Hospital News, 10-1-2011 - Western Pennsylvania Healthcare News

28 | wphospitalnews.comIssue No. 10The Tortuoso CaminoBy Michael W. Weiss, M.D.I wonder if Guatemala missed “Pittsburgh” as much asPanama missed “Denver.”“Denver” is what the staff at a Panama hospital callsthe Operation Walk medical team that, until this year, traveledfrom the Colorado city to the Central American countryto perform joint surgeries on needy patients.In the Panama hospital’s nursing units and operatingrooms, the name Denver is spoken with reverence – thekind reserved for Nobel Prize winners, religious leadersand poet laureates.“Pittsburgh” is what the same staff calls our westernPennsylvania team of surgeons, physician assistants, nurses and others, who traveledto Guatemala in years past but switched places with Denver this September andwent to Panama instead.I’m not sure, but I think the Denver-Pittsburgh swap deflated Panama – deflatedas in how you feel when you want a new fishing reel for your birthday but get apair of tan Dockers instead.Operation Walk is a not-for-profit, volunteer medical services organizationwhose teams travel to developing nations to provide U.S.-quality surgical care forpatients with degenerative arthritis and other painful, debilitating joint conditions.Each team raises its own travel funds, secures equipment donations from implantmanufacturers and advance-ships its own medical supplies.Teams representing nearly a dozen U.S. cities participate. Many months’ worthof work and hundreds of thousands of dollars go into making the one-week trip possible.As our depart date nears, we work harder to prepare and look forward moreanxiously to the opportunity to serve.“Why don’t you speak Spanish?” an administrator from the Panama facilityasked me upon our arrival. “Denver does.”In my own defense, I did anticipate and try to proactively bridge the communicationgap. Our practice recently hired a physician assistant who logged a prior careeras a sign language interpreter. When I interviewed her in August, I asked ifher hands were bilingual.“No, Dr. Weiss,” she replied. “We use American Sign Language in the UnitedStates.”Maybe the Panama hospital administrator likes Denver better because no memberof Denver’s team would ever be so ill prepared. Or maybe the tan Dockers’ receptionfor Pittsburgh wasn’t about the Pittsburgh team at all.Shooting from the HipMedical service trips unite strangers in a bond of shared purpose, and it’s hardto share a purpose as meaningful as treating underserved patients without also becomingfriends. Denver left its mark on Panama first; any team that followed wasdestined to be second favorite.Then again, volunteering for medical service is about giving and not receiving,so it doesn’t matter who occupies what position on the popularity scale. It onlymatters what you leave behind. By week’s end, the Pittsburgh team had offered thebest of its skills to dozens of grateful patients, affirming for the Panama hospitaladministrator that one can care in any language.I boarded the plane still not knowing the Spanish translation for, “How is yourpain level today?”I also don’t know how else to say, “No, sir, I’m not smuggling baby sea turtlesor their eggs. My large bag is safe to open.” Fortunately, federal fish and gamecommission officers in U.S. airports speak English. In Atlanta, one waved me overto a special security checkpoint and asked, “Will anything jump out at me when Iunlock your luggage?”Catching a glimpse of the tan Dockers in my suitcase, I thought of the manythousands of patients I’ve treated through the years.Just as our Operation Walk team went to great lengths to prepare for its medicalservice trip, and just as I came away from the trip knowing what it means to be not-Denver, I wondered if I subconsciously treat some patients the same way.Patients plan for their office visits, fill out their forms and submit their secrets,all with the hope of being helped. I need to give each one my complete, undividedskill and attention – and be aware of the unintentional signals I’m sending – or elsethey may leave my office feeling like the Pittsburgh team in Panama. That’s notthe impression any physician wants to leave or the reputation anyone wants to build.Did you know that baby sea turtles have been observed making a full circlearound their nests before traveling in a straight line to the sea? The Internet saysthat the Spanish phrase for circuitous route is “tortuoso camino,” and that “tortuoso”also means “winding.”Normally, I’m a straight-line-to-the-ocean sort of guy and don’t do “tortuoso.”This time, it took a detour through a Central America hospital to help me better understandwhat happens at home.Dr. Weiss is an orthopedic surgeon with Tri Rivers Surgical Associates, Inc. His columnappears quarterly in Hospital News.AskAboutOurShortTermRehabilitation Care!Our Services Includebut are not limited to:■ Physicians round daily■ Dedicated Short-TermRehabilitation Unit■ Respite Care■ Community Outings■ Hospice Care■ Short-TermRehabilitation■ Onsite Specialized Clinics■ Multiple disciplinary team■ Secure Alzheimer's/MemoryCareatKane Glen HazelContact Kane Admissions at (412) 422-6214.Anyonewishingtomakeareferralfrom4:00p.m.until8a.m.on weekdays or on weekends, should call the general numberat (412) 422-6800and ask to havethe on-callcoordinator paged.Nursing Professor Named Fellowby Esteemed Nursing AcademyDr. L. Kathleen Sekula has earned one of thenursing profession’s highest honors in beingnamed a Fellow of the American Academy ofNursing (AAN).Sekula, an associate professor and coordinatorof Duquesne University’s graduate forensic nursingprograms, will be formally inducted as a Fellowat the AAN’s national conference on Oct. 15.She is the third School of Nursing faculty memberto be named a Fellow by the AAN, the nation’s toporganization for improving nursing practice andinfluencing policy.L. Kathleen Sekula Fellows are selected, in part, on the extent towhich their careers have influenced health policiesand health care delivery for the benefit of all Americans. Sekula has been an advocatefor improving nursing practice for vulnerable populations, in particular victimsof violence, including domestic and sexual assault.With financial assistance from grants from the Department of Health and HumanServices, Sekula was the driving force in the creation of the School of Nursing’sgraduate forensic programs, and she has worked tirelessly to see that forensic nursinggains recognition as a health care specialty. With the expansion of the role ofthe forensic nurse, forensic nursing professionals in the United States and UnitedKingdom have sought her guidance.Sekula serves as president of the International Association of Forensic Nursescertification board, a post through which she works to establish advanced practicecertification. She is also a member of the board of directors of The Cyril H. WechtInstitute of Forensic Science and Law, as well as an advisor to the programs that itoffers.Her resume includes years of experience as an advanced practice psychiatricnurse, and during her early years in practice, she served on the staff of the emergencyroom at what is now UPMC Mercy Hospital. It was while maintaining a clinicalpractice in psychiatric nursing that she recognized the need to create programsto better prepare nurses for the care of victims of violence.Sekula resides in New Kensington.For more information, visit www.duq.edu.