In the latest “HealthONE In the Know” video, training director Holly Brown gives a quick overview about end-user training. Email healthonetrainingregistration@uchc.edu for more information.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVsN-1Als9Y&list=PL6h0A_5kXIiQ2mCuEFPs_1dbeBkjkrvrp
National Poison Prevention Week is March 18-24. Dr. Suzanne Doyon, who joined UConn Health as the medical director of the Connecticut Poison Control Center in November, shares her expertise as a medical toxicologist.
What’s trending in toxicology?
The teenager laundry pod challenge occupied the airwaves in January. Local media helped us get the word out about this trend and the Connecticut Poison Control Center was featured in many stories. Carbon monoxide poisonings have kept us busy recently following the nor’easters and bomb cyclones.
What are the most avoidable poison hazards?
Unsecured household products and unsecured medications are still the number one avoidable poison hazard in the home. Other sources of calls are medication errors in the elderly, especially if they do not use pill dispensers. As a result, the Connecticut Poison Control Center supports child-resistant packaging and poison prevention practices and the use of pill dispensers by the elderly.
What’s most asked about on calls to the poison control center hotline?
The most common types of call remain unsupervised ingestions in children, usually involving personal care products (shampoos, creams, etc.) or household products (detergents, cleaners, etc.)
What makes the Connecticut Poison Control Center successful in its mission?
The Connecticut Poison Control Center is staffed 24/7 by nurses and pharmacists with extensive training and knowledge of poisons and poisonings. Collectively, the poison specialists have over 100 years of experience in poisonings. The person answering the phone is an expert. The hotline is a service is free to the caller.
What brought you to UConn Health?
I am a medical toxicologist interested in public health, especially opioid use disorder. My previous position was assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and prior to that I was medical director of the Maryland Poison Control Center. I missed doing poison center work. The position of medical director of the Connecticut Poison Control Center opened up and the rest is history.
The Poison Control Center Hotline is 800.222.1222, offering free and confidential information around the clock.
Did you know, some of the features of HealthONE will be accessible via smartphone? Two we’d like to mention here are Haiku and Imprivata ID.
Haiku is available to iPhone users who might like to take advantage of Patient Management, InBasket, Review and Ordering and ePrescribing functions on the go.
This is an optional package available to you should you find it helpful.
When you attend your provider training session, your will see a poster inviting you to send a registration/communication to HealthONEMobileApps@uchc.edu with your department and cell phone number if you have interest in accessing Haiku. This will go to the HealthONE team to initiate your access.
After that we will push the mobile app via MobileIron to your phone and, voila, with a few keystrokes you will be ready to go.
The push thru MobileIron makes it simple for us to ensure your configuration to our production server is accurate. Along with this push, you will receive a packet of information via email that will include some tip sheets to help you get jump-started. Once you have your Epic training, you will find it quite intuitive to use the app. No training classes will be needed!
Imprivata ID is a phone app that will enable you to receive a dual authentication factor code text message, required by state law beginning this year to support ePrescribing of controlled substances. The application will allow you to receive a text message and automatically with a single keystroke send that code into HealthONE, satisfying the elements needed to prescribe controlled substances.
You will be registered for this during your training class; however, the registration process could be shortened if you take a moment to download the iOS or Android application referred to as “Imprivata ID” prior to attending class. Please be sure to bring your phone with you to training.
Imprivata ID will work on iPhone or on Android and requires no MobileIron and no data fees. Easy peasy and convenient!
–Kathy Noel, Director, Ambulatory Applications, UConn HealthONE
Watch for additional HealthONE updates in Lifeline, in the Pulse, at uconnhealthexpress.uchc.edu/emr, and now on Twitter @UConnHealthONE.
It’s natural that campus safety, while always a priority, would be even more top of mind following a mass shooting like what took place in Parkland, Florida, last month.
Within the last two years, UConn has shifted to a progressive model, folding police, fire, emergency management, communications centers, and the fire marshal’s office into a single Division of Public Safety. The resources span all campuses, including UConn Health.
Division Director Hans Rhynhart, who is also chief of the UConn Police Department, says the key to readiness for an active threat situation on any campus is preparation and prevention.
