris prepared the cookies for delivery with lunch.

Breastfeeding efforts garner top ratingThe Family Medicine clinic at The University of Kansas Health

System has received a five-star rating, the highest possible, from the Kansas Breastfeeding Friendly Practice Designation.

Family Medicine staff have made a commitment to help the breastfeeding mothers they see each day to reach their breastfeeding goals, according to Kelsie Kelly, MD, MPH, Family Medicine’s assistant program director.

“Breastfeeding has many known benefits for mothers and infants, and we’re excited to provide the quality of care needed to help mothers and infants reach their potential,” she said.

Family Medicine nurses, for instance, are involved in breastfeeding education among pregnant women, as well as emphasizing the importance of skin-to-skin contact. Residents are focused on quality initiatives, including a research project to determine breastfeeding duration – how many months after birth they continue to breastfeed.

MyChart app: RN mom explains benefitsWondering when the kids’ shots are due or when you had

your last annual exam?You can get answers

when you need them via MyChart Mobile from The University of Kansas Health System. That’s why Elizabeth Weeks, RN, is a big promoter of the tool.

“It’s nice to be able to look up my records whenever I want to,” she said. “I was able to print out a copy of my daughter’s immunizations for school enrollment. It was so much simpler than requesting a copy from the office.”

Weeks also likes communicating with her care team on her phone. “It’s so much simpler to send my questions via the app instead of calling and waiting for a call back,” she added.

Using MyChart helps her engage more actively with her healthcare “because I can view things sooner and when it’s convenient for me,” Weeks said. “I love getting my lab results so quickly.”

If you’re already signed up for MyChart, you can download the app from your app store and follow the prompts to The University of Kansas Heath System’s MyChart. If you haven’t signed up for MyChart, you can do so during an office visit or online (mychart.kumed.com), then get the app.

Family Medicine’s team involved in breastfeeding education and research includes Kelsie Kelly, MD, MPH (seated); and (standing, from left) resident Megha Teeka Satyan, MBBS; Beth Ashby, LPN; Chelsea White, LPN; Karen Kurtenbach, RN; and resident Kylie Rhodes, MD.

Elizabeth Weeks, RN, displays the app icon for MyChart Mobile.

Our People OUR CHAPLAIN IN THE CAFETERIA – In the wee hours of the morning

at The University of Kansas Hospital cafeteria, you wouldn’t expect to see compassionate patient care on full display, but that’s a perfect time for Thomas Allen to do some of his best work.

Allen, who started as a third-shift cook at the cafeteria in September 2015, already is making a name for himself throughout the organization. And it goes beyond his deft skills at the grill.

One couple, whose young son faced a new cancer diagnosis, went to the cafeteria around midnight to get something to eat. They encountered Allen

cooking behind the counter and decided to share some of their dif-ficult and painful story with him.

“They expe-rienced a level of concern and compassion they didn’t expect whatsoever,” said Rebecca Moburg, RN, director of Patient and Family Centered Services, who met with the couple afterward.

“They thought they would get

an average meal with minimal human contact, but they walked away with some delicious pancakes and a restored faith in what we do at our hospital,” Moburg recalled. “They told me this story with tears in their eyes.”

Allen, it turns out, is more than a late-night cook. Such uplifting encounters with patients’ families and staff “happen every single night,” he admitted.

It’s easy to see why when you meet him. As associate minister at the Oak Ridge Missionary Baptist Church in Kansas City, Kansas, Allen displays a natural warmth and interest in others.

He calls it his “discernment,” an ability to sense others’ emotions. “I can tell when someone has something going on inside of them,” he said. “They open up to me.”

He’s using those skills to participate in The University of Kansas Health System’s Clinical Pastoral Education program, which will certify him as an on-call chaplain in the hospital.

He’s also received an Excellence in Caring Award, created to show that everyone in our health system, not just caregivers, can make a difference in patient care.

Allen has worked in the foodservice business more than 25 years, includ-ing as a young cook at a hospital in Michigan, where he’s from.

Yet it’s his role at our health system, he said, that is the most “impactful” for him since it gives him a daily, direct connection with patients, families and staff who could use a reassuring word or two – and a specially prepared hot meal – at all hours of the night.

A LEADER IN NEURO NURSING – Congratulations to Stacy Smith, RN, nurse manager of Neuroscience and ENT ICU (HC 9) at The University of Kansas Hospital, who has received the Certificant of the Year Award from the American Board of Neuroscience Nursing.

The award honors caregivers who “demonstrate outstanding leadership and contributions” to neuroscience and stroke nursing, mentoring, advocacy of staff and patients, and promotion of the CNRN (certi-fied neuroscience registered nurse) and SCRN (stroke certified registered nurse) certifica-tions, among other factors. She is our health system’s first recipient of the award.

In addition to her leadership role on HC 9, Smith, who has worked in the neuroscience nurs-ing field more than 20 years, also oversees staff in The University of Kansas Health System’s Movement Disorders Clinic, manages the Comprehensive Stroke Center and, until last year, managed the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center – encompassing approximately 90 employees in all.

Those programs’ growth and performances are one reason our health system’s Neurology and Neurosurgery service was ranked No. 22 in the nation last year by U.S. News & World Report.

“She is the first person who comes to mind when I think of neuroscience leaders – not only in our hospital but in our community,” added Sarah Langston, RN, HC 9 educator and a colleague of Smith’s for nearly 10 years. “She always stands up for her nurses if concerns arise, but she’s also a voice for the patient.”

ADVANCES

is a biweekly publication produced by:

The University of Kansas Health System Corporate Communications

5799 Broadmoor, Suite 700 Mission, KS 66202

Send story ideas to Advances@kumc.edu.

BOB PAGE, President and CEO The University of Kansas Health System

DOUG GIROD, MD, Executive Vice Chancellor University of Kansas Medical Center

KIRK BENSON, MD, President The University of Kansas Physicians

STAFF: Mike Glynn, Editor Kirk Buster, Graphic Designer

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Fact:25% more patients survive at NCI-designatedCancer Centers.

The University of Kansas Cancer Center is the region’s only National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center, offering leading edge options and better survival rates.

Call 913-588-1227 or visit kucancercenter.org.

Why would you go anywhere else?

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Smith