Mardigian Wellness Resource Center Communication

CVC Tech Squad 2013

Please see below information posted to the MWRC MBlog - http://mblog.lib.umich.edu/MWRC/.

Welcome back for the Winter 2013 semester, and thank you for volunteering with us. Your volunteering helps to make our Tech Program a success.

Re: Absences.
All absences should be reported before 8am the day of your shift or earlier if possible. Please do both - call and email, 734/232-4120 (leaving voice message is okay), and email both Beverly and cc: Amy Schroer (our new Librarian manager) at bmckinne@med.umich.edu and alsc@med.umich.edu. All absences can be made up on the same day at a different time or subbing for someone else a different day. Below are calendar and contact info on the CVC-MWRC intranet. Thank you. Beverly

https://sitemaker.umich.edu/mwrcintranet/home
https://sitemaker.umich.edu/mwrcintranet/volunteers
Volunteers contact information
Tech Squadl (iPod) Squad volunteers calendar

Welcome

Welcome to Amy Schroer. Amy is the new Patient Education Librarian for the Mardigian Wellness Resource Center (MWRC), UM Cardiovascular Center and the Patient Education Resource Center (PERC), UM Comprehensive Cancer Center. Amy started November 12, 2012.

RETURNING STUDENT VOLUNTEERS - Winter 2013

Re: CVC Tech Squad Schedule - Winter 2013 / Please reply

Thank you for your help during Fall 2012. Please contact Beverly at bmckinne@med.umich.edu to confirm if you’re also volunteering Winter 2013. If you’re returning, I need to know which day and shift. I will then forward your confirmation info to Volunteer Services. Our contact there is Karen Shill (kshill@med.umich.edu or 734-763-9567) before Friday, 12/14/2012.

FYI,
http://www.med.umich.edu/volunteer/about/dates.htm

RETURNING STUDENT VOLUNTEERS:
To renew your placement and/or change the time of your shift, contact us via phone, email, or walk-in during the Grace Period to discuss your schedule with a Volunteer Coordinator. Grace Period for Returning Student Volunteers (for Winter Term, 2013): Tuesday, November 27, 2012 through Friday, December 14, 2012 (Monday thru Friday between 9:00am 4:00pm.)

Absences

Thank you for all of your great help; we appreciate the good work you do for us.

Re: Absences. Please do both, call 734-232-4120 (leaving voice message is fine) and send two emails to 1/me (bmckinne@med.umich.edu) and 2/Amy Schroer, our new Librarian/Manager (alsc@umich.edu).

Emails and voice messages can be sent any time on previous days before your shift or no later than 8am the day you volunteer. Also, we appreciate when you plan in advance to schedule a day off. Thank you.

2012 Update for UMHS Flu Policy and Flu Vaccine Clinics

For All Volunteers and Staff:
Everyone who volunteers at the UMHS must receive a flu vaccine by November 30, 2012, or will be required to wear a surgical or isolation mask for all face-to-face patient interactions or when entering patient rooms during flu season, which typically lasts several months.

Flu shots are free for both staff and volunteers. The below websites have additional information and a list of flu shot clinics. Please let us know if you have any questions.

UMHS 2012-2013 Flu Information – http://www.med.umich.edu/u/flu/

Flu Information for Employees http://www.hr.umich.edu/mhealthy/programs/occupational/ohs/services/influenza/employee-resources.html

UMHS Flu Vaccine Clinics – http://hr.umich.edu/mhealthy/programs/occupational/ohs/services/influenza/flu-clinics.html

Update for UMHS Flu Policy and Flu Vaccine Clinics 2011

For All Volunteers and Staff:

UMHS joins dozens of other health care institutions nationwide in requiring influenza (flu) vaccination or protective mask use during flu season. This requirement applies to all members of the UMHS community who interact face-to-face with our patients in any way.

Everyone who volunteers at the health system must receive a flu vaccine by December 01, 2011, or will be required to wear a surgical or isolation mask for all face-to-face patient interactions or when entering patient rooms during flu season, which typically lasts several months.

Flu shots are free for both staff and volunteers. The below websites have additional information and a list of flu shot clinics. Please let us know if you have any questions.

