Our partners in the Continental Division, Presbyterian/St. Luke's has a policy in place that all patients need a set of vital signs within 2 hours prior to discharge to ensure patient safety.  

The attached policy outlines the requirement under assessment/reassessment. 

Please ensure you are familiar with the facility policy in which you are working in regards to Documenting the Provision of Care. 

Thank you for your dedication to PATIENT SAFETY!

Documentation of Provision of Care

EFD is preparing to go live on November 1^st with the transition from utilizing pin numbers to NT authentication for EMAR and BCTA. This conversaion will streamline user access across multiple systems and applications as well as improve safety and security.

Pin numbers will no longer be used to access EMAR and BCTA.  Users will instead use their network password for opening screens and filing documentation. 

Below is the go-live dates by market.

11/3: Kendall Regional

11/10: Aventura and Palm Beach

11/17: Mercy and Broward

11/24: Treasure Coast

Please review attached educational document

PIN to AD

Thank you for ALL you DO!

Please review the provided document in reference to level of mask protection and eye protection. 

In order to ensure protection, please continue universal masking and eye protection for care of all patients.

Masking/Eye Protection

Thank YOU for ALL you DO!

Our partners and colleagues in the West Florida Division at Central Florida Regional Hospital have provided some education on the telemetry escalation process. 

Please review this process and become aware and familiar with the telemetry escalation processes in the facility you are supporting. 

Telemetry Escalation

Thank you for your DEDICATION and COMMITTMENT to patient care!

This professional recognition program celebrates the most innovative and effective learning programs to train, upskill, and reskill temporary and contract employees across the U.S. Awards and honorable mention distinctions are conferred in award classes by company revenue. 

We are pleased to announce that our StaRN and StarTECH programs were honored with a 2020 American Staffing Association ELEVATE Award. This national awards program recognizes the most innovative and effective work-based learning programs to train, upskill, and reskill temporary and contract employees.

Since 2014, the HealthTrust Specialty Training Apprenticeship for Registered Nurses has trained 20,000-plus newly graduated nurses who otherwise would have faced substantial difficulties working in acute care environments.  The program bridges the skills gap and prepares the new nurse to care for patients as soon as they enter the facility. In recent years, the program has expanded to include StaRN PLUS and StarTECH. StaRN Plus provides intensive specialty training to experienced licensed nurses and combines classroom instruction, eLearning, simulation experiences, and hands‐on clinical training at sponsoring HealthTrust client facilities. Depending on the specialty track, the program runs for 10–22 weeks and the nurses are paid during the term. StarTech is a three-week, client-paid program for certified nurse assistants that combines classroom instruction, electronic health record practice, and hands‐on clinical training in acute hospital settings. To date, approximately 1,000 CNAs have participated in StarTech.

For more information about ASA and the ASA Elevate Awards, visit americanstaffing.net.

Here is a personal story from one of our own HWS team members. Read as he shares his experience being the recipient of care at an HCA Healthcare facility where we truly care like family.

"I am writing this as a gesture of gratitude toward some truly exceptional people.  I am 4 weeks past the most challenging, life-changing experience of my life.

In early August I had a CT scan due to some lingering abdominal pain, I feared it could be a hernia. On Monday, August 10^th I got a call from my primary care physician’s office that shocked me.  I am a relatively young and healthy person and what comes next I could not have imagined.

The CT scan discovered a very large mass on my right kidney and I was advised to see my urologist immediately. My urologist at St. David’s North Austin Medical Center rushed me in to an appointment the next day. The prognosis sounded bleak to me, but my urologist was excellent providing guidance. Most likely I had advanced kidney cancer, with the tumor consuming my entire right kidney.  The tumor was roughly double the size of my left kidney and much larger than a typical tumor with this type of cancer.

The week that followed was a battery of tests at St. David’s North Austin Medical Center and St. David’s Surgical Hospital. On Wednesday, August 19^th, I had a radical nephrectomy to remove my right kidney and the 16cm tumor that had completely consumed it. After a few days that felt like an eternity, my Urologist called me with the pathology results. The tumor was stage 4 clear cell renal carcinoma and in my urologist’s review of the pathology report, his opinion was that the surgery was curative.

By the grace of God and the amazing people at St. David’s I am alive, and hope to live a long healthy life. I was terrified through all of it, but the care and compassion I got from everyone at both St. David’s facilities was truly incredible. When I say everyone, I mean EVERY SINGLE PERSON – the schedulers who understood my urgency and worked to get each of my tests and my surgery lined up as quickly as possible, the smiling screeners at the entrances who greeted me quite a few times over the span of 2 weeks, the nurses who healed, comforted, and reassured me, and of course the urologist who I cannot adequately thank.

