Four-plus Questions

Good morning!

In fiscal and academic terms, yesterday signaled the start of a new year. And I can certainly say that I’m very much fine with seeing the 2020-21 year behind us. I don’t think it is hyperbole to say it was the most difficult we’ve ever faced. But we made it and I believe we’re now stronger than ever before – we are #UMMCStrong.

Thank YOU for all that you did over the past year. I know at times it wasn’t easy, but I was so impressed with how dedicated each of you were to your role, your duties, this institution, Mississippi and most of all, the patients or learners under your watch. I’m so very proud to call each of you a colleague.

Usually, I respond to questions and comments you send me on the last Friday of the month, but pushed that to today so I would be able to last week honor the faculty and staff who retired from the Medical Center with 25 or more years of continuous service. Just as a reminder, I read all of your questions and comments and enjoy hearing from you. I’m not able to respond to them all in this space, but I pass the rest along to senior administrators for their review and possible action. 

Q:  Dr. Woodard, my question is in reference to laboratory professionals. UMMC offers the Medical Laboratory Science Program in the SHRP and this program produces Medical Laboratory Scientists. This is also the title that is listed on our certification once we pass the board of certification exam through ASCP. However, as an UMMC employee we are called Reg Medical Technologist. Is it possible for laboratory professionals to be given the title listed on our license? UMMC would be one of the first hospitals in Mississippi to make this change and I believe that it would be a positive change for the medical laboratory professionals at UMMC.

A:  When I think back on the many successes we experienced related to our response to the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the groups I think about as exemplifying “stepping up” is our laboratory professionals. This group of health care heroes put in long hours and brought all of their training, experience and ingenuity to bear to do whatever they could to assist our clinical enterprise during the pandemic – and Mississippi as a whole. Our labs essentially became extensions of the State Health Lab, which would have never been able to keep up with the testing demands for the entirety of the state. So, it gives me great pleasure to be able to respond positively to this request.

I sent this VC Notes submission to Dr. Tim Allen, chair of pathology, and Kathy Shields, administrative director of lab services, to get their feedback and they overwhelmingly agreed. They assert that our group of lab professionals who hold a medical laboratory scientist license should have a title at UMMC that reflects “the level of education and training that is required to produce high-quality results in complex testing as well as the important role that each one plays in patient care.” Also, according to major accrediting agencies, the medical laboratory scientist title is preferred.

The next stop on this investigation was Human Resources who also responded positively and is ready to work with clinical operational leaders to find out what it will take to make this change and get it done. No timetable on anything just yet but it’s great that it looks like this title switch will be occurring soon. Great suggestion!

— — — 

Q:  Is there a reason that the hospitalists were excluded from all the blue posters on the 1st floor walls between the cafeteria and the adult hospital? They saw nearly every single covid patient in the hospital for 5 straight months in 2020 and deserve to be in the display of acknowledgements.

A:  In addition to this question, I heard from other people who wondered why their group wasn’t represented among the blue wall clings put up for Patient Safety Week to highlight clinical accomplishments. That was a fun week and I loved the Olympics-themed celebrations and activities. Patient Safety Week activities are mostly put on by our Office of the Chief Medical Officer so I reached out to them to find out more on the process used to produce those clings. Certainly, our hospitalists are a vital member of our care team and I’m sorry to hear they, and others, felt left out.

As is usually the case, an organization our size encounters challenges when getting something new off the ground. The CMO’s office enlisted the help of nursing leadership in developing its concept of showcasing clinical achievements as part of Patient Safety Week. The office sought assistance with locations to display achievements and every area that responded had a poster displayed. Since then, comments like yours and others directed to the CMO’s office show how popular the clings were and how the process will need to include other provider groups. Plans are already being made for next year to expand the participation in this event, including reaching out to academic departments. We appreciate your feedback and will use it to guide planning for next year.

— — —  

Q:  Is it still necessary to wear a mask with your face shield in clinic or the hospital even if you've been fully vaccinated or this is still the policy?

— — — 

Q:  I'm so thankful to work for a health system that allowed me to be one of the early recipients of the Covid-19 vaccine. What are the thoughts surrounding a booster dose? The different virus variants have me concerned.

— — — 

Q:  I have already been vaccinated, but I feel it would be an incentive for others to get vaccinated if we could follow the CDC guidelines and have the option to NOT wear masks if vaccinated. That would have definitely been an incentive for me to get the vaccine if I had not already done so.

