UMC Health System - Physician Notes

CLINICIANS DRIVING CHANGE IN 2017, THE TRAUMA CENTER AT UMC HEALTH SYSTEM WAS RECOGNIZED AS THE BEST IN THE STATE OF TEXAS. EACH YEAR, the Texas Department of State Health Services' Trauma Center Award recognizes the organization that leads injury prevention programs and exemplifies the best emergency services or trauma center. Of 287 designated trauma centers in Texas, UMC Health System was selected to receive the 2017 award. "We were chosen due to our extensive support of other hospitals and trauma centers," said Amber Tucker, M.S.N., R.N., director of trauma and burn services at UMC. "In conjunction with Texas Tech, we provide some of the most up-to-date, evidence-based trauma care. We're always pushing to be better." SUPPORTING OUR REGION Since the beginning of 2017, UMC has held 13 Stop the Bleed courses. e course trains laypeople in bystander intervention methods, including the use of tourniquets and applying the appropriate pressure to wounds. UMC provides other educational services as well, including rural trauma team development courses. Ensuring high-level trauma care across the region is especially important, as UMC serves a large area, and travel time to the hospital can be long. UMC is also an active participant in the Regional Advisory Council. "UMC is a Level 1 trauma center, so we have many great resources," Tucker said. "Our goal is to support the region and support what our community needs for trauma care." TO LEARN MORE ABOUT UMC'S AWARD-WINNING TRAUMA SERVICES, VISIT UMCHEALTHSYSTEM.COM AND SELEC T "LEVEL 1 TRAUMA" UNDER THE "MEDICAL SERVICES" MENU. FORMED L AS T FALL, the group — known as the UMC Physician Champions — includes 24 physicians who participate in both teaching and clinical care. All members are high performers in patient satisfaction surveys. "ese physicians are our best and brightest," said Mike Ragain, M.D., M.S.Ed., chief medical officer at UMC. "e group meets monthly to discuss two broad issues: improving patient satisfaction and ease of practice for physicians, both of which relate to enhancing quality. Hospitals today are held accountable for both quality and satisfaction metrics, so it's even more important that hospitals and physicians work together to improve clinical programs and use the feedback they receive to enhance care." Top in TRAUMA CARE A MULTIDISCIPLINARY GROUP OF PHYSICIAN LEADERS IS TACKLING SOME OF UMC HEALTH SYSTEM'S MOST COMPLEX ISSUES. OPENING UP One of the UMC Physician Champions' most significant accomplishments is a move toward greater transparency for the health system. We are currently conducting internal testing of and gathering feedback on an online platform for posting our patient satisfaction and quality results. Early next year, we will begin making those scores available to the public. "e sea of physician and hospital ratings websites is broad but shallow — there are many of them, but a given one may have only a handful of survey results on an individual physician," Dr. Ragain said. "With our data, we may have 30 to 40 surveys on a physician, which paints a much clearer picture. Culturally, UMC has never done anything like this before in terms of making the data available to the public. It's a brave, bold step, and I'm proud of the UMC Physician Champions for leading the effort." UMC PHYSICIAN CHAMPIONS L TO R: ROSE K ALU, R.N.; STEVEN SMALLWOOD, R.N.; STEVEN E. BROOKS, M.D., F.A.C.S., TR AUMA MEDIC AL DIREC TOR; MOLLY BATES, B.S.N., R.N.; SAR AH CUNEO, B.S.N., R.N. (IN BACKGROUND) UMCHEALTHSYSTEM.COM 3

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