News & Events: The Mount Sinai Update
The Mount Sinai Update
Thursday, June 15, 2006
This issue of THE MOUNT SINAI UPDATE includes a broad range of announcements related to employee benefits, education, research, faculty accomplishments, and patient care, along with important news regarding our day-to-day operations and departmental highlights.
We ask that all employees review this update and if you have an announcement that you would like to be considered for THE MOUNT SINAI UPDATE, please send an email to sinai-update@mssm.edu with your contact information and a description of your announcement.
View the Latest Town Hall Meeting and Other Events Online
You can now view a streaming video of the latest Town Hall meeting, presented this spring by Drs. Davis and Charney, by visiting http://www.mssmtv.org/townhall and clicking on View Presentations (bottom left, light blue buttons), and then registering to view the presentation. After logging in, choose low or high bandwidth and proceed to view the streaming video.
Did you miss a grand rounds that you were interested in going to? Mount Sinai has made it possible for you to view streaming video of events, such as medical grand rounds, nursing education CEU’s, major symposiums and workshops, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through MSSMTV, at http://www.mssmtv.org. Mount Sinai School of Medicine's interactive distance learning program for Continuing Medical Education (CME) encompasses live and archived streaming broad and narrowband video content; interactive online quizzes and surveys; topic specific discussion forums; private and public e-mailing and a repository for all CME content.
Receive Discounts on Your Cell Phone Bill Through Mount Sinai
Working at The Mount Sinai Medical Center entitles you to many benefits. Here is another one you are sure to love: savings on your cell phone service through Sprint/Nextel and Verizon.
You and your immediate family are eligible to receive a 15 percent monthly discount on many flexible service plans and the latest Sprint phones to stay in touch when you’re on the go. To activate service, visit http://www.sprint.com/msmc. If Sprint is already your carrier, simply register your existing Sprint service by calling (866) 853-4931 and you will receive the discount. If you have any further questions, please contact Mount Sinai representative Joe Wasco at joseph.wasco@sprint.com.
If you are a potential or current Verizon customer using a $39.99 or higher monthly plan, you can save 13 percent on your monthly cell phone bill. To get new service or register your current line for the discount, visit http://business.verizonwireless.com/b2b/mountsinai/sinaiemp:vzwireless.
For a complete listing of all tickets and discounts, available to Mount Sinai employees please check the Recreation Consumer Office intranet page at http://intranet1.mountsinai.org/humanresources/ or the Internet page at www.mssm.edu/recreation. For a complete listing of tickets available, please call ticket tapes at (212) 241-9531 for the current week or (212) 241-7257 for future dates.
See a Mount Sinai Physician Without an Appointment in the Evening
Monday through Friday, from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., Internal Medicine Associates (IMA) offers extended evening walk-in hours, to provide easier access to Primary Care for employees, their families, and the general public. Conveniently located at 1470 Madison Avenue (between 101st and 102nd Streets), IMA accepts most insurances including United Healthcare. You can call Mitch Cornet at (212) 241-3261 with any questions about insurance and the services available.
This initiative provides an alternative to emergency room visits for patients and community members who have non-urgent medical needs, such as the flu or a cold. It is also intended to meet the needs of people who work during the day and find it hard to get to the doctor.
Department of Medicine Conferences & Grand Rounds
This week, divisions within the Department of Medicine will host special lectures as part of their grand rounds, including an endowed lecture: The David Owen Segal Lecture. It will take place during the Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease Grand Rounds at 4 p.m. in Annenberg 23-94.
Other divisions, including Cardiology, Liver Diseases, Endocrinology, Diabetes and Bone Disease, and Internal Medicine within the Department of Medicine will host several clinic and case conferences and grand rounds in the next few weeks. On Tuesday, June 27th at 8:30 a.m., Pascal Goldschmidt, MD, FACC, Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs and Dean, University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine, will present the Solomon Berson Lectureship at the Department of Medicine grand rounds in Hatch Auditorium. He will speak on the topic of “Cells and Atherosclerosis, How to Have Your Steak and Live to Enjoy It Too.” Visit http://fusion.mssm.edu/events/dsp_pages/twim.cfm for further information on events.
Nursing Grand Rounds on Organ Donation
The Department of Nursing’s Professional Practice Programs is sponsoring a Nursing Grand Rounds on Wednesday, June 21st from 12 to 1 p.m. in Hatch Auditorium. Maria Sabeta, Hospital Services Manager for New York Organ Donor Network, will present on the topic of Donate Life…From Best Practice to Common Practice—Organ Donation. All are welcome. Lunch will be provided. For additional information, please contact Sylvia McBurnie, MA, RN, BC in Nursing Education at (212) 241-7050.
Negotiation Skills and Strategies Event
Faculty are invited to Negotiation Skills and Strategies on Monday, June 19th at 4 p.m. in Annenberg 19-79. Sponsored by the Program for Faculty Development and the Women Faculty Group of Mount Sinai School of Medicine, the event will cover topics such as how to negotiate more effectively through careful preparation, collaborative communication, and improved insight into your own reactions to conflict. Learn things you didn’t learn in graduate school or medical school than can be essential to your success as a faculty member.