A:  I grouped these three items submitted to the VC Notes inbox because they all touch on similar topics – masks and the COVID-19 vaccine. There are others like these, but these are good representations.

Here’s some thoughts responsive to these types of questions/comments:

• Our UMMC Mask Use Policy is still in effect. This includes wearing a mask according to the policy even if you choose to wear a face shield or are fully vaccinated.
  
  
• Booster doses are not required or suggested at this time. When CDC updates their vaccination guidelines, we will follow suit.
  
  
• We are lucky to have expert virology researchers among us, so we are keeping a keen watch on the different virus variations in our state. But at present, none of the known variants change the need to get vaccinated.
  
  
• Whether you are having to wear a mask while at work or not, to create the safest environment, all UMMC employees and students should be vaccinated. Two of our highest priorities are providing excellent, safe patient care and creating a safe environment for our employees and students. Having everyone here vaccinated checks off both of those boxes. We need to do all that we can to get closer to 100% vaccinated for the protection of our patients and each other. We are currently looking at how we can best ensure all of our faculty, employees and students are indeed vaccinated.
  
  
• If you have not already, please help us show unequivocally that we put our patient’s safety first and get vaccinated. We should lead in this space for Mississippi.

— — — 

Q:  Staffing is a constant struggle in the nursing units. Some nurses are working part of day shifts and then returning the same date to work night shifts too. It is taking a toll on their personal lives, personal health, and work/life balance. What is being done on an administrative level (not manager or director) regarding recruitment and retention of nurses?

A:  Let me first say how appreciative I am by the commitment our clinical staff have made to caring for Mississippians during maybe the worst public health emergency ever. Yes, attracting, hiring and retaining the number clinical staff needed for a health system our size is – and may always be – a challenge and one made much harder during and following COVID-19. This pervasive challenge is one of the primary reasons we engaged Healthier Mississippi People as UMMC’s preferred staffing partner. HMP is able to offer employment packages that widen the pool of potential applicants for nursing and other positions within UMMC facilities. HMP employees appreciate what HMP can offer them and UMMC appreciates a partner that is an additional resource to help us bring in and retain more clinical staff. We place a priority on doing all we can to support our staff, including measures that establish a healthy work environment. 

As of last Friday, 41 HMP employees were filling positions of a patient care role within a UMMC facility like acute care med-surg, OR and cath lab nurses. Another 50 HMP employees are onboarding and will be supplementing our workforce soon in other positions including techs and respiratory therapists. Soon, other job types will be added to those available to fill through HMP as UMMC clinical leadership identifies and prioritizes the needs.

In addition to this new staffing partner relationship, we continue to engage in our internal clinical recruitment processes and are onboarding weekly more than 60 clinical UMMC employees to fill positions of need. We still rely on the assistance of the travel/temporary pool of nurses to help in certain areas. And we are always looking into opportunities to incentivize clinical staff to bring and keep their talents at UMMC. 

Constant turnover is a part of the industry, made worse by the pandemic, but we are actively developing and participating in actions intended to make everyone’s job a little more manageable and our patient’s care and experience as good as they expect. 

— — — 

Q:  Yesterday, we saw President Biden sign the bill making Juneteenth a National Federal Holiday. Will UMMC honor this as a "paid holiday"?

A:  Juneteenth recognizes an important moment in history that many people don’t know about: When U.S. troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, following the Civil War, they wanted to ensure all enslaved people there knew they had been freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. Indeed, an historic moment – seen as the end of slavery in our country – worthy of recognition.

As the only health care-institution member of IHL and the state’s only academic medical center that operates 24/7/365, we aren’t able to always observe the state and federal holidays like non-health system entities do. Our schedules, including holidays, are also not mirrors of other state offices or universities. There are some federal holidays that we do not observe through holiday pay or operations closure, which isn’t a comment on the value of any of those holidays but we have to limit how much our operations are not fully open.

If you’d like to go ahead and make plans to recognize this holiday in 2022, I encourage you to request taking your annual floating paid day off for this purpose. Any changes to the Medical Center’s list of paid holidays will be shared in a campus memo.

Again, thank you for the comments, questions and submissions you send me. As you can see above, they can be the catalyst to change.

I hope each of you is able to get some time away from work this summer. We all need and deserve a little recharge, which was almost not possible this time last year. We are now engaged in a new year and continue to move forward with actions related to the new strategic plan. I look forward to the progress we will make over the next 12 months on our journey toward A Healthier Mississippi.