Category Archives: Jamaica Hospital

Schwartz Rounds at JHMC

Posted on by

On July 26th, 2024, Jamaica Hospital held Schwartz Rounds on campus with 179 attendees. The Schwartz Rounds program offers healthcare providers a regularly scheduled time during their fast-paced work lives to openly and honestly discuss the social and emotional issues they face in caring for patients and families. In contrast to traditional medical rounds, the focus is on the human dimension of medicine. “As a first-time attendee, this experience has improved my insight into how patient care looks outside of the actual clinical care. I also have a better understanding as to how each staff member contributes to the care team”, said one attendee.

During the event, caregivers can share their experiences, thoughts, and feelings on thought-provoking topics drawn from actual patient cases. The premise is that caregivers can better make personal connections with patients and colleagues when they have greater insight into their responses and feelings. “It is great to see how our organization cares for our patients and our staff”, an attendee said. Panelists from diverse disciplines participate in the sessions, including physicians, nurses, social workers, psychologists, allied health professionals, and support staff. After listening to a panel’s brief presentation on an identified case or topic, caregivers in the audience are invited to share their perspectives and broader related issues. One attendee described the experience as a “Fantastic concept of a round. I felt empathetic with the speakers and it will impact the patient care that I provide. Thank you for organizing this, and I am looking forward to the next one.”

The JHMC Schwartz Rounds® committee members and organizers include Dr. Sharon Narducci, CQO- Senior Leader Champion, Oksana Galibova, Director PCS- Program Coordinator, Dr. Gina Basello, Network Medical Director, GME&DIO- Physician Facilitator, Dr. Susan Iovino, CNO- Nursing Facilitator, Vivekanand Singh, DON- -Planning Committee Member, Robert Pryce, DON- Planning Committee Member, Frances Perez, SW- Planning Committee Member, Karen Codd, Senior Wellness Coordinator- Planning Committee Member, and Person Centered Services Department: Logistics.

Our Schwartz Rounds® Committee Members thank everyone for their participation and invite all employees to attend future rounds, with the next event scheduled at noon in the JHMC Auditorium on 10/25/2024.

For questions, please contact Oksana Galibova, MSN, RN, Network Director Person-Centered Services Email: ogalibov@jhmc.org

 

 

MediSys Health Network Research Day

Posted on by

The MediSys Health Network of Jamaica Hospital and Flushing Hospital Medical Centers recently held its Third Annual Research Conference and Poster Competition. Sponsored by the Department of Research Education and Innovation and the Department of Clinical Research, the event allows the entire MediSys hospital community to present any scholarly activity they had done over the past academic year of 2023-2024.

Director of the Department of Research Education and Innovation, Dr. R. Jonathan Robitsek explained, “The competition is a great showcase of the intellectual curiosity of all that participate”. He also highlighted the importance of the competition noting, “It’s high-quality research some of which has been presented at national and international medical conferences”.

There were 131 posters submitted between Jamaica Hospital and Flushing Hospital. Those posters were broken into three categories, Case Reports, Empirical Research, and Quality Improvements. Each poster was then graded on a rubric of five areas: format, visual, content 1, content 2, and impact.

The first-place winning posters in the Case Reports category were, “A Cycle of Complications: Trastuzumab-induced Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy Causing LV Thrombosis Complicated by Thromboembolic Stroke” by V. Patel, J. Patel, J.L Lee, and T. Okan (JHMC) and “Making the Distinction between Cardiac and Vasovagal Syncope in a Patient with an Intracardiac Mass” by D. Desta, P. Kiarie, and R.P Gupta (FHMC).

Second-place winning posters of the category included, “Subcapsular Liver Bleed Secondary to Mal-Placement of a Lucas Device” by I. Agha, S. Montaquila, M. Guerges, A. Mangla, and R. Lakowski (JHMC) and “When the Lungs Become the Battlefield: Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome in GVHD Post Stem Cell Transplant for AML.” by J. Bawa, A. Inghirami, S. Desai, J. Silverman (FHMC).

