1

importance of wearing bullet-proof vests. When they be-come officers, they are trained with these vests, and at some point, most are shown how the vests perform in live-fire tests. They know that they could stop a bullet, including the .45 round. On this night, Mark was going to put his vest to the test.

"I just tensed my stomach muscles and prepared to take the shot as I pulled my gun out of the holster. I knew he was going to get the first round off."

While Mark knew that his vest could sustain the impact of a .45-caliber round, that night he trusted in the vest for the very first time. In that singular moment, Mark went from "belief that" to "belief in".

It's one thing to believe that the vest can save a life; it's another to trust it to save your own life. Mark obviously sur-vived the shooting and lived to describe it. The lesson to learn for us, however, has a far more reaching impact – it is a lesson that can be applied to how we operate at Select Spe-cialty Hospital.

Vision is a team sport. It requires all of us to be leaders. Leadership is not about who you are or what title or position you may hold; it's about what you do. I recently read a statis-tic that only 11% of the U.S. population has the privilege of serving others in the field of healthcare. It is with a great sense of pride and importance that we get to put on our scrubs and serve the people in our community, playing our part towards the purpose of our hospital’s mission. It is a manifestation of core values that I hope you equally em-brace: service before self, integrity first, and excellence in

Mark is a police officer. He said that he was working patrol when he saw a man driving down the street, swerving from lane to lane as though he were drunk.

He pulled the driver over and approached his car. When he leaned in to talk to the man, he could smell the alcohol on his breath. Mark asked the man to step out from the car and the driver reluctantly complied. As the man stood outside his car, Mark could see that he was angry and defiant. Mark had no idea that the driver was a parolee with a long arrest rec-ord who had just been re-leased from prison. The driver was carrying a loaded .45-caliber pistol hidden in his waistband and knew that he would go back to jail if the gun was discovered - and he was determined to stay out of jail.

When Mark asked the driver to turn around so he could con-duct a pat-down search, the driver turned away for a mo-ment, pulled his gun, and then turned back toward Mark, pointing the gun at Mark's chest.

"I knew that he had the drop on me," Mark said as he re-called the events. "His gun was already drawn and point-ed at me before I could even get my hand on mine."

The driver had no intention of discussing the situation; he'd already decided that he wasn't going back to jail, even if it meant killing this police officer. The driver pointed his gun at Mark and started to squeeze the trigger. Mark was about to enter the fight of his life and he was starting off with a distinct disadvantage; he was already seconds behind his opponent.

Police officers understand the

all we do. Most would proba-bly agree that we do a good job - we also have the oppor-tunity to demonstrate that everyone can place their trust in us to do a great job.

In order to move from good to great, we need to challenge the process. Challenge is the opportunity for greatness and I hope you're excited for this opportunity to look for innova-tive ways to improve our work processes and enthusiastically struggle towards our shared aspiration that every Select Specialty Hospital member not only believes that we provide the most efficient and effective high-quality, patient-focused medical care and also trusts in it in every instance.

VISA card founder Dee Hock said it best - "the problem is never how to get new, innova-tive thoughts into your mind - it's getting the old ones out."

Starting with this new year, we

will begin our journey from the

belief “that” to the belief “in” by

soliciting your input and invit-

ing you to be a part of chal-

lenging the process by de-

scribing your roles responsibili-

ties, perceptions, obstacles,

and ideas for best practices.

I am proud to be associated

with Select Specialty Hospital -

are you?

I am eager to engage the New

Year with you!

C.E.O.’s Corner — Bryan Schneider, DHA, FACHE,

February is:

Black History Month

National Cancer Preven-

tion Month

American Heart Month

Creative Romance Month

Groundhog Day (2nd)

Superbowl Sunday (7th)

Mardi Gras (9th)

Valentine’s Day (14th)

Presidents’ Day (15th)

Random Acts Of Kindness

Day (17th)

National Pistachio Day

(26th)

Select Specialty Houston — Memorial City

Inside This Issue

C.E.O.’s Corner 1

C.N.O.’s Corner / H.R.’s Corner

2

Employee Birthdays / Employee Spotlight

3

News In Healthcare 4 - 5

Q’s Corner 6

Facility Bulletin Board 7

Important Announce-ments

8

FEBRUARY 2016 VOL. 1, ED. 3

2

C. - A. - R.

What is it? What does it mean?

