Dear Community,
We hope you have all been enjoying your summer and getting some time away for COVID-safe vacations! We are excited to launch the first Leaders in ACTION course for ACTION clinicians (details below). We are also excited to share our two network milestone accomplishments this month. The Patient Reported Outcomes team received Tonic training and will be enrolling VAD patients soon. We also launched the provider side of our My ACTION Education learning platform. Both projects took several years for design, development, testing, and finally implementation. We are grateful to our leaders and teams, and proud of the work we have accomplished together!
Regards,
Stay tuned for September Learning Session details.
New CentersChildren’s Memorial Hermann Hospital
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Upcoming EventsAugust 26–27, 2021 September 30, 2021 |
The 16th International Conference on Pediatric Mechanical Circulatory Support Systems & Pediatric Cardiopulmonary Perfusion
This conference will focus on ways to enhance the comfort level of clinicians taking care of complex heart failure patients with and without congenital heart disease. Attendees will have the opportunity to collaborate and discuss effective ways to bring mechanical support and cardiopulmonary bypass strategies to the bedside as well as how best to manage therapies once they are instituted.
Topics Include:
- New anticoagulation modalities for mechanical circulatory support
- The role of electronic data capture in improving perfusion practice
- Supporting MCS of the failing Fontan circulation
- What it takes to perform a heart–liver transplant
- Update on ACTION Learning Network
- Review of ECMO support for COVID-19 Patients
Cardiac Networks United presents NEW virtual education opportunities!
QI Basics & Advanced Learning Health Network Training
The CNU QI Core is excited to announce that we will be offering several educational and training opportunities for network members who are interested in learning more about quality improvement methodology, tools, and processes.
See CNU's flyer that outlines three tracks, including format, target participants, purpose, content overview, and schedules. The flyer includes registration links for both the QI Basics series and the Advanced Learning Health Network Training series. The QI Orientation for Patients and Families registration link will be coming soon.
Check it out!
We've launched our NEW provider education & training resources!
VAD & Heart Failure provider education and training is now available on MyACTIONEducation.org
This new PROVIDER-only side of our educational site includes training material, protocols, infographics, ACTION projects, and much more! The provider content is only available to clinical members of ACTION centers—please email us for access.
All patient & caregiver education is still publicly available at: myactioneducation.org.
Looking for Leadership Development?
More leaders will improve outcomes faster!
ACTION invites all clinical members of any level to apply for a NEW leadership development program.
Starting in October 2021, this executive education program will bring together a peer group of clinical members from a variety of health care settings who face similar challenges to share experiences and apply learnings to drive change in their clinical settings.
Participants will engage in small groups of facilitators and peers in discussions, interactive simulations, and self-study. Leaders in ACTION will allow participants to develop deeper awareness of their own leadership strengths and opportunities and apply best practices in their role and with their teams.
We are grateful to have this program directed by Dr. Ed O'Neil, a member of the clinical community and owner of O’Neil and Associates, a management consulting and leadership development firm focused on change and renewal in the health care system.
Click the link below for more info or if you are interested in applying.
Applications are due August 9th @ 5pm.
HeartMate 3™ LVAD Patient Education Handbook now available in Spanish!
ACTION centers implanting the HeartMate 3™ LVAD device should contact their Abbott representatives to obtain copies of the HeartMate 3™ LVAD Patient Education Handbook in Spanish! Email us with any questions.
Quality Improvement Updates
Discharge Project
The Discharge Committee Leaders are continuing discussions around how to discharge more patients and expanding scope to include best practices for listing patients for transplant. In the meantime, please continue to test the Flight Plan and Journey Map, and enter data into REDCap on any patients who have been discharged or transferred to the floor.
Stroke Project
The next discussion meeting will be held on August 5, 2021, and Cincinnati Children’s will present a case. The stroke strategy team has been discussing the next focus to drive down stroke rates, and believe it is important to better understand how pre-operative imaging plays a role. A new stroke data collection in REDCap is being developed and details will be coming soon!
Medication Titration Project
The project focus around optimizing and uptitrating medicines for heart failure patients is underway. The next team meeting is on August 11, 2021 where the baseline survey will be showcased. Currently there are eight teams signed up to participate. Any additional teams interested in submitting baseline data and participating in the project interventions, please reach out to Nikita DSouza.
Heart Function (Failure) Project
HEART FUNCTION is the new name for all Heart Failure committee and projects. In many cases, “heart failure” can improve with medications and appropriate therapies therefore ACTION has decided to use more inclusive and constructive terminology. Teams continue to test the two interventions: a communication checklist and a discharge plan. We are aiming to reduce length of stay for heart failure patients admitted to the hospital, as well as decrease readmissions. The next meeting will be on August 31, 2021. Please continue to enter data into the enrollment REDCap for all heart failure patients, not only patients that have used the interventions. Please see the NEW Heart Failure Data Entry infographic to know when and where to enter data for this project.
Registry Database
Updates
VAD Registry Updates
ACTION DCC is currently working with the leadership to update Simplified Clinical fields in the CRFs. Stay tuned for more updates.
Patient Reported Outcomes
19 ACTION teams are signed up for Patient Reported Outcomes via the Tonic platform! We offered 2 trainings in July for teams to learn the VAD patient enrollment process & workflow for Tonic. For teams enrolled in this project, all materials are available on Basecamp, including the Tonic Training Video from this month’s trainings.
DMD
25 teams are now entering data and 15 patients have been enrolled for DMD Data Entry. If you need access to enter data, email us.
CardioMEMS
CardioMEMS data entry is live! We are looking forward to getting our patients entered! If you need access to enter data, email us.
Open Positions in ACTION Centers
Children's Hospital of Michigan
Detroit, MI
Looking for: Pediatric Transplant Cardiologist
Responsibilities: Full-time, employed opportunity that is available immediately. Responsibilities include Heart Transplant/Heart Failure Cardiology clinic, inpatient Transplant service, academic and administrative time, rounding, and outreach clinic. Call is shared 1:3 (runs one week at a time). There is also a CICU Critical Care staff to assist with inpatient. An academic appointment will be through Central Michigan University School of Medicine. Additionally, affiliation with Central Michigan University, Michigan State University, and Wayne State School of Medicine for collaboration in teaching and research.To Apply: See full job posting to apply. Or send your CV directly to Melanie Yenchai.
Email Contact: Melanie Yenchai, Senior Physician Sourcing Specialist, Tenet Healthcare