And finally, the third place posters were, “Impact of Social Media in Acute Onset of Psychosis in Young Child” by H. Ruparel, G. Zelin, S. Peteru (JHMC) and “Skin Deep: Exploring Erythema Nodosum Induced by Dupilumab Therapy” by J. Bawa, E. Malana, N. Tasnim, S. Farhan, A. Khan (FHMC).

In the Empirical Research category, the posters that won first place were, “Demographic Analysis of Patients Seen by a Palliative Care Service Found to be Unbefriended/Unrepresented” by P. Gordon, I.J Wang, R.J Robitsek, A. Tewari, E. Divino, K. Forbes (JHMC) and “Attitudes and Barriers to Utilization of Osteopathic Manipulative Treatment in Clinical Practice Among Residents and Medical Students: A Survey Study” by C. Bodden, M. Alla, P. Kiarie, M.A Louis (FHMC).

Second-place winning posters were, “Does Marijuana Legalization Result in Increased Psychiatric Emergency Visits for Cannabis Induced Psychosis?” by G. Zelin, N. Siddiqui, A. Miele, R. Kamal (JHMC) and “Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation in Emergent Non-Cardiac Surgery: Incidence, Risk Factors, and Outcomes” by D. Giannis, R. Zhao, L. Fernandez, N. Nikolov, C. Sneed, P. Kiarie, A. Miele, M.A Louis, N.R Mandava (FHMC).

Lastly, the third-place winning posters of the category were, “Systematic Review of Hematologic Values Among Transgender Patients: Establishing Standardized Reference Ranges to Improve Clinical Care” by L. Yap-Separovich, M. McDonald, L. Alhakim, J. Langaman, T. Millingen, A. Mir, L. Gance, C. Nienaber, A. Roth, G. Basello, E. Brondolo (JHMC) and “The Effect of Circadian Rhythm on the Glucose Challenge Test in Pregnancy” by A. Makol, M. Sun, L. Keating, I. Ngai (FHMC).

In the final category of Quality Improvements, the first-place winning posters were, “Advance Care Conversations in Primary Care Settings: Prevalence and Sociodemographic Factors” by I.J Wang, D. Patel, A. Spinelli, M. McDonald, A. Miele, R.J Robitsek, F. Falcone, K. Forbes, E. Brondolo, A. Roth, S. Mathew-Geevarughese (JHMC) and “Evaluating the Long Term Impact of Standardizing Written Sign Outs” by T. Lildar, W. Thu, S. Falak, M. Syed, S. Desai, A. Miele, K.L Cervellione, T. Toronjadze (FHMC).

Congratulations to those who placed, the honorable mentions, and everyone who participated in this year’s Research Day Conference and Poster Competition.

Jamaica Hospital Women’s Health Center Supports Food Bank for NYC’s “Woman to Woman” Initiative

Posted on by

The Jamaica Hospital Medical Center team standing with a donation collection box for Food Bank NYC's Woman to Woman initiative.Jamaica Hospital Medical Center is lending its support to Food Bank for New York City’s “Woman to Woman” initiative, which aims to provide menstrual and childcare products to women who live in poverty and struggle to afford these resources. The initiative also raises awareness about how poverty affects women’s ability to obtain these products.

Despite being one of the wealthiest cities in the world, over one million women and girls live in poverty in New York City; additionally, half of all single mothers in NYC earn less than $35,935 per year. Under these circumstances, it can be difficult to obtain a wide variety of needed items, such as diapers, baby formula, and menstrual products. Through the “Woman to Woman” initiative, Food Bank for New York City provides donations of these items to women and families in need.

To support this initiative, the Jamaica Hospital has placed collection locations for menstrual products in the Women’s Health Center and the hospital’s main lobby, where you can drop off wrapped items that you would like to donate. You can also make a financial contribution by following this link. Thank you for any donation you are able to make to help women in need. 