(Brad Andress - Division Vice President, Central and West Texas)

I also could not have asked for a better leadership team at HealthTrust, they were beyond supportive and accommodating to my testing and surgery schedule on short notice. More importantly, they truly cared and it was obvious with every conversation, every thought and prayer for good health that I received.  

I have been employed by HCA (through HealthTrust) for a little over a year and it has been a great personal and professional experience for me, to say the least. When I have the chance to speak with other HCA employees I always like to hear their stories.  During pre-op I asked the nurse who was starting my IV how she got to St. David’s North Austin Medical Center. She told me that after 35 years at another local hospital she returned to St. David’s. When I asked why she told me “They just care more here”. I couldn’t agree more.

I have never been more excited, more passionate, or more motivated, to put all my effort into a company and their mission.

At HCA Healthcare, we are committed to the care and improvement of human life. 

I’m alive and healthy because that’s true and our teams live our mission. Thank you to everyone who I came into contact with at St. David’s North Austin Medical Center and St. David’s Surgical Hospital, including those who I spoke with but never met. Through the most challenging time of my life you made a difference and I will be eternally grateful."

Thank you for all you Do!

The Medfusion Syringe Pump delivers blood, blood products, prescribed drugs, and other fluids into a patient's body in a controlled manner. Due to a software error, if a bolus or loading dose is interrupted and a specific sequence of events occurs, over or under-delivery of a bolus or loading dose may occur. 

Please review the huddle card to ensure you:

• Reviewed and understand the information
• Will follow the guidelines to avoid infusion administration errors
• If a potential patient safety issue related to the Medfusion pump is identified, the chain of command will be activated

Huddle Care: MedFusion

Thank you for your dedication to Patient Safety!

Imagine you are a new graduate RN contemplating that first step in your patient career. Like swimming, should you dive into the deep end of the pool now with all the fear and anxiety associated with it? Or should you try shallow water, continuing your learning process through program classes tailored to your needs and interests, ensuring your development and growth in a specialty you will love?

Welcome to the highly successful StaRN program at Sunrise Hospital. New graduate RNs are recruited to help Sunrise Hospital meet the growing demand for nurses today and tomorrow, while helping them gain training and experience in a structured environment and pace. 

(Noelle Norris, RN)

"When I graduated nursing school and I applied for the StaRN program, I was over the top with excitement when I got picked to be a part of Sunrise Hospital's program," exclaimed Noelle Norris, RN. "The program really taught me to learn to trust my own nursing skills but also develop new nursing skills in the process."

Interest in the StaRN program among new RN grads is at an all-time high. "Our StaRNs continue to increase every year," said Cyndi Johnson, Chief Nursing Officer at Sunrise Hospital. "We started as low as 48 in 2015. As of 2019 we're up to 164 and 2020, thus far we're at 98. And we'll be hiring another 55 in September and October from Critical Care to Med Surg and Emergency Room."

First steps for our StaRNs? Six weeks of classroom instruction, followed by going to the floors for a six to 10-week orientation depending on the floor and specialty. 

(Aly Andres, RN)

"You learn everything hands on and even stuff that you didn't learn in school," explained Aly Andres, RN. "You get a feel of what your unit family is going to be like. I got to meet a lot of friends in here too. I got to work alongside patients and their families. To see someone who's been here for a long time and wasn't ambulatory and eventually gets stronger then gets discharged, it's like, 'wow I watched you get better!' And their families also coming to thank you and all, that's very rewarding."

StaRN's success will continue setting the curve for high retention rates. "When we started the program in 2015, retention was about 50 percent. Since that time we gained every single year. I'm very pleased we're at 93 percent this year," Johnson said. 

"Honestly, I don't know what kind of nurse I would be if I hadn't been a part of the StaRN program," added Norris. "I really feel like this program is how you become a better nurse."

The HCA Education Team has released a HealthStream course that contains three educational videos, providing an overview of NATE, C-ARDS, and SOFA. 

The Intended audience are clinicians who utilize the NATE, C-ARDS, SOFA Tools. 

To access the course via self-enrollment, please login to HealthStream and search the catalog for:

HHCCA:NATE, C-ARDS, SOFA Overview

Completion Time: 56 minutes.

This is not a required course but a continued educational offering.  

Thank you for ALL your HARD WORK and DEDICATION to patient care!