A Publication for NMMC Employees

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hat’s Inside… Confidence Building ..........p. 2 EOM ................p. 3 Service Pins ..................p. 4 Routine Phone Call ......p. 5 20th Birthday ..........p. 7 Retirement ......p. 8

Volume 14, Number 10

June 16, 2006

NMMC Named National Top Performer MMC has been named one of the nation’s top performance improvement leader hospitals by Solucient, the nation’s leading source of health care information products. NMMC and its senior management team were recognized for being in the top 100 hospitals making the greatest progress in improving hospital-wide performance over five years (20002004). These organizations have set national benchmarks for consistent improvement in clinical outcomes, safety, hospital efficiency, financial stability and growth. Findings from the third edition of Solucient’s 100 Top Hospitals®: Performance Improvement Leaders study appear in the May 1, 2006, issue of Modern Healthcare magazine. NMMC is one of only four hospitals nationwide to have made Solucient’s list every year since it debuted in March 2004. “Performance Improvement Leaders have led their organizations to improve hospital-wide performance consistently, year-afteryear, at a substantially higher rate than peers across the United States,” said NMMC President Chuck Stokes. “This recognition reflects our staff and physicians’ dedication to improve the quality of care they provide.” The study found that PI Leaders made the following gains between 2000 and 2004:

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•They have fewer than expected complications, deaths and safety events. •They improved financial stability going from being barely profitable to achieving a healthy positive profit margin of 5.8 percent. •They discharge patients two-thirds of a day earlier than five years ago. •They increased expenses by only 8 percent, while similar hospitals’ expenses increased 20 percent. •They grew their patient volume 5.3 percent, while their peers lost 1.5 percent of their patient voume. “Our physicians and staff take great pride, and our community should as well, in knowing that Solucient, one of the top healthcare information organizations, has recognized NMMC among the leading hospitals in the United States, right here in Tupelo, Miss.,” said Ken Davis, M.D., NMMC’s chief medical officer. “Every outside organization that reviews our quality recognizes us as one of the best.” Solucient’s 100 Top Hospitals: Performance Improvement Leaders study analyzed acute care hospitals nationwide using detailed empirical performance data from years 2000 through 2004, including publicly available Medicare MedPAR data, Medicare cost reports, and Center for Continued on page 2

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Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) outpatient data. Facilities recognized on the PI Leader list are represented across five hospital classes: •Major Teaching—15 •Teaching—25 •Large Community, 250+ Beds—20 •Medium Community, 100 to 249 Beds—20 •Small Community, 25 to 99 Beds—20 NMMC was one of 25 top teaching hospitals selected from a peer group of

377 hospitals across the United States for Solucient’s Top 100 recogni tion. The study looked at all U.S. hospitals licensed to treat Medicare patients. Nine performance measures were examined at each hospital: risk-adjusted mortality and complications, average length of stay, expenses, profitability, cash-to-debt ratio, growth in patient volume, tangible assets, and riskadjusted patient safety index. Information on this study and other 100 Top Hospitals research is available at www.100tophospitals.com. ✔

NMMC-West Point Directors Try Confidence Building Event

Department directors from North Mississippi Medical Center-West Point donned gear to rappel or “free fall” from the tower pictured in the background. This adventure capped off a full day of team-building exercises during the COPE (Challenging Outdoor Personal Experience) course held at Camp Seminole near Pheba on May 12. Participants include (kneeling, from left) Tracy Stebbins, Nancy Turnage, Nikki Holton, Brenda Johnson, Paula Norman, (middle row, from left) Ginger Carver, Jason Armstrong, Athena Adams, Jane Windle, Carlie Godwin, Teresa Johnson, (back row, from left) Joey Faulkner, Michele Rowe, Tim Moore, Robert Huffman and Glenda Brinkley.

