Congratulations to the Princeton Health staff members and providers honored earlier this year at Penn Medicine’s Safety & Quality Awards, which are presented each year to acknowledge leadership and innovation in activities that ensure high-quality clinical outcomes, patient satisfaction, patient safety, and cost efficiency.
Princeton Health – Overall
Princeton Health’s overall winner was an initiative to improve Princeton Medical Center’s compliance with the SEP-1 core measure, a bundle of evidence-based processes intended to promote high-quality care for patients with severe sepsis or septic shock. The initiative led to significant increase in the compliance rate in just over a year. Team members included:
Tina Bloemer, RN – director, Patient Safety, Quality and Risk
Christina Brescia, RN – performance improvement analyst
Julia Lapolla, RN – patient safety analyst
Karen Sylvester, RN – director, Emergency Services
Sandra Mariani, MSN – senior nurse manager, Emergency Department
Kathleen Ryan, MSN – director, patient care services and orthopedic service line
Jasmeet S. Bajaj, MD – medical director, Critical Care Unit
Craig Gronczewski, MD – chair, Emergency Medicine
Joseph Portale, MD – assistant medical director/clinical quality director
Lauren Hogshire, MD – medical director, Princeton Medicine Hospitalist Service
Margaret (Peggy) DeFalco – assistant vice president
Karen Fruhmann – associate director, Lab
Victoria Buynevich – manager, Lab
Jeff Wolff – manager, IT Strategic Services
Princeton Health – Operational
Princeton Health’s awardee in this category was a multidisciplinary effort to boost the percentage of patients undergoing joint replacement procedures who are mobilized by a physical therapist on the day of surgery. Studies show that same-day, postoperative mobilization helps to decrease length of stay, reduce complications, and enable patients to be discharged home. Project team members included:
Sangita Verma, DPT – director, Rehabilitation
Heather Ujhely, MPT – inpatient rehab manager
Anna Westrick, MD – Anesthesia
Bridget Ruscito, MD – Anesthesia
Elizabeth Shokoff, RN – patient navigator, Jim Craigie Center for Joint Replacement
Princeton Health – Honorable Mention
A Bristol-Myers Squibb Community Health Center initiative to increase HIV testing among patients ages 18 to 65 earned honorable mention. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends at least one-time screening for all eligible individuals and more frequent testing for those with risk factors. Following educational efforts involving medical residents, certified medical assistants, and patients, screening rates tripled in the first quarter of 2019. Team members included:
Residents
Vimal Bodiwala, MD
Matthew Danish, MD
Ilja Dejanovic, MD
Dean Marella, MD
Daniel Nguyen, MD
Jack Xu, MD
Attending Physicians
Payal Parikh, MD
Barbara Edwards, MD
Sarang Kim, MD
Rameck Hunt, MD
Aubrie Nagy, MD
Kusum Kumar, MD
Mark Schwartz, MD
Qian Wang, MD
Kathryn Robison, MD
Sasha-Ann East, MD
Laura Methvin, MD
Nurses
Teri Nachtman
Stella Molineros
Peggy Lambertson
Jeannette Levin
Sharon Barna
Ila Patel
CMAs
Carolina Arriola
Nancy Boehm
Jessica Tenempaguay
Staff
Ayda Tello, director
Avital Levin, social work
Darshana Parikh, pharmacy tech
Claudia George, secretary