University of Virginia Health System

Every day, you can enhance your patients' recovery and improve their satisfaction and also carve out time to chart your medications, have a care conference or get time for a meal. How? Observe Quiet Time. Research shows that being intentional in creating time for patients' rest by dimming lights, and reducing noise and interruptions promotes these positive outcomes. This initiative is supported by our patient satisfaction responses. Sadly, only 42% of respondents to our Patient Satisfaction surveys say they are pleased with the quietness of our hospital. Quiet Time means change for all of us. My hope is that you will be an active participant in promoting its success.  

Quiet Time is extending beyond the inpatient setting. Marilyn Pace, Manager, shares this example of its benefits in ambulatory care. "In the spirit of the new Quiet Time initiative, the staff of the Primary Care Center OB/GYN clinic decided to turn the waiting room television to the Relaxation Channel yesterday.  After lunch they returned to the news station and discovered a significant change in atmosphere and not for the better. This morning, with 90 patients scheduled, I checked with the front desk staff and they had made the decision to turn on the Relaxation Channel."  Access Specialist, Gwen Louderback stated, "What a difference. The waiting room was completely full, there was an atmosphere of calmness, patients appeared comfortable and patiently waiting."

I would love to hear more of these stories as well as the personal effects of Quite Time from you at AskPam@virginia.edu.

Pushpa Abraham, Janet Brock, Vicki Buffmire, April Burns, and Beth Mehring joined PNSO and VNA leaders, Jan Garnett, Walter Mason, and Terri Haller at the Center for American Nurses' national education conference, the LEAD Summit. The Center for American Nurses, http://centerforamericannurses.org, prepares nurses for advocacy to improve practice environments, meet personal and professional goals, and promote excellence in patient care. This conference is an opportunity to network with leaders from across the country and to develop leadership skills.

April Burns, RN, Clinician III, 6 Central, says: "the experience was fun, exciting, empowering, insightful and uplifting.  Nursing, united, is a force to be reckoned with. I was given tools and strategies to manage our ever-changing work force and to be successful in my chosen career. I made new friends, formed a lifelong bond with some PNSO colleagues whom I might not have met had it not been for the Summit because of the diversity in our chosen profession.  It was inspiring." 

Vicki Buffmire, RN, Clinician III, TCVPO, offers: "I was so impressed by the level of expertise and passion for excellence. I have been active in the AACN for many years but this was my first ANA conference. The patient safety, quality improvement and staff retention lectures were areas of interest and I found much to bring back to our critical care unit. It was refreshing to get re-grounded in the fundamentals and advocacy of nursing. I am grateful I was selected to attend and joined the ANA as a result."

Lorna Facteau 

Dr. Lorna Facteau joined us this summer as the Interim Administrator for Adult Inpatient Services.  Lorna recently retired from Inova Fairfax Hospital for Children following a nursing career spanning 40 years which included positions from the bedside to the classroom to the board room.  Dr. Facteau's position is the first to be filled in the restructuring of CCS adult inpatient services. Her role is designed to consolidate leadership for adult inpatient services and improving throughput, leadership development, and enhance the systems that support patient care and nursing practice. She will work closely with two new Directors for Adult Acute and Adult Critical Care.

It was possible to coax Lorna from retirement because we both recognized this as an opportunity to work, learn, and grow together. Lorna reflects, "this is also the opportunity to have colleagues again. I have been consulting for a few years and, while I love the flexibility, I MISS not having someone to talk to - someone to ask for feedback, someone to ask for advice, someone to share a cup of coffee." 

Dr. Facteau's assignment will continue through the late fall as we search for a permanent Administrator.

Lorna is firm about her time commitment and you will understand why. She spends winters in Vail, Colorado to be near her "current best fellow"- her first grandson, Felix. See the photo! Please extend a hand of friendship to Lorna when you pass her in the hallways of the Medical Center.

Click to see a listing of others that joined us in June.

Marcia Buck, Pharm D, Pharmacy Clinical Specialist for the Children's Hospital, was honored by the pediatric residents with the 2008 McLemore Birdsong Teaching Award. Marcia was recognized as an exemplary teacher, clinician, mentor and professional. Nancy McDaniel, MD, adds, "On behalf of the Department and the Children's Hospital I want to acknowledge what an asset Marcia is to our program in all of its missions-clinical, education and research." Congratulations Marcia. 

The Department of Social Work Community Service Committee organized a "cash donation" drive for the new UVA Hospitality House and collected $1550! The money will be used to purchase many useful items for guests that are traveling away from home with limited resources or those that unexpectedly find themselves or their family receiving care at our hospital. 

Geoff Barkley, LCSW, PhD, published an article, Factors Influencing Health Behaviors in the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey III (NHANES III), Social Work in Health Care. 2008; 46(4): 57-79.

William Potts, LCSW, directed the 5^th Annual Women's Transplant Symposium, "Living Well After Transplantation: A Female Perspective," held at Charlottesville's Omni Hotel. This unique symposium is dedicated to women who have undergone solid organ transplantation. Seventy-five women from the mid-Atlantic region participated in this conference, learning about important health care topics ranging from nutrition to skin care.

Patricia Doorley, RRT, FAARC, has been elected to a three year term on the Board of Directors of the American Association for Respiratory Care. This will be Pat's second time serving as a director on the national association board.

Chaplain Mildred M. Best has been elected Chair-Elect 2009-2010 of the Mid-Atlantic Region (VA, WV, MD, NC, DC) of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education (ACPE). ACPE establishes standards, certifies supervisors and is nationally recognized as an accrediting agency in the field of clinical pastoral education by the U.S. Secretary of Education through the U.S. Department of Education.