This Week Oct. 8 - Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans

October 15, 2010, Newsletter
New Orleans, LA
THIS WEEK
To share
information
with
THIS WEEK
contact:
Catherine
Appe
at:
504-903-4927
504-940-7660
THIS WEEK
thanks
Peggy
Vicknair,
Laurie Smith
&
Donna
Hayes
for their
support.
The Breast Center Holds an Open House
From left to right: Colleen Ryan, Zina Daniel, Dr. Donna Williams, Tyler Bartley, Dana Feist, Ms. Darlene Clark (former
patient), Dr. Denise Roubion-Johnson, Randi Kaufman, Kelly Kropog and Dr. Henry Nuss.
In October of 2005, just after Hurricane Katrina,
Dr. Denise Roubion-Johnson was asked to restart
the Breast and Cervical Cancer Screening Program
in the Butterworth Building on Tulane Ave. She remembers;
“At the time I was the only clinical person
from the program who had returned to New Orleans.
Working alone was a daunting task, but two years
later Zina Daniel came back as my assistant. Four
months later, we were asked to relocate again to the
St. Thomas Clinic, and again in 2007, we relocated
to the Lord and Taylor Building. The L&T Building
wasn’t conducive to the care we wanted to provide
women. Mammography was on the opposite side of
the building, so when women needed a biopsy they
would have to walk all the way back to the clinic
area wearing only a hospital gown. We are so
When Ms. Darlene Clark learned of the Breast Center’s Open House she came to
join in the celebration. Dr. Johnson recalls the first time she met Ms. Clark. “She
came to the clinic with her daughter, who learned of the program through the internet,”
Dr. Johnson recalls. “Ms. Clark was poised and elegantly dressed as she said to me,
‘Dr. Johnson, I was a property manager before Katrina, and now I have no job, no insurance,
and a lump in my breast. Can you help me?’” That was 4 years ago. “Those
were difficult times,” Ms. Clark said. “I had worked for 40 years prior to losing my
job. After Katrina I found myself jobless and displaced for the first time in my life. In
addition to that trauma, I began experiencing pain and felt a lump in my right breast.
I didn’t worry at first because I had always heard that pain isn’t associated with breast
cancer (wrong) and my grandson had just accidently hit my breast so it was natural
to think this was the cause of my pain. But the lump grew and became too large and
too painful ignore. I spoke to a trusted friend who in turn spoke to my daughter. She
immediately used the internet, found the St. Thomas Clinic and called to set up an
happy to finally have a home that offers our patients
the care we want to provide for them.” The Breast
Center is now located on the 4th floor in the LSU
Health System Medical Office Building, 2025 Gravier
Street. “This dedicated space for the Breast
Clinic was the vision of Dr. Mary Abell, Dr. Donna
Williams, Dr Jane Clayton and Ms. Diana Bajoie.
They recognized the need for low income, uninsured
women to have comprehensive breast care
that was comparable to women who were insured,
in a beautiful relaxed setting.” The staff of the
breast clinic is specially trained to meet the needs
of women with breast problems. Dr. Roubion-
Johnson and Ms. Tyler Bartley CNS, received training
from the renowned M.D. Anderson Hospital
Breast Cancer Program.
Denise M. Roubion-Johnson, DNP,
APRN, ANP-BC, CNS with cancer
survivor, Ms. Darlene Clark
appointment for me. I remember my first meeting with Dr. Johnson well. She felt my breast she asked; ‘How long
have you had this lump?’ I knew by the question that I was in trouble. She immediately ordered a mammogram and
the biopsy that followed. When I returned to see Dr. Johnson she told me that I had cancer in the right breast with a
mass that covered the entire chest wall. It was very difficult news to hear but my faith in God and a good support system
sustained me. Surgery couldn’t begin until the tumor was reduced in size. I began weekly chemotherapy. I tolerated
the treatment until the last month when I suddenly developed heart failure. Chemotherapy was stopped. My heart
wasn’t strong enough for surgery so I had to wait. Finally I was a candidate for surgery but only to have the tumor removed,
not for breast reconstruction, but that was alright with me. Today, I wear a prosthesis with pride. I’m alive and
able to be with my family and to encourage women to have regular mammograms. The test and examination might just
save your life as it did mine.”

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THIS WEEK
Physician and Nurse Champions along with other members of the PELICAN Team met with representatives
from Epic, the healthcare software company hired to create and implement our new electronic health record
system. The Epic team toured Interim LSU Public Hospital to see and hear first-hand the needs unique to
our hospital.
Allen Marr, MD, Trauma Surgeon and LSU Physician Champion for the PELICAN Team, toured with Epic
representatives Melissa Martin and Matt Hode, reviewing workflows and patient management issues in
the surgical care areas and ICU’s.
Gretchen Delo, RN, and Carl Walker, MD,
ILH Nurse and Physician Champions, facilitated
the tour of nursing units and patient care
areas with Martha G Smith, RN, MN, AHA,
Patient Care Services and Lewis Hughes RN,
Chief Nursing officer for LSU on the PELICAN
project. Outpatient treatment as well as inpatient
management processes and issues were
reviewed during this first interaction, focusing
on workflow in the provision
of care. Clinical content
collection has also
begun with an inventory
of order sets, care plans,
and flow-sheets for all institutions.
ILH personnel
will attend Validation Sessions
in the coming
months to continue the
development of PELICAN.
Medication Management and PELICAN: “PELICAN will provide healthcare providers, treating patients
at any of the LSU hospitals, a "one-stop" shop for health information regardless of care setting. This will
improve the medication reconciliation process by giving the provider at his finger tips all of the medication
history that has been documented within the EHR to review prior to prescribing new therapies.”
Danny Jackson, P.D., FABC, LSUHSCD