“C” is for COMMUNICATION.

“A” is for ACCOUNTABILITY.

“R” is for RESPONSIBILITY.

Clear and effective communi-cation is a vitally important part of our roles here at Select Specialty. In order for factual information to be passed from one person to another, the one who delivers the message must ensure the recipient com-pletely understands what is being said. It is always an excellent practice for the receiver to repeat back the information to the person providing it.

As healthcare professionals, we must hold ourselves (and each other) to a superior standard of ethical practice.

The American Nurses Associ-ation Code of Ethics states that the definition of accounta-bility is “to be answerable to oneself and others for one’s own actions.”

Accountability can be said to be made up of four concepts:

Obligation — A duty, task, or order that usually comes with specific responsibili-ties.

Willingness — Freely accepting a duty, task, or order by choice and without reluctance or reti-cence.

Ownership — Decisively accepting power or control over a duty, task, or order.

Commitment — Reso-lutely seeing a spe-cific or defined course of action through to its con-clusion while being prepared to defend or justify said ac-tions and decisions.

Bring these concepts together and you have accountability; leave any of these principles out and you don’t.

Disciplined responsibility as applied to healthcare profes-sionals refers to the ethical and moral obligations which define the profession. These standards relate to patient care, collaboration with other medical professionals, integri-ty, morals, and accountability.

Healthcare professionals have

an obligation to maintain open,

transparent, and continual

communication with col-

leagues and peers regarding

standards of patient care and

safety as well as guarding

professional integrity.

S.B.A.R. is a standardized

communication format devel-

oped jointly by the United

States Navy and the British

Navy as a means of ensuring

solid factual communication

aboard nuclear submarines, is

currently utilized as a situation-

al briefing model for staff com-

munication regarding any and

all changes in patient status or

needs for non-emergent

events, related issues, or for

events on the unit, in the lab,

or within the health care team.

S.B.A.R. is an acronym for:

Situation: — What is going on

with the patient?

Background — What is the

clinical background or context?

Assessment — What do I

think the problem is?

Recommendation — What do

I think needs to be done for

the patient?

Effective February 1st, all nurs-ing staff will begin using S-BAR during hand-off reports. It is important that we adhere to this practice across the board and in every instance in order to facilitate and support communication for patient safety.

Please be aware

that this is a require-

informed, I am reaching out to all of you. Please log onto Selections to review your elec-tronic copy if you completed an electronic consent, other-wise please check your mail for your W-2 form to arrive soon.

If you are having trouble log-ging in to Selections or receiv-ing a blank screen when at-tempting to view your W-2, you will need to call the Select Medical Help Desk at 1-888-972-1199, as the Payroll Tax

Our corporate offices recently released our 2015 electronic-copy W-2s on Selections and have also mailed out paper copies to those who did not consent to “electronic-only” W-2s and former employees.

An e-mail notification was sent to those who consented for electronic only W-2, however, corporate has been informed it did not reach all recipients as there were 12,000 employees on the email. In an effort to ensure our entire population is

department will be unable to assist you with this request.

As a reminder to all employ-ees, if you have recently moved or changed your tele-phone number, please be sure to fill out, sign, and submit an Employee Address Change to either Pam or Quentin as soon as possible so that we may continue to keep our files up-dated with current information.

H.R.’s Corner — Pamela Simpson, DHR

C.N.O.’s Corner — Sheila Oliver, RN, MSN

3

fit.

Angela: Interesting?! A pilot?

So … it seems the “need for

speed” is in your veins. Is the

where the love of running came

from?

Gabe: I didn’t really like run-

ning. I had a hard time running

as a child. I was slow and had

two left feet!

Angela: So what changed your

mind?

Gabe: I wanted to do triathlons

and I knew that, in order to be

successful, I’d have to focus on

the one part of the series trilogy

that wasn’t my strength: run-

ning.

Angela: WOW! So you decided

to not only run more, but to do a

marathon, too?!

Gabe: Yes. I tried last year, but

was unable to participate due to

an ankle injury. This year, how-

ever, things went according to

plan.