“We’ve accomplished and standardized combined training with all division personnel, with police, fire, communications and emergency management, to understand roles and responsibilities to enhance our unified response,” Rhynhart says. “We have threat assessment teams in place which are on the leading edge of trying to prevent a tragedy from happening.”
Part of that prevention component is intelligence gathering. UConn Police have a detective assigned to an FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, which provides direct access to real-time information on a threat or activity of interest.
“There is almost no better resource than the task force that we have to call upon should we need enhanced, immediate intelligence gathering,” Rhynhart says.
Another Detective works with the U.S. Attorney’s Office on cyber crimes. Social media monitoring is also one of the tools police use to stay aware and gather intelligence. Monitoring can be done on a specific incident or event as well as through the creation of a geo fence to alert investigators to certain phrases and words being used, all with the goal of intercepting and preventing a critical incident from occurring.
Meantime, a general sense of awareness and vigilance in the community can also help with prevention.
“There exists a ‘see something, say something’ philosophy,” Rhynhart says. “If you think that there’s something ‘off’, if you think that an employee or student is acting in a way that is concerning to you, let one of the police officers assigned to your campus know as soon as you can, so we may work with our partners at the University to try to understand what is going on. Most reports we receive are not threatening in nature and do not rise to the level of a criminal violation, but the information gives us an opportunity to talk with and most of the time develop a solution or positive path for an individual. We want to assist in creating a positive and safe environment for all involved.”
An additional component to campus safety is an extensive network of surveillance cameras and blue emergency phones.
The UConn Division of Public Safety offers resources for the public to take an active role in its own safety on its Office of Emergency Management and Community Outreach Unit websites.
“Part of it is being familiar with the information that we put out,” Rhynhart says. “Accessing these websites provides a wide array of tools that will aid in not only your own personal response to hazards, but what you can expect from the University as well. There are fliers and guides, including a campaign we started called ‘Seconds for Safety.’ We break information out into different types of incidents. They’re very quick to consume, you can look at it in seconds, and understand what you should do at any specific moment to ensure a better chance of survival.”
March is National Nutrition Month – a good time to say “thank you” to all of our hard-working friends at Sodexo for dishing out delicious and nutritious meals to thousands of people each and every day.
When UConn Health unveils HealthONE in two months, it will be a modern electronic health record system standing not alone, but at the center of a hub of new technology, new roles, new services, and new workflows designed to work together to make the health care experience better for both provider and patient.
Giselle Funchion, assistant director of clinical informatics, breaks it down:
And just as the electronic medical record is just one—albeit major—component of HealthONE, the April 28 go-live date is just one—albeit major—milestone in HealthONE’s implementation.
“I don’t see it as the finish line,” Funchion says. Once you reach go-live, you’re now in an optimization phase. It’s the start of a new beginning… many new beginnings. It’s going to need lots of nourishment, lots of maintenance for its lifetime.”
Watch for additional HealthONE updates in Lifeline, in the Pulse, at uconnhealthexpress.uchc.edu/emr, and now on Twitter @UConnHealthONE.
As we near the end of heart disease and stroke awareness month, Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. candidate Brittany Knight offers some insights into the exciting developments in stroke research at UConn Health. She met with Rajkumar Verma, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Neuroscience at the Pat and Jim Calhoun Cardiology Center to discuss a recent conference he attended and his research studying potential therapeutic targets for protecting the brain following stroke.
To understand the exciting new discoveries in stroke research, we first need to know what stroke is and what happens to the body following stroke. Stroke is an incidental disease that affects the entire body (systemic disorder) when blood supply is prevented from reaching the brain. Lack of blood supply decreases the amount of oxygen and nutrients required to keep brain cells healthy and functioning properly. Other areas of the body beyond the brain are also affected by stroke, for instance pneumonia and urinary tract infections are the most common complications following stroke. Recently, the effect of stroke on gut microbiota axis has drawn serious attention. The microbes that inhabit your gastrointestinal system can transport toxic substances and exacerbate the inflammatory response following stroke. When a stroke occurs or if you see someone having a stroke you may notice some odd things that occur as a result of this blood/oxygen loss. These symptoms are important to know and are easily remembered by memorizing the acronym F.A.S.T. – Facial drooping; Arm weakness; Speech difficulties; and Time. If you notice any of these symptoms in another person or yourself – call 911!
