Congratulations to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center for Earning the ACR Lung Cancer Screening Designation

Jamaica Hospital Medical Center has been designated a Lung Cancer Screening Center by the American College of Radiology.

The ACR Lung Cancer Screening Center designation is a voluntary program recognizing facilities committed to providing safe, effective diagnostic care for individuals at the highest risk for lung cancer.

To receive this elite distinction, facilities must be accredited by the ACR in computed tomography in the chest module and undergo a rigorous assessment of their lung cancer screening protocol and infrastructure. Procedures in place for follow-up patient care, such as counseling and smoking cessation programs, are also required.

Lung cancer is the nation’s leading cancer killer – taking the lives of more people each year than breast, colon, and prostate cancers combined. That’s why the Jamaica Hospital Lung Cancer Screening Program is committed to improving the morbidity and mortality associated with lung cancer. Lung cancer screening with low-dose computed tomography scans, and appropriate follow-up care, significantly reduces lung cancer deaths. Jamaica Hospital’s Lung Cancer Screening Program offers screening with an LDCT chest scan for high-risk individuals who are aged 50-80 years old, are current smokers or those who have quit within the past 15 years, have a tobacco smoking history of at least 20 pack years, and are asymptomatic with no signs or symptoms suggestive of lung cancer.

Congratulations to the Jamaica Hospital Lung Cancer Screening Program on receiving this outstanding recognition from the ACR, the gold standard in imaging.

For more information about the Lung Cancer Screening Center designation, visit: acr.org/Quality-Safety/Lung-Cancer-Screening-Center.

U.S. News & World Report Names Jamaica Hospital Medical Center Among Best Hospitals 2024-2025 as High Performing

The annual Procedures & Conditions ratings are designed to assist patients and their healthcare providers in making informed decisions about where to receive care for challenging health conditions or elective procedures.

U.S. News evaluated nearly 5,000 hospitals across 15 specialties and 20 procedures and conditions. Hospitals awarded a “Best” designation excelled at factors such as clinical outcomes, level of nursing care, and patient experience.

“For 35 years, U.S. News has been a leading resource for patients navigating their health care decisions,” said Ben Harder, chief of health analysis and managing editor at U.S. News. “The ‘High Performing’ designation acknowledges hospitals that consistently deliver high-quality care for specific medical procedures and conditions. This recognition highlights their expertise and commitment to patient well-being.”

To calculate the Best Hospitals rankings, U.S. News evaluated each hospital’s performance on objective measures such as risk-adjusted mortality rates, preventable complications, and level of nursing care. The Best Hospitals Specialty rankings methodology and Procedures & Conditions ratings methodology measure patient outcomes using data from millions of records provided by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. This year, among other methodology refinements, U.S. News incorporated new data on care provided to patients with Medicare Advantage insurance and on care provided to outpatients, nearly doubling the number of patients included in its annual data analysis. The Procedures & Conditions ratings are based entirely on objective quality measures.

Congratulations to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center on this remarkable recognition from U.S. News & World Report.

MediSys Health Network Earns Gold

The MediSys Health Network received national recognition and multiple gold awards from the American Heart Association (AHA) for providing outstanding heart health and stroke care.

Get With The Guidelines and Mission: Lifeline put the expertise of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association to work for hospitals nationwide, helping ensure patient care is aligned with the latest evidence- and research-based guidelines. As a participant in Mission: Lifeline and Get With The Guidelines programs, MediSys qualified for the awards by demonstrating its commitment to improving quality care.

This year, Jamaica Hospital Medical Center earned the American Heart Association’s:

  • Get With The Guidelines®-Coronary Artery Disease NSTEMI Gold with Target: Type 2 Diabetes, for its commitment to offering rapid, research-based care to people experiencing a specific type of heart attack known as a non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI).
  • Get With The Guidelines® – Stroke Gold Plus with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus, Advanced Therapy and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll award, for its commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines, ultimately leading to more lives saved and reduced disability.
  • Mission: Lifeline® EMS Gold achievement award, for its commitment to offering rapid and research-based care to people experiencing the most severe form of heart attacks and strokes.

Flushing Hospital Medical Center also earned the AHA’s Mission: Lifeline® EMS Gold achievement award for providing optimal and life-saving care for heart attack and stroke patients. The hospital earned the award by adhering to the latest research-based clinical practices to support better outcomes for patients.