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Breast Care Specialist Selected May EOM ina Stevens, RN, has been named North Mississippi Medical Center’s Employee of the Month for May. Stevens, who serves as a breast health specialist at the NMMC Breast Care Center, has been with NMMC for 14 years. She previously served as a registered nurse in the NMMC Surgery Department. In Stevens’ nomination for the monthly honor, her service line administrator wrote, “Her No. 1 focus is to provide the highest quality care to our patients in a compassionate and timely manner. She is always sensitive to the fact that our Breast Care Center patients, especially ones who are awaiting results on a suspected prob-

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lem, have a high anxiety level about the outcome of their test results. Tina assures them that her only job is to be there to support them. Many, many patients have commented about how they could not have made it through the process without our breast health specialists.” A graduate of New Site High School, Stevens received her associate’s degree in nursing from Northeast Mississippi Community College in Booneville. She is a certified breast health specialist and a certified Mammacare® specialist. She and her husband, Tim, have two children and one grandchild. They are members of Saltillo First United Methodist Church.

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Tina Stevens is congratulated by her coworkers on receiving the May Employee of the Month honor.

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Service Pins Awarded he following employees received service pins in recognition of service milestones.

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Five Years NMHS Jessica Hudson NMMC Crystal Biffle, Tammie Chambers, Marsha Ferguson, Kimberly Floyd, Leslie Gordon, Leslie Hatcher, Tonette Haynes, Anitra Hooks, Michelle Jernigan, Amy Kent, Chrissy Lovern, Barbara Maddox, Alison Mitchell, Casandra Needham, Summer Palmer, Brianne Rogers, Katrina Shannon, David Spain, Norene Todd, Tina Wallin, Wonia Wright Baldwyn Nursing Facility Patricia Eaton Behavioral Health Regina Bennett, Kathy Evans, Thomas Whitty NMMC-West Point Lyndon Johnson, William Parker, Susan Terry Home Health Catherine Davis, Nicole Hall NMMC-Iuka Betsy Hardin NMMC-Pontotoc Kimberly Crow, Denise Morgan NMMC-Eupora Barbara Edwards Women’s Hospital Kelly Thompson Ten Years NMHS Denise Bostick, Laurie Galloway, Marla Harris, Sarah Stephens, Kelly Terry NMMC Theresa Greenhaw, Larry Lindsey, Diane McNeil, Lisa Renfroe, Sonya Roper Behavioral Health Tressie Moore NMMC-West Point Liza Burroughs, Rita Castle, Katherine

Lenarduzzi, Melissa Orr, Georgia Williams Clinics Linda Johnson, Alice Swords, Martha Wilkes Home Health Esteria Huggins NMMC-Eupora Bethany Cooper, Cherry Montana Fifteen Years NMHS Judy Murphy NMMC Jill Beggs, Dena Doss, Jennifer Frensley, Cynthia Holman, Mark Hopper, Vince Langford, Donna Lewis, Margaret Lofton, Jennifer Mack, William Watson NMMC-West Point Almon Griffin-McKinney Clinics Patricia Long Home Health Kim Bagwell NMMC-Eupora Phyllis Bell Twenty Years NMHS Renardo Bean NMMC Loretta Payne, Kathy Stegall, Edna Ware Baldwyn Nursing Facility Jane Hargett Twenty-Five Years NMMC Angela Herring, Lue McKinney, Joyce Olmstead Home Health Katherine Hoard Thirty Years NMMC-West Point Rosie Tallie Forty Years NMMC-Iuka Vera Carson