Angela: Well, this was your

time! Congratulations!

Gabe: Thank you!

Gabe ran straight through all

26.2 miles of this year’s Hou-

ston Marathon and came

across the finish line at the four

hour and fifteen-minute mark …

not too shabby an effort for a

first-time runner!

Sixteen years ago, our fellow co

-worker and marathon-runner,

Gabe, became a physical thera-

pist in Manila. Unbeknownst to

him, this move was the first step

on his path to become part of

the Select Medical family.

Angela: Did you know that you

always wanted to be a physical

therapist?

Gabe: I come from a long line of

pilots, so I was actually going

into that field initially, but I

changed my mind. I felt that

physical therapy was a better

VOL. 1, ED. 3

Select Special t y Employee Spotl ight — ”Meet Gabe” (Gabriel Reventar) - Angela Cla rk

Select Special t y Employee Birthdays

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! MARIA NERI 02 FEB BILL LAYCOCK 09 FEB LAURA MARTIN 09 FEB JUBRIL ADEDIRAN 12 FEB FE LUZANO 15 FEB SHEILA OLIVER 17 FEB NU THI DANG 18 FEB TONI MAYS 19 FEB EILEEN TIPTON 19 FEB QUENTIN BUETOW 21 FEB PHYLLIS STEINOCHER 22 FEB SHERRONDA RICHARD 26 FEB ANNAMMA GEORGE 29 FEB

Next time you see Gabe, be

sure to give our Select Medical

family member a high five of

congratulations for his awesome

accomplishment!!!

4

Heart surgery patients who receive home visits from physi-cian assistants are less likely to be readmitted to the hospi-tal, a new study finds.

They also have lower overall health care costs, the re-searchers said.

The study followed nearly 1,200 people after heart sur-gery. In the week after leaving the hospital, some patients received two home visits from cardiac surgery physician assistants involved in their care, while those in a "control" group received no visits.

Patients who received physi-cian assistant visits on the second and fifth day after leav-ing the hospital were 41 per-cent less likely than those in the control group to be read-mitted to the hospital within 30 days -- 10 percent versus 17 percent, the study found.

House calls to 540 patients cost $23,500, but saved $977,500 in hospital readmis-sion costs, researchers said. That means $39 was saved for every $1 spent, according to the study.

The findings were scheduled for presentation Tuesday at

the annual meeting of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons in Phoenix.

"Adult cardiac surgery has one of the highest readmission rates for all hospitalized pa-tients," study leader Dr. John Nabagiez, of Staten Island University Hospital in New York City, said in a society news release.

(cont. on page 5)

The Human Brain

Crossing your arms can help to reduce pain by confusing neurons in your brain?

The average dream lasts only approximately two to three seconds and the average person has

at least seven to eight dreams per night? People with higher IQs tend to have more dreams on

average.

Once we reach the age of thirty-five, we lose approximately seven thousand brain cells each

day — cells which will never be replaced.

People generally read from paper 25% faster than from a computer monitor?

less taken as a given and the same belief is widespread in our culture," says Steven Lo-Bello, a professor of psycholo-gy at Auburn University at Montgomery and senior author on the new study. "We ana-lyzed the data from many an-gles and found that the preva-lence of depression is very stable across different lati-tudes, seasons of the year, and sunlight exposures." Based on emerging research

investigating seasonal affec-

tive disorder (SAD), a

"seasonal pattern" modifier for

depression diagnoses was

officially added to the Diagnos-

tic and Statistical Manual of

Mental Disorders (DSM) in

1987.

(cont. on page 5)

A large-scale survey of U.S. adults provides no evidence that levels of depressive symp-toms vary from season to sea-son, according to new re-search published in Clinical Psychological Science, a jour-nal of the Association for Psy-chological Science. The find-ings are inconsistent with the notion of seasonal depression as a commonly occurring dis-order. "In conversations with col-leagues, the belief in the asso-ciation of seasonal changes with depression is more-or-

VOL. 1, ED. 3

“All of imagination - everything that we think, we feel, we sense

- comes through the human brain.”