Both hospitals are proud to receive the highest-level awards from the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines® and Mission: Lifeline® EMS programs.

“These awards show the MediSys Health Network’s commitment to caring for those in their community who need cardiovascular care,” said Donald Lloyd-Jones, chair of the American Heart Association Quality Oversight Committee and chair of the Department of Preventive Medicine at Northwestern Medicine. “By following the American Heart Association’s quality improvement protocols, MediSys can help realize our shared vision of improved patient outcomes, fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates – a win for health care systems, families and communities.”

Schwartz Rounds at JHMC

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

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.

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

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.

Schwartz Rounds Return at Flushing Hospital Medical Center and Jamaica Hospital

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.

Exploring the MediSys Health Network’s Tea Time Program

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.”

MediSys Health Network Employees Organize Relief Efforts to Help Those in India

Jamaica Hospital and Flushing Hospital Medical Center were located at the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic last March and April. During that time, our hospitals were fortunate enough to receive support from multiple individuals and organizations.

Thankfully, positivity rates are declining in our area, but in other parts of the world people are still contracting the virus at alarming rates. One such country is India where hundreds of thousands of people are becoming infected and thousands are dying daily. Many are in desperate need of assistance.

Through two separate initiatives, employees within the MediSys Health Network answered the call to help by coordinating the delivery of much needed equipment to help those most in need.

One such effort was coordinated by Dr. Abhujeet Kaur, who works in Jamaica Hospital’s Emergency Department. Dr. Kaur also volunteers for Khalsa Aid, a global humanitarian organization that generously provided Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and meals to our employees while they bravely treating an extremely high volume of COVID patients last year. With the global focus now on India, Dr. Kaur, with the assistance of Ray Fredericks Jr. and his staff were able to coordinate the purchase and shipment of 500 oxygen concentrators, along with the transformers needed to operate them. These vital pieces of equipment were stored in the Network’s warehouse and delivered to JFK International Airport by our employees before safely reaching India earlier this month.

In a separate relief effort, Dr. Dakshayani Guttal, a pediatrician for the MediSys Health Network and a volunteer with the non-profit organization Kannada Koota (KKNY) collaborated with respiratory care leadership at both hospitals to secure five manual ventilators. The life-saving devices arrived in India on May 25th.  Like Khalsa Aid, KKNY also supported the MediSyS Health Network by raising $5,000 to assist our efforts and donated meals to our employees.

We thank all those individuals who give so selflessly of themselves to help those most in need.

Highlighting the Achievements of the Division of Cardiology

Dr. Aditya Mangla

The MediSys Health Network is focused on providing the highest quality, cost-effective care to our patients. We continually assess the needs of our community and offer new services.  Over the last few years, we have added a group of talented, sub-specialty trained physicians who have made significant advancements in their respective departments.

We would like to introduce some of our new team members and the services they have added to our network. Today we are highlighting the achievements of our Division of Cardiology.

Under the leadership of Dr. Aditya Mangla and Dr. Zoran Lasic, the Network’s cardiology service has maintained a robust, high-quality coronary intervention program throughout the COVID pandemic and is now back to pre-pandemic volume. They have created a comprehensive cardiogenic shock program to diagnose and treat patients who suffered a catastrophic heart attack. This treatment is achieved by quickly reestablishing blood flow to the heart, and, if necessary, inserting support devices to patients who experienced severe shock.

Additionally, the Pulmonary Embolism Response Team (PERT) has been working with the national registry for pulmonary embolisms and over the past two years has further developed their ability to perform pulmonary embolism catheter-based therapy. This is important because pulmonary embolisms have been recognized as significant causes for patient mortality and our ability to quickly and effectively provide this service will save countless lives.

Lastly, the cardiology division is collaborating with the Division of Vascular Surgery to begin an endovascular deep venous thrombosis program as an extension of their existing pulmonary embolism program.

The Cardiology Division has also received many accolades for its high-quality care, including being ranked as one of the “Top 100 Hospitals in the U.S. for Coronary Intervention” by Healthgrades. They also received the Gold Plus award for Heart Failure management and the Bronze award for NSTEMI management from the American Heart Association.

Congratulations to The MediSys Health Network’s Cardiology Division for these many achievements.