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Routine Phone Call Saves Heart Patient’s Life stranger on the other end of the phone line may have saved Margie O’Rear’s life. The 62-year-old New Site resident said she hadn’t felt well for a few days but attributed it to her diabetes. “That Saturday and Sunday, I pretty much stayed in bed,” she said. “Monday, I knew something was wrong. I had pain under my left breast and left shoulder, and in my neck under my jaw.” The pain and queasiness continued on into the afternoon. “I was hurting and I was kind of short of breath,” she said. “But I was so nauseated and just a sticky sweat. I had never felt anything like that in my body before.” O’Rear has a heart murmur and has seen a cardiologist for three or four years, although she said, “nothing major has ever shown up.” She was scheduled for a test the following week at Cardiology Associates of North Mississippi, so accounts specialist Connie Boren called her to discuss insurance issues. “I guess she could sense it in my voice,” O’Rear said. “She asked me if I was okay, and I told her no, that I thought I might be having a heart attack but I wasn’t having the classic symptoms.” “When she told me she was nauseated and breaking out in a cold sweat, I recognized those symptoms from when my mother had a heart attack 14 years

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ago,” Boren said. “I told her she needed to hang up with me and call 9-1-1. I told her I would call her husband at work and let him know, but that she needed to stay on the line with 9-1-1.” O’Rear did call 9-1-1, which dispatched an ambulance. “I don’t know what came over me, but I gathered all my medicine and put it on the table and wrote down Dr. Jimmy Johnson’s name and the amount of insulin I was taking,” O’Rear said. “I guess I just wasn’t sure if I would still be able to give this information by the time the ambulance got here.” An off-duty paramedic heard the call and drove to her house. He checked her blood pressure, which had skyrocketed, and she handed him the information she had written down. “I was just so out of it by then,” O’Rear said. Meanwhile, back at the Cardiology Continued on page 6

Margie O’Rear (right) stopped by Cardiology Associates of North Mississippi to thank Connie Boren for helping save her life.

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Associates office, Boren called O’Rear’s husband at work. “I told him not to drive fast but to go on home,” she said. “It scared me but I didn’t want to alarm him.” While Boren was calling the husband, a coworker was dialing 9-1-1 to make sure O’Rear had gotten through to them. Dispatchers in Lee County assured her that the Booneville ambulance was on its way. O’Rear was treated in the NMMC Emergency Department and admitted for tests. The following morning she underwent cardiac catheterization, which found a blockage in one of the blood vessels. After angioplasty to open the blocked vessel, cardiologist Roland “Butch” Guest, M.D., inserted a stent to keep it open and restore blood flow. “I worried about it all night,” Boren said. “The next morning I called the hospital and spoke with her husband. I just wanted to make sure she was alright.” O’Rear has already been for one follow-up visit and was told she has a strong heartbeat and good blood flow.

Had it not been for Boren’s insistence, O’Rear might not have been so lucky. “I just think the Lord had Connie call me,” she said. “I’m thankful that I took her advice.” Heart Attack Warning Signs Chest discomfort. Most heart attacks involve discomfort in the center of the chest that lasts for more than a few minutes, or goes away and comes back. The discomfort can feel like uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain. Discomfort in other areas of the upper body. Can include pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach. Shortness of breath. Often comes along with chest discomfort. But it also can occur before chest discomfort. Other symptoms. May include breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or light-headedness. Symptoms in women may be different than men and include sleep disturbances, shortness of breath, fatigue, indigestion and chest pain.

Take the Test 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9.

Do you have a family (parent, brother or sister) history of early heart disease? ___ Yes ___ No Do you have heart or circulatory problems? ___ Yes ___ No Have you ever had a stroke? ___ Yes ___ No Do you have diabetes? ___ Yes ___ No Do you smoke or are you exposed regularly to secondhand smoke? ___ Yes ___ No Has anyone in your family had high cholesterol? ___ Yes ___ No Have you ever had high blood pressure? (BP>140/85) ___ Yes ___ No Are you over 55? ___ Yes ___ No Do you eat foods that are high in saturated fat (such as fast foods, eggs, sweets, or foods with lots of butter or cheese)? ___ Yes ___ No 10. Are you overweight? ___Yes ___No 11. Do you engage in aerobic activity that is 20-30 minutes in duration, at least 3 times per week? ___ Yes ___ No 12. Do you handle your current stress load well? ___ Yes ___ No If you answered “yes” to any question between 1 and 10 or answered “no” to question 11 or 12, you are at an increased risk for heart disease. Further evaluation is warranted.