Within the first 5 minutes of discontinued blood supply, brain cells start to die. This rapid cell death results in inflammation and increases the risk of additional brain damage in surrounding regions. Damage increases progressively in the absence of reestablished blood flow or drug treatment. Currently, tPA (tissue plasminogen activator) and thrombectomy, the removal of a blood clot, are the only FDA-approved available treatment for stroke. TPA treatment works by breaking down blood clots and is beneficial if administered within a narrow 4-5 hours following a stroke, similar to thrombectomy. This time frame emphasizes the importance of T in the F.A.S.T. acronym. However, sometimes individuals that have a stroke do not seek immediate medical attention and wait until the following day to see their physician or go to the emergency room. This unfortunately can result in more brain damage and impede the recovery process.
However, exciting new developments in the field of stroke research show new promise for individuals who do not receive immediate treatment. This January, Dr. Verma attended the world’s largest conference for cerebrovascular disease: the 2018 International Stroke Conference in Los Angeles. More than 4,500 individuals in the field of stroke and some 1,500 presentations were given on the pathophysiology and potential treatments for cerebrovascular diseases, including stroke. Attendees consisted of researchers, clinicians, nurses, and therapists as well as other professionals from around the world. During the International Stroke Conference, it was revealed that the time that thrombectomy is beneficial is now extended to 16-24 hours following a stroke in an eligible patient. Time is still important, but this means surgical intervention can be administered later thus, more people can receive medical attention.
In the clinic, doctors seek to reach several goals: increase the amount of oxygen and nutrients to the brain to preserve tissue that may become damaged during the inflammatory process as well as rehabilitate patients post-stroke to improve and maintain both physical and mental health. The conference also discussed that starting rehabilitation more than 2 months and even as late as 6 months following a stroke can still provide benefit to the recovery process. In other words, if you or someone you know suffered from a stroke in the last 6 months and has not been physically active, the benefits of starting physical therapy are still warranted.
The National Institute of Health funds a variety of research aimed at providing more effective therapies for stroke. One method thought to help decrease the amount of damage that occurs following stroke, during the inflammatory process, is by decreasing core body temperature. Researchers have shown that during hibernation, reptiles (as well as other animals) can decrease their core body temperature which slows cellular metabolism. Essentially, this method slows down the speed of reactions inside the body to protect the brain from additional damage post-stroke.
Similarly, Dr. Verma is interested in finding a candidate target that can be pharmacologically inhibited following stroke to decrease brain damage. Excessive ATP release, which occurs during mass cell death or when oxygen is cut off from part of the brain, can increase the activity of brain cells and the release of inflammatory mediators causing further damage. He has found a candidate, called P2X purinoceptor 4 (P2X4). P2X4 binds ATP which is released by stressed or dying cells and leads to the inflammatory process. This vicious cycle of cell death and inflammation can cause significant detriments to physical and mental function if untreated. By targeting P2X4, Dr. Verma hopes to disrupt this pathway and potentially improve outcomes following stroke.
I am pleased to announce that Professor Brenton R. Graveley, Ph.D., has accepted the position of chair of the Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, in the School of Medicine. Brent will begin in his new leadership position effective February 2, 2018.
Since the inception of his School of Medicine faculty appointment in 1999, Brent has enjoyed a distinguished career. He is the current associate director of the Institute for Systems Genomics, director of the UConn Stem Cell Institute, and John and Donna Krenicki Professor in Genomics and Personalized Healthcare. He has attained national and international recognition for his work on RNA biology, a notable example of which is his accomplishment in developing a comprehensive map of functional human protein-RNA interactions. Among a number of other scientific achievements, Brent has authored over 100 research articles, 16 of which have appeared in Cell, Science or Nature. As a further recognition, he is also a member of the National Institute of Health’s (NIH) National Advisory Council for Human Genome Research. This has enabled Brent to have a keen insight into and steer the genomic funding priorities of the NIH. Brent has been funded by multiple NIH R01, R21, U54, U41 and R35 grants, representing both individual and large multi-investigator, multidisciplinary consortium projects. In fact, he has just received a large project grant from NIH titled, “A Comprehensive Functional Map of Human Protein-RNA Interactions” with a total cost of about $10M.