MediSys Health Network Named a Top Hospital for Fair Share Spending by the Lown Institute

Posted on by

A female doctor smiling.The MediSys Health Network has been named as one of the top 10 hospital systems in the United States for fair share spending by the Lown Institute, a nonprofit organization that promotes equity and transparency throughout the American healthcare system. MediSys was one of many hospital systems across the country included in the Lown Institute’s 2024-25 fair share analysis, which compared hospitals’ tax exemptions to their community spending.

Only 20% of the 2,425 nonprofit hospitals included in the analysis (including MediSys) had a fair share surplus, meaning that their spending on community-focused initiatives surpassed the total value of their tax exemptions. Both Jamaica Hospital Medical Center and Flushing Hospital Medical Center were also listed individually as hospitals with a fair share surplus.

We’re proud of the work performed each day by our teams at both Jamaica and Flushing Hospital to provide high-quality care to the Queens community, as well as the various community initiatives and programs created to ensure that this care is as comprehensive and accessible as possible. Thank you for all that you do, and congratulations for achieving this national recognition.

Jamaica Hospital Hosts 2024 Annual Art Exhibit

Posted on by

Members of the Creative Arts Therapy staff at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center's 2024 Annual Art Exhibit.Jamaica Hospital recently hosted its 2024 Annual Art Exhibit from March 4th to March 8th, showcasing a variety of creations from art therapy patients and faculty. Each year, the art exhibit displays a collection patient artwork from throughout the previous year. Some of the artwork featured this year included drawings, paintings, mixed media, and sculptures. The title for this year’s art exhibit was “A Space for Hope.”

“We decided on this theme because we wanted to bring the idea that having hope is still possible during difficult times,” said Michelle Anne Hololob, Director of the Creative Art Therapy Internship and Externship Training Program at Jamaica Hospital. “The last several years have been filled with such unrest, illness, fear and anger; more than ever, the world feels unbalanced. This theme allowed for patients to create a space in their minds where things could be better and don’t have to stay the same; we can still hope for change.”

Most of the pieces featured at the Art Exhibit were created by patients at Jamaica Hospital during the course of their treatment. In one particular case, a patient who had heard about the show after their discharge asked for their post-discharge artwork to be displayed as a showcase of the emotional regulation they found through art-making.

One particular piece noted by Hololob was a collection of 1,000 folded paper cranes; in Japanese culture, these are referred to as “senbazuru,” which are believed to grant a wish or bring hope to a person. “We collectively folded 1,000 paper cranes as a statement of hope for the hospital,” said Hololob. “These cranes fly as a symbol to our patients and staff that, as long as we have a little hope, things in life can get better.”

Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s art exhibit. We look forward to seeing what our patients and staff create next year!

Jamaica Hospital Wins CAPC New York City Tipping Point Challenge

Posted on by

The logo for The Joh A. Hartford Foundation Tipping Point Challenge.Jamaica Hospital Medical Center has been named a winner in New York City Tipping Point Challenge. This year-long clinical training competition, funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation and sponsored by the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) and the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, was established to help healthcare organizations improve the quality of services for people living with serious illnesses. Jamaica Hospital was one of five hospitals in New York City to win this competition.

During this year’s competition, participating NYC-based healthcare organizations were able compete on both the local level and the national level in the Clinical Training category. In this category, participants must achieve the greatest number of CAPC course completions during the timeframe of the competition. Alternatively, they must achieve the greatest number of course completions since becoming a member organization.

“As a CAPC member organization, all Jamaica Hospital Medical Center clinicians were able to take full advantage of CAPC’s online clinical training curriculum,” said Brynn Bowman, CEO of CAPC, and Lauren Green Weisenfeld, Deputy Director of the Healthy Aging Program at the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, in a joint statement. “Over the past year, both palliative care and non-palliative care clinicians across your organization enhanced their skills in communication, pain and symptom management, and support for the all-important family caregiver.”