UMHS 2011-2012 Flu Information
http://www.med.umich.edu/u/flu/

UMHS Flu Vaccine Clinics
http://www.med.umich.edu/u/hsh/fluoctschedule.pdf

After hours driver's license procedure change

Good afternoon,

MWRC and Public Safety have worked together to develope a new policy for driver's licenses that are not picked up from MWRC by 5pm.

Here is the new procedure for cases where an outpatient tech device is not returned and a driver's license remains at MWRC after 5pm.

1. A sign is placed on both front/side door to state that the driver’s license may be retrieved by calling security (6-7890) and the nearest house phone is located by the service entrance.
2. A call is made to alert Security 6-7890 that:
a. Driver’s license was left at MWRC
b. Security may be called to retrieve it.
3. The driver’s license box is left on the MWRC reception desk with a form/note security can use to indicate they gave license to patron and picked up device. If preferable, instead of a note, Security could leave a voicemail at 24120 (MWRC #) to say that you’d retrieved license and device left.
4. Security can leave device on reception desk – it is not viewable from outside and doors to the MWRC are locked with no access after hours. FYI, because of the Gift Shop merchandise, the policy is for cleaning to occur during the day time when the MWRC is open.
5. If the patron does not call about the driver’s license, our staff will follow up the next working day.

Thanks, Alexandra.

New Infection Control Procedures

Good afternoon everyone! I have some updates to our infection control procedures used on the iPods, iPads and laptops that we lend to patients in UMHS and at the CVC. Last week, Elsie, Beverly and I met with Melissa Thakur, an infection control specialist, to make sure that our laptop, iPad and iPod cleaning process was robust enough to make sure that our devices would not be the source of disease transmission at UMHS. While most of the process will stay the same, I wanted to share a few notable differences that came out of the conversation. I will also update the procedures on the MWRC intranet for reference.

1. The biggest change is that from now on, in addition to wiping down the surfaces (i.e., countertops) on which we clean the laptops/iPods at the beginning of the shift, we now wipe down that surface each time we clean a laptop/iPad/iPod. So let's say you set a "dirty" laptop down on the counter to get ready to clean it. You then clean it with a Lysol wipe, and before setting it back down on the counter, wipe the surface of the cabinet to make sure you are putting a "clean" device on a "clean" surface.

2. Contact precautions procedure changes: There are two changes to share about handling devices that were used by patients under contact precautions. Firstly, according to Melissa, all items removed from the room of a patient under contact precautions are supposed to be wiped down by nursing staff before leaving the room. To be sure, we will also continue our practice of wiping down devices used by patients under contact precautions with bleach wipes. The main change will be that we will no longer wipe the screens of laptops with bleach wipes. Since patients do not usually touch the screens of the laptops in the course of regular use, the risk of transmitting infection via the screen is low. In addition, I will be ordering Virex for the iPods and iPads, as bleach is counter-indicated for touch screen devices and can damage the screens. Continue using the bleach wipes on iPods and iPads until the Virex arrives.

3. Another note about contact precautions: Always bring devices used by patients under contact precautions back in a fresh clear bag with a "Contact Precautions" sticker on it. Make sure your cart is stocked with a couple of clean clear bags and a sheet of "Contact Precautions" stickers. This will ensure that the "dirty" devices don't touch anything "clean" in the PERC before the device gets cleaned.

These are the changes we've made to our procedures. If you have any questions at all, please ask Beverly or myself.

And to all our volunteers who are leaving us for the rest of the summer, and who may or may not be returning in the fall, thank you for your hard work!

Calling in when you will be absent- updated procedure

In anticipation of Beverly's upcoming vacation, I've updated the MWRC procedure to follow if you are going to be absent from your shift. This procedure can also be found in the Emergency Plan for Absences procedure page.

Here's the new procedure to follow:

Volunteers: If you are unable to come in to work your scheduled shift, please call the reference phone, 734-232-4120. If a person does not answer, please leave a message. In addition, please email both Beverly and Alexandra to let us know you will be out. asarkozy@umich.edu bmckinne@umich.edu

In case of last minute absences for full-time staff our phone tree is as follows:

Beverly will contact Alexandra by phone or by email.