Mount Sinai Health Economist Receives High Honor for Research
Paul Hebert, PhD, a Mount Sinai health economist, won the John M. Eisenberg Article of the Year Award in health services research, which recognizes excellent and original research among all articles published in the Journal the year prior to the award. Dr. Herbert and his co-authors used innovative analytic methods to understand racial and ethnic differences in flu vaccination rates and were selected by the Co-Editors-in-Chief and the Senior Associate Editors, based on the overall quality of the article and its relevance to policy-relevant areas that Dr. Eisenberg had worked in or promoted during his tenure as Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). This is the highest honor of its kind in the field of health services research and is a remarkable achievement for a researcher who is just 5 years post-PhD. The article can be viewed at http://www.hret.org/hret/publications/content/eisenberg06.pdf
Proper Usage of the Mount Sinai Medical Center Name
In order to ensure consistent usage of The Mount Sinai Medical Center name, we ask that you use the following style when referring to all institutional entities, in written and verbal communication such as e-mail signatures, name tags, posters, presentations, press releases, speeches, and letters.
The Mount Sinai Medical Center (can be called the Medical Center)
The Mount Sinai Hospital (can be called the Hospital)
Mount Sinai School of Medicine (can be called the School or MSSM)
The Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens
Do not abbreviate Mt. for “Mount”
When writing these names – the word “The” should be capitalized, even if it appears mid-sentence. For example: “We all work for The Mount Sinai Medical Center which includes The Mount Sinai Hospital and Mount Sinai School of Medicine and we are affiliated with The Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens. To recap, we all work for the Medical Center which includes the Hospital and the School.”
JCAHO Information Center Updates
Do you know the Hospital’s mission, vision, and service values? The 2006 Resource Guide, listed on the JCAHO Information Center, is a two-page pamphlet that summarizes the answers to this and other commonly asked questions. The Guide also provides a summary of some of the Hospital’s policies and procedures, including Advanced Directives and the Use of Restraints. It is a great reference tool, and it can be used on the spot to answer questions that patients and visitors may ask.
In preparation for future unannounced 2006 JCAHO surveys, this and additional topics can be found on the site at http://intranet1.mountsinai.org/jcahocamh/informationcenter/index.htm, which was created to provide periodic tips and to serve as an ongoing resource for all Hospital personnel. You can also access the JCAHO Information Center's Web site through the intranet by selecting "JCAHO Information Center" from the left column on the main intranet page.
In the News: Department of Orthopaedics
MEDICAL MIRACLES. Modern technology's far-reaching results
Daily News
June 11, 2006
BY JULIAN KESNER & PAUL H.B. SHIN
You may think you know your way around a hospital, thanks to all that "Grey's Anatomy" you've been watching, but chances are you don't know much about the amazing industrial revolution taking place in the medical world.
It's happening in the form of new technologies that are giving doctors the abilities to treat patients in ways never before believed possible. New Yorkers like Diana Baez know this firsthand, having been given a new right knee that acts even more like her old one, thanks to the use of GPS technology. It can also be seen in the surgery performed on newborn Joshua Lugo, diagnosed at birth with a rare disorder, using microscopic-sized surgical instruments. And for Irina Khotenok, a tiny vitamin-sized ingestible camera helped calm serious concerns about her chronic anemia.
For these patients and others like them, these dramatic technological leaps have been nothing short of miracles. Read on for three tales from medicine's cutting edge.
A Navigation System...in the Operating Room
Diana Baez was struck by a van in 1985, forcing her to need ligament reconstruction and kneecap repositioning in her right knee less than a year later. But Baez's knee problems returned last year in the form of unbearable pain while walking, and the 51-year-old soon landed in the office of Dr. Elton Strauss, chief of adult orthopaedic surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center.
Strauss soon discovered that a staple in Baez's knee, left over from the operation, was causing arthritis in three areas of the joint.
"Considering Diana's history, I felt that a reconstructive procedure of her bone was not going to last a long time," says Strauss, "and it was only going to delay a knee replacement for a year or two or three."
The very first knee replacement operation was performed in 1968. Nowadays, approximately 300,000 knee replacements are performed annually in the U.S., according to the American Society of Orthopaedic Surgeons.
But only a few dozen such operations have been performed using the Stryker Navigation System, a new computer-assisted GPS program that re-creates the knee's exact anatomy, allowing for proper positioning of the prosthetic knee. Strauss began using the device at Mount Sinai - the only hospital in the city employing it - a few months ago.
"The navigation tells us what the leg motion is all about," explains Strauss. "We look at the knee, hip and ankle joint; we flex, rotate and extend the leg. The computer recognizes [the patient's] numbers. We then make the incision, and put the computer tracking device inside the knee, and it recognizes what she's supposed to be."
Currently, most knee replacements last about 15 years, according to Strauss, but "with the navigation making the alignment perfect, we're hoping they will go a lot longer - say, 25 to 30 years," he says. In addition to pinpoint precision and accuracy, the use of GPS technology is safer than using fluoroscopy x-rays to guide the way.
"I didn't want to subject them or myself to additional radiation in the operating room," says Strauss, "and the computer tells me what things look like on the day of the operation. Everything is in real time."
Strauss began working on the development of the system with Stryker close to four years ago, after learning of the technology at a 2000 conference in Portugal. Baez's knee replacement was the first computer-assisted one in the city. The technology is also used for hip-replacement operations, and Strauss has done just over a dozen of each to date.
Baez, a Harlem resident and personnel clerk at Bronx Community College, was thrilled to be a medical pioneer, and she's already stopped using both a walker and a cane much earlier than expected.
"At first I didn't know there was going to be a computer. I really feel good about it now," she says. "Every day gets better."
If you have an announcement that you would like to be considered for THE MOUNT SINAI UPDATE, please send an email to sinai-update@mssm.edu with your contact information and a description of your announcement.
THE MOUNT SINAI UPDATE is produced by the Department of Marketing, Communications, and Public Affairs.
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