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Surgery Center Celebrates 20th Birthday orth Mississippi Ambulatory Surgery Center celebrated its 20th birthday June 2 with cake for visitors, staff and physicians. North Mississippi Medical Center opened the outpatient surgery facility on June 3, 1986, at 500 W. Eason Boulevard (the current location of the NMMC Breast Care Center). As the demand for outpatient surgery generated a need for more space, NMMC built a new facility in 2001 at 589 Garfield to house the surgery center as well as NMMC’s Center for Digestive Health. The new surgery center is three times the size of the original structure. In November 2003, the surgery center became a joint venture with NMMC owning the majority interest and a group of 15 physicians owning the remainder. The name was changed to North Mississippi Ambulatory Surgery Center, and operating privileges are not limited to the physician co-owners. Surgeons performed 5,971 procedures at North Mississippi Ambulatory Surgery Center during 2005. Specialty procedures include otolaryngology (ear, nose and throat), orthopedics, ophthalmology, plastic surgery, dentaloral surgery, and

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urology. The most frequent surgical procedures are ear tubes, tonsils and adenoids, knee arthroscopy, cataracts, dental restorations and carpal tunnel release. Over the center’s 20-year history, many procedures that once required hospitalization are now done on an outpatient basis, including ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) repair of knees, rotator cuff repair of shoulders, and certain cosmetic surgeries including tummy tuck and breast reduction. Of the center’s 50 employees, four were on the original staff - including Irene Mabry, Ann Stanford, Johnnie Mimms and Connie Robbins. Several of the original physicians are still performing surgery or administering anesthesia there—Drs. Jim Cooper, Malcolm McAuley, Harold Hudson, Joseph Chappell, Tom Wesson, Matt Wesson, Clyde Phillips and Alex Bibighaus.

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Celebrating the 20th birthday of the North Mississippi Ambulatory Surgery Center are original staff and physicians (from left) Connie Robbins, RN, charge nurse of pre-op and Post-Anesthesia Care Unit; Ann Stanford, PACU unit secretary; Dr. Jim Cooper, anesthesiologist; Irene Mabry, RN, pre-op; Dr. Clyde Phillips, orthopedic surgeon; and Johnnie Mims, surgical instrument coordinator, Central Sterile Processing.

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Starling Ends Forty Year NMMC Career adiology receptionist Ruby Starling retired May 31 from North Mississippi Medical Center after more than 40 years of employment. “All I know is ‘hospital,’” Starling said. “It’s home away from home.” A resident of the Evergreen community in Itawamba County, Starling began her career at NMMC shortly after graduation from Nettleton High School. After three years, she left briefly to work at the Amory hospital. Starling came back to NMMC in September 1966 as the Radiology Department’s only file room clerk. When she was hired, the Radiology Department was located where Supply/Processing/Distribution (SPD) is now, the staff was small and Dr. Jack Stacy was the only radiologist. Digital storage has made the biggest impact on Starling’s career. “When I started out, everything was done by

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hand—there were no computers. When we needed copies of an X-ray, I made copies on the machine,” she said. “Today, most everything is stored digitally. We print them directly from the PACS (Picture Archiving and Communication System) onto Xray film if someone needs a copy. Occasionally we’ll pull an old X-ray from the file that someone needs, but usually we look them up on a computer.” Starling is looking forward to retirement and plans to do some “rearranging” and redecorating at home, work in her flower garden, read and crochet. She is married to Ray Starling and has three adult children—Ricky Payne and Wanda Pettigrew of Nettleton, and Randy Starling of Evergreen—and one granddaughter. The Starlings attend Limestone Baptist Church in Nettleton.

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Radiology Department coworkers surprised Ruby Starling with a beautiful, engraved mantel clock during her retirement reception May 24.