Alexandra will contact Elsie. Elsie will then contact Beverly to let her know Alexandra is out. Volunteers will contact the Wellness Resource Center and leave a message 734-232-4120, and send an email to both Beverly and Alexandra asarkozy@umich.edu bmckinne@umich.edu

Emergency Preparedness Plan and Communications

It's important to be prepared for emergencies- whether a weather emergency, an electrical failure, or any other type of system failure, we at MWRC need to know what to do when our usual means of communication and movement through the building are compromised. In order to ensure that staff and volunteers are prepared for an emergency, I will be posting resources to this intranet, and also going over emergency plans on an individual basis with staff and volunteers, so that we all know what to do (or where to look for instructions) in the event that we need to use emergency procedures and communication channels.

Emergency fire and safety information are posted and are always available in my office in the MWRC. I invite you to review these resources and make yourself aware of emergency exits and evacuation plans for the Center.

UMHS has compiled a list of helpful resources available online at:
http://www.med.umich.edu/i/safety/EOP.html

In the event of system failures, here is a list of contacts and procedures that have been established by UMHS:

http://www.med.umich.edu/i/safety/emergency/EmergencyResponseGuide.htm

Watch this space for a formal emergency response policy and procedure in the weeks to come.

Great blog post about iPad loan programs in hospital libraries

There's a wonderful new post on iPad lending programs in hospital libraries on the blog Emerging Challenges, a column of the Journal of the European Association for Health Information and Libraries. While the post focuses on a lending program for clinicians, primarily for accessing PubMed and other biomedical research resources, it also contains great information on setting up a program, secure connections, applications, and process improvements that we can incorporate into our own lending program for patients.

Worth the read!

Thank you, Volunteers!

I would like to extend a big thank you and welcome to our summer tech and reference volunteers. Through your hard work and dedication, you make the programs and services we offer to patients and families of the CVC possible. Thank you Zoe, Allison, Vicki, Jimmy, Brad, and now Benadette. I look forward to getting to know all of you better as the summer goes on, and working together to make the MWRC the best it can be.

Patient Health Information (PHI) and the MWRC fax machine

The UMHS Compliance office has seen an increase in privacy incidents to mis-dialing of fax numbers. Misdirected faxes can result in a reportable HIPAA privacy violation, and we are encouraged to take steps to prevent this from happening.

To address this issue, we are taking the following steps:

1. When faxing information within UMHS, it is best to dial the 5-digit UMHS number rather than dialing 9+7+ten-digit number. When in doubt, dial 9+7+ten-digit number.

2. I've posted easy-to-read instructions on the back wall next to the fax machine about UMHS policies regarding fax machines and PHI. Please refer to this and/or ask me if you have any questions.

3. Reporting of misdirected faxes: if you send or receive any misdirected faxes containing PHI, please submit a Disclosure Log at http://www.med.umich.edu/u/hipaa/forms/Disclosure%20log.pdf

More information about PHI and the Compliance office is available at http://med.umich.edu/u/compliance/area/FaxingPHI/faxingphi.htm

Technology checkout program launched on CVC-4

I'd like to welcome CVC-4 to the iPod checkout program. This morning, after conversations with CVC-4 leadership, MWRC checked out its first laptop to a patient in the CVC-4 ICU. The nursing and desk staff have been made aware of all relevant policies, and a safe place for the laptops/iPods/iPads has been designated in the ICU. The CVC-4 Unit Host, Susan Mann, (7-7350) is our main contact person for the program.

CVC-4 will continue to refine their processes to incorporate the tech-checkout program into their workload. I'll keep you updated on any changes/improvements made to the program on their floor on this blog as they occur.

Happy Memorial Day weekend!

New Circulation Form

A new Circulation Form has been uploaded to the Forms section of this site. The new form reflects the addition of the Depression Center to the network of Resource Centers at UMHS. Welcome, FDERC!

I've removed the old form from the site; please use only the new form going forward when checking materials out to patients and families.

Alexandra