I would also like to take this opportunity to extend my sincere thanks to the entire search committee for its excellent work during the search and selection process. Led by its chair Dr. George Kuchel, the committee included Drs. Stormy Chamberlain, Rachel O’Neill, Travis Hinson, Kimberly Dodge, Christopher Heinen and Andrew Winokur.
Please join me in extending an enthusiastic welcome to Brent as he assumes his new role in the School of Medicine.
Bruce T. Liang, MD, FACC
Dean, School of Medicine
It’s been a little over a year since Brian White joined UConn Health as its chief counsel. We thought it was an opportune time to ask the head of our legal team some questions about the new General Counsel’s Office and its potential benefits for employees and the institution as a whole.
First of all, please describe your role here and how the UConn Health legal team has changed over the past year or so?
General Counsel’s Office at UConn Health has just turned 1-year-old. I was brought in to formally start the office that was previously supported by the Attorney General’s Office (AGO). The office is now fully staffed and positioned to provide in-house legal expertise on a proactive basis. Much of the funding for the office is coming from the offset reduction in utilization of outside counsel.
What are your office’s prime responsibilities?
The office is responsible for the coordination and management of all legal issues affecting UConn Health. The office advises the UConn Health Board of Directors along with UConn Health senior leadership and administrative units regarding a wide range of issues, including transaction matters, regulatory compliance, employment law, intellectual property, faculty, staff and student conduct, and governance issues. The office also works with the Connecticut Attorney General’s Office on litigation and other matters.
How are you connected (or not) to the AG’s office?
We work intimately with the AGO on multiple matters, but mostly on those matters that involve litigation against the health system. We value our close relationship and are grateful to have an embedded AAG, Lynn Wittenbrink, located in our office.
How does this new legal team “configuration” benefit UConn Health as a whole?
The shift from exclusively relying on outside attorneys to having an established in-house legal counsel is one that takes time to fully appreciate, but is significant in its benefits. For UConn Health, it means having advisors at your fingertip that are not charging you hourly to provide counsel. Additionally, embedding in-house attorneys in planning and operations allows the organization to think and react proactively to potential legal and regulatory matters as it moves forward with implementing its strategic initiatives. Leaders and frontline staff now have immediate access to prompt, reliable, and effective legal services.
You’ve been here almost a year now, what have you found to be the most challenging issue you’ve faced so far?
The most challenging issue that I’ve faced in this first year is shifting the culture around the proper use of legal services. Upon my arrival, the health system tended to use legal services only after something went wrong – which is expected when only using costly outside counsel. As we have taken on these issues over the past year, we have begun shifting the culture to engage our office early on rather than waiting for the issues to arise. This proactive approach not only limits the legal and financial risk to the institution before any action is taken, but it also gives assurance to leadership in the decisions that they make.
How can the UConn Health community access your expertise?
Our offices are located on the ground floor in the Academic Building. Our main number is x1114. Reached 24/7 through the hospital operator.
Even though it’s “spring” semester, we have to suffer through a lot of long, cold, wintry weeks before we spot that first crocus peeking through the ground. Brittany Knight, one of our Biomedical Sciences Ph.D. students, surveyed some of her fellow grad students to learn what they do to survive the semester.
With long days approaching in the lab, Elise Pitmon, from the Department of Immunology, gets creative with her cuisine. She was happy to share recipes for overnight oats and chicken and avocado burritos. Striving for control over your eating habits helps keep your wallet and tummy full while also saving some time to relieve stress by exercising or meditating.
Cary Hardy, from the Center on Aging, shared a podcast by the Savvy Psychologist that suggests pairing resolutions, such as spending time meditating, to your normal routine, such as brushing your teeth, to ensure they become integrated into your daily habits. This way you can maintain a similar morning schedule while also improving stress and starting your day with positive thinking.
A student in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry shared they want to relieve stress and improve their daily routine by drinking tea, meditating, and reading scientific articles.
And Brittany reminds us to strive to keep your goals one day at a time — today, tomorrow, and the next day. The new year is a time to refresh your life, learn new skills, and improve routines for a healthier and happier you.