Above: Melissa Barras, Billings Operations
Manager took members of the Epic Team
through the hospital registration process
describing the work-flow of her department.
She said of the tour, “We had a great visit with
the Epic/PELICAN crew. We were able to help
them understand our current patient flow and
paper process. I'm thrilled to be able to help
develop a more effective way of processing our
patients through an advanced system while
continuing to provide excellent service to our
patients!”
Right: John Couk, MD, Physician Champion
takes the group through the Emergency
Department. Questions were answered about
our Electronic Tracking System and the
throughput of the patients who come to our hospital
for emergency services. PELICAN Champions
from the Emergency Departments of three
LSU sister hospitals; Rondlyn Houston, RN,
Bogalusa, Karen Applewhite, RN, Lallie Kemp
and Ken Martin, IT, Shreveport joined the tour
to gain insight into the ILH ED. They too are
very involved in helping to build PELICAN for all
10 hospitals.
Interim LSU Public Hospital; Facing the exciting and challenging
task of converting to the paperless recordkeeping world. THIS
PELICAN; The name.
Hundreds of people entered the system-wide contest to name
the new Electronic Health Record system. This past August, the
LSU Health System’s Office, Dr. Lee Bairnsfather, CIO; the
EHR Executive Steering Committee, and Lanette Buie, COO,
HCSD announced the contest winner. Russell W. Crews,
Administrative Assistant 4, Quality Management LSUHSC-
Shreveport won the contest with his entry, "PELICAN" which
stands for Patient Electronic Information and Care Network.
The go-live date for PELICAN is September 2012.
The goal: To have all 10 LSU hospitals integrated into
one electronic medical record.
This will provide:
♦ Immediate access to medical records
♦ Continuity of care
“As we have all learned with the growth and success
of CLIQ in supporting clinical care and health care
effectiveness over the past 7 years, the engagement
of physicians and nurses in clinical information system
design and adoption is critical to building systems
supporting safe, efficient and quality care for our patients.
The same will be needed in our transition to
PELICAN. I am already impressed with the level of
engagement from ILH personnel, including physicians
and nurses, in our statewide PELICAN efforts.”
Wayne Wilbright MD, MS, CIO/CMIO, LSU HCSD
Below: After the tour, Epic members met in
conference sessions to clarify the needs as they
understood them following the hospital-wide tour.
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WEEK

PAGE 4 of 4
THIS WEEK
Photograph by Alan Dufour
The Medical Center of Louisiana Foundation
honors
Join us to celebrate
Dr. Newton Hyslop’s vast contributions in healthcare.
The 2010 Spirit of Charity will be held October15 th , 2010
Location: Sheraton on Canal in the Armstrong Ballroom
Enjoy a grand night,
in a beautiful ballroom,
to honor a great physician.
Purchase your tickets now
before this event is sold out.
For tickets, call or email,
Ms. Stacy Gerhold-Marvin, MCL Foundation Coordinator
smarvi@lsuhsc.edu . 504-903-1823 office
Tickets: $200.00 per person. Check, Visa, MC & Amex are accepted.
Thanks for your continued support of The Medical Center of Louisiana Foundation and the Spirit of Charity.
“Ask cardiologists what the most important organ in the body is and they will say...the heart. Ask neurologists
the same question and they will say...the brain. Since we only have one of each and we can’t
live without either, we might want to learn how to take care of both so we can live a longer, healthier life.
To start with; if you smoke, stop; if you are obese,
loss weight; if you have diabetes, control it.
Disease management is the key.” Dr. Mia Harris
Dr. Harris interviewed Vijayendra Jaligam, MD, LSU
Cardiologist who runs the Heart Failure Clinic. Dr.
Jaligam reviewed the steps that people can take to
better care for their heart such as; eating a low salt
diet that is rich with fruit and vegetables, includes a
serving of oatmeal daily and walking 30 to 60 minutes
daily. “Poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle affects the
body at an early age, as in teens, and would result in
premature coronary disease.” He also discussed how
symptoms associated with heart attacks differ for men and women. “Women may have atypical symptoms
such as unusual fatigue (70.6-percent), sleep disturbance (47.8-percent), and shortness of breath (42.1percent)
which are being studied by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Whereas men have the text book
description of chest pain and upper body symptoms.”
Dr. Harris interviewed Lionel Branch, MD, Assistant
Clinical Professor of Neurology on the topic of Alzheimer’s
Disease. The best defense is to get plenty of
exercise, physically and mentally and to eat a diet
that’s low in fat and cholesterol but rich in dark colored
fruits and vegetables. Signs and symptoms of Alzhemier’s
include: Loss of memory, challenges in planning
or solving problems and difficulty completing familiar
tasks.
You can hear Dr. Harris weekly from noon
to12:30p.m. on WBOK,1230 AM radio.