We congratulate and thank Jamaica Hospital’s palliative care team for making this achievement possible. We look forward to seeing your continued work in providing high-quality palliative care.

Schwartz Rounds Return at Flushing Hospital Medical Center and Jamaica Hospital

Posted on by

Healthcare professionals and leadership at FHMC attending a Schwartz Rounds panel discussion.On November 23, 2023, 152 staff members at Flushing Hospital Medical Center attended the first Schwartz Rounds event held since the end of the COVID-19 pandemic. The panel discussion included attending physicians, residents, nurses, and social workers, all of whom shared challenges they experienced with building trust and meeting family expectations in cases with unexpected outcomes.

The Schwartz Rounds program offers our healthcare providers a regularly-scheduled time during their fast-paced work lives to openly and honestly discuss social and emotional issues they face while caring for patients and their families. Unlike traditional medical rounds, these discussions focus on shared experiences, thoughts, and feelings centered around thought-provoking topics drawn from actual patient cases. The goal of the program is to provide caregivers with a greater ability to make personal connections with patients and colleagues by offering greater insight into one another’s responses and feelings.

Panelists from diverse disciplines participate in the sessions. After listening to a brief presentation on a particular case or topic, caregivers in the audience are invited to share their own perspectives and discuss broader related issues. Participants in Schwartz Rounds report that the honesty and vulnerability involved in these discussions help them to feel less isolated in their own experiences.

Our Schwartz Rounds committee members thank everyone for their participation in this first panel discussion and invite all employees to attend future rounds throughout 2024. These rounds will take place on 3/14, 6/27, 9/26 and 12/19. Additional rounds will also take place at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center on 1/19, 4/19, 7/26, and 10/25.

If you have any questions about Schwartz Rounds, please contact Oksana Galibova, the Program Coordinator for Schwartz Rounds and Network Director of Person-Centered Services, by sending an email to ogalibov@jhmc.org.

Jamaica Hospital Nursing Home Reduces Patient Medications Through Partnership With United Hospital Fund

Posted on by

Jamaica Hospital Nursing Home, along with six other New York nursing homes, participated in a partnership with the United Hospital Fund (UHF) to tackle the issue of polypharmacy, the practice of prescribing an excessively high number of medications to long-term care residents. The initiative aims to reduce health risks of overprescribing for residents through a process called “deprescribing,” or decreasing the usage of inappropriate or ineffective medications.

A report assessing the results of the partnership, Reducing the Risk: Year 1 Report of the Polypharmacy in Nursing Homes Learning Collaborative, showed that participating nursing homes reduced the average number of medications prescribed to patients from approximately 11 to 9. The number of residents taking 10 or more medications also decreased across all participating facilities by 16%.

Deprescribing efforts focused on reducing medications that provided limited benefits and increased patients’ risk of experiencing harmful side effects, such as dizziness and falling. Jamaica Hospital Nursing Home specifically worked to deprescribe antihypertensives, proton pump inhibitors, and multivitamins.

“Antihypertensives and proton pump inhibitors are used very frequently in most nursing homes and hospitals,” said Louis Kaplan, the Assistant Director of Pharmacy at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, who monitored the rate at which the targeted medications were prescribed to residents. “We suspected that it may not be necessary to continue their use for many of our patients.” Kaplan added that multivitamins were also targeted by the nursing home’s deprescribing efforts because of the sufficient nutrition patients already receive through their regular meals, making these supplements redundant in many cases.

Dr. Kaushik Doshi, the Medical Director of Jamaica Hospital Nursing Home, worked with doctors, pharmacists, and nursing staff to incorporate safe deprescribing guidelines from the UHF into the nursing home’s standard patient care practices. A key aspect of this initiative involved the introduction of helpful educational tools, such as electronic medical record alerts indicating whether the targeted medications were appropriate to prescribe continuously for certain patients.