- Jay S. Walker

Did You Know? - The Human Body E xh ib i t i on

No Evidence Of Seasonal Dif ferences In Depressive Symptoms - Yvet te Braz ie r

After Heart Surgery, House Cal ls By Physician Assistants Help - Robert Pre idt

"We analyzed the data

from many angles and

found that the prevalence

of depression is very

stable across different

latitudes, seasons of the

year, and sunlight

exposures."

5

"The physician assistants who made the house calls in our study were fully trained cardiac surgery PAs who were actively involved in the preoperative, intra-operative, and postopera-tive care of our patients," he explained.

"Unlike standard visiting nurs-es, our PAs knew each patient personally and understood all of the pertinent issues of the patient's medical history. They also knew the patient's individ-ual postoperative course prior to discharge, so they entered the patient's home already knowing the concerns, if any, of the surgeon and the pa-tient," Nabagiez added.

But for this strategy to suc-ceed, it's essential for patients to comply with all prescribed medications and physical reha-bilitation after heart surgery, he said.

Noting that complications can arise in the first week after surgery, Nabagiez said these initial home visits can help diagnose problems earlier, which can keep patients out of the emergency department.

"We found that making these

two visits is cost effective and

keeps patients on the road to

recovery, while also reducing

hospital readmissions," Naba-

giez said.

conducted annually. The researchers examined data from a total of 34,294 participants ranging in age from 18 to 99. Depressive symptoms were measured using the PHQ-8, which asked participants how many days in the previous two weeks they had experienced given symp-toms of depression. The PHQ-8 has been validated in previ-ous research as a reliable measure of depression in line with DSM diagnostic criteria. Using geographic location for each participant, the research-ers also obtained season-related measures including the actual day of the year, the latitude, and the amount of sunlight exposure. The results showed no evi-dence that symptoms of de-pression were associated with any of the season-related measures. That is, people who responded to the survey in the winter months, or at times of lower sunlight exposure, did not have noticeably higher levels of depressive symptoms than those who responded to the survey at other times. And the researchers did not find any evidence for seasonal differences in symptoms when they specifically looked at the

subsample of 1,754 partici-pants who scored within the range for clinical depression. "The findings cast doubt on major depression with season-al variation as a legitimate psychiatric disorder," the re-searchers conclude. Depression is by definition an episodic disorder and people may well experience depres-sive episodes in the fall and winter months. But, the re-searchers argue, "being de-pressed during winter is not evidence that one is de-pressed because of winter." LoBello and colleagues note that conditions with so-called "low base rates" are difficult to detect in large-scale studies. As such, it's possible that ma-jor depression with seasonal variation does exist but only for a very small proportion of the population. Taken together, the findings suggest that seasonal depres-sion is not the prevalent disor-der that it's commonly thought to be.

To receive a diagnosis of de-pression with seasonal varia-tion, patients must meet the diagnostic criteria for major depression and also experi-ence recurring depressive episodes that coincide with specific seasons -- in most cases, patients report an in-crease of symptoms in the fall and winter and a decrease in symptoms in spring and sum-mer. But more recent studies have challenged the validity of earli-er SAD research, including the fact that SAD is typically identi-fied by asking patients to recall past depressive episodes over the course of the previous year or more. Furthermore, the criteria used to identify SAD do not align with the established criteria for major depression. LoBello and lead study author Megan Traffanstedt decided to investigate whether they could find evidence for seasonal variation in depressive symp-toms using data from a large-scale survey of U.S. adults. In collaboration with Sheila Mehta, also of Auburn Univer-sity at Montgomery, the re-searchers examined data col-lected in 2006 as part of the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveil-lance System (BRFSS), a phone-based health survey

VOL. 1, ED. 3

(cont. ) No Evidence Of Seasonal Dif ferences

(cont. ) Physic ian Assistant House Cal ls

6

"A customer is the most important visitor on our premises; he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our busi-ness. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him.

He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so"

~ Mahatma Gandhi ~

“I like to listen. I have learned a great deal from listening carefully. Most people never listen.”

~ Ernest Hemingway ~

We’ve all heard the saying before: “The customer is always right.” Though it may not be completely accurate in every case, the core philosophy still holds true:

The customer should always feel he or she has the full sup-port of the organization that he or she is supporting.