“Physicians can be hesitant to stop medications, even when there’s no clear indication that they’re necessary beyond a certain point,” said Dr. Doshi. “This is an aspect of healthcare that needs to change, not only here, but across all facilities and organizations.”

Jamaica Hospital is proud of the results achieved through this partnership and congratulates everyone who participated in this initiative for the work they’ve done so far. We look forward to seeing the continuing impact of these practices for our patients and care provider teams in the future.

Jamaica Hospital Medical Center Brings New Blood Clot Treatment to Queens

Posted on by

One in 1,000 adults across the United States is diagnosed with a blood clot that can lead to chronic and potentially life-threatening issues. However, thanks to an innovative blood clot treatment offered at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, the risk of serious complications can be reduced in some patients, increasing the survival rate for blood clots.

The device, ClotTriever, is used for patients suffering from blood clots in the legs, where they most commonly form. It’s a minimally invasive means of extracting clots from the body that potentially allows patients to return home from treatment as soon as the same day. The treatment is then followed up with ongoing blood thinner medication to manage any remaining symptoms.

For patients with chronic blood clots, which are clots that have been present for over ten days, a variant of ClotTriever (ClotTriever BOLD) can be administered.

“Prior to this technology, patients would present with a clot and be prescribed three months of blood thinners,” said Dr. Mina Guerges, Attending Vascular Surgeon at Jamaica Hospital’s Division of Vascular and Endovascular Surgery. “Unfortunately, blood thinners don’t get rid of an existing clot. They only prevent further clots from forming.”

Dr. Guerges added that the previous method of ongoing blood thinner treatment has led to about 30% of patients developing post-thrombotic syndrome, causing swelling and pain as a result of the pre-existing clot. ClotTriever reduces the severity of this condition.

This procedure isn’t the right choice for all patients suffering from clots, though. Before receiving the treatment, patients must undergo a venogram, which involves injecting dye that causes veins to appear on an x-ray. It is important to note that this dye can cause a reaction in people with kidney disease. Additionally, patients who don’t typically move around much or suffer from comorbidities that create a low quality of life may not see many benefits from ClotTriever.

“This treatment is reserved for patients who are either suffering from debilitating clot-related symptoms or are relatively young and mobile,” said Dr. Guerges.

If you’re looking for blood clot treatment options, schedule an appointment at Jamaica Hospital’s Department of Ambulatory Care by calling (718) 206-7001 now.

Exploring the MediSys Health Network’s Tea Time Program

Posted on by

Patient satisfaction is always a priority across the MediSys Health Network. One new initiative designed to improve our patients’ experience is the Tea Time program, where hospital volunteers offer friendly interaction along with hot beverages and healthy snacks.

The program was first introduced at Flushing Hospital Medical Center last month, where it has been well-received by patients. Now, after working to expand the initiative’s reach, Network Director of Person-Centered Services Oksana Galibova has brought Tea Time to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.

“So far, the feedback has been amazing,” said Oksana. “The feeling of making somebody happy is very motivating for our volunteers.”

According to the program, Tea Time volunteers visit each patient unit with a decorated cart carrying the items they serve. Volunteers also take time to interact with patients and assist with small tasks like cleaning up garbage in their rooms and moving items so that they’re easier to reach. All of these tasks are important parts of making sure patients are receiving a high level of care.

The Tea Time program has been a rewarding experience for the volunteers. What they enjoy most is interacting and conversing with those patients that are lonely is especially important for making sure their experience at the hospital is as positive as possible.

Given how new the program is at both hospitals, there’s also plenty of room for it to change and grow over time as Oksana continues to receive feedback, whether that comes in the form of new snack options like Jell-O or revising the program’s schedule.

“There are enhancements we’re considering for the future of the program,” said Oksana. “As Tea Time continues, we’ll look at our progress and the feedback we’re getting to see what kinds of changes we can make.”