Not only do customers expect businesses to give them a high-quality product or service, but they equally demand an even higher level of customer service and attention … especially when they aren’t com-pletely pleased.

In an era when consumers have the power to instantly boost or de-stroy a company’s reputation via social media because of a customer service issue — uploading a video of a rude employee via smartphone or immediately tweeting to thousands of followers about a great experience — strong customer service becomes table stakes.

Being in the hospital can be an especially daunting experience. It is an unfamiliar environment in which there are sometimes more ques-tions than answers. Patients are woken up every few hours to have their vitals taken or be given medication … all with a stranger in the bed next to theirs (unless they’re one of the few who can afford a private room).

In short, it’s an experience — from the doctors to the nurses to the food to the medication — most of us would rather not endure. What we should be mindful is that an already stressful situation can be made that much worse by ineffective communication. There are crucial details regarding their continued care and treat-ment which must be communicated to the customer (our patient) in terms which do not require a degree in the medical disciplines … and with genuine empathy, compassion, and understanding.

Whether there are 25, 50, or even 500 patients in a hospital, it is a patient’s right to feel as though he or she is the only one there. This means one-on-one attention from doctors and nurses at all feasible times, time to process and understand what each medi-cation treats and if there are any possible side effects, and most important, what to do after their discharge.

The key to superior customer service in any setting is simply en-suring that we treat customers appropriately and with respect. For hospitals specifically, this sense of serving starts with thinking of our patients as customers who make buying decisions when it comes to health care. They have the choice of being treated somewhere else … and if they don’t like the service they receive, they will exercise that right.

Of course, there will always be some things that are out of our control and not every patient will have a stellar experience each and every time. But … it’s in those moments when things don ’t go as planned that truly world-class organizations shine.

It is vitally important for us to be mindful that, at the end of the

day, we’re all human. Customers understand that not every single

interaction they have with an organization or brand is going to be

perfect. How you (we) handle those tough situations is what will

determine your customers’ loyalty.

VOL. 1, ED. 3

Doing The Needful — The Importance Of Customer Service ~ Quent in Buetow

7

Select Specialty Hospital Houston - Memorial City 9430 Katy Freeway Houston, Texas 77055

Select Specialty and Intellihealth have teamed up together to provide

our employees with their annual physicals.

WHEN: To Be Determined

WHERE: 2nd Floor Reflection Room

1. Sign up for an appointment with Quentin at the front desk;

2. Pick up your pre-appointment paperwork and return the insurance

verification form to Quentin PRIOR to (To Be Determined)

3. Please arrive at least fifteen minutes PRIOR to your scheduled ap-

pointment.

February is Black History Month.

Join us in learning about, honoring, and celebrating the achievements of

African-American men and women throughout history.

February is American Heart Month.

In honor and recognition, we are encouraging our employees to wear

red shirts and blue jeans on Friday, February 5th for National Wear Red

Day.

Select Specialty — Houston Memorial City Chili Cook-Off

On February 25th, we will host a facility-wide chili cook-off in ob-

servance of Go Texan Day. Each department will team up to decorate

their respective tables for the cook-off. The hospital will provide the

ground beef for the chili, but it must be cooked and prepared off-site

prior to the cook-off. Everyone (except the clinical staff) is encouraged

to wear their best western gear.

8

February 01, 2016

TO: ALL HOSPITAL STAFF

RE: PERSONAL CELLULAR TELEPHONE USE

It has recently been brought to my attention that we have grown lax with adherence to corporate policy regarding the use of personal cellular telephones and accessories in patient-care areas. As such, I feel it is necessary to remind everyone of the policy regarding said use of personal cellular telephones:

POLICY: Employees are expected to interact in a safe, courteous and professional manner, which promotes quality patient care and a productive, orderly workplace. Select has a system to govern the use of personal cellular telephones and other personal radio frequency transmission devices by its employees. This policy does not apply to administrative staff or liaison personnel who utilize cell phones and pagers for the purpose of carrying out their daily job responsibilities. PROCEDURES:

1. All clinical staff members are prohibited from using personal cellular phones or personal pagers while they are at work and/or in a patient care area. Receiving and/or sending calls, as well as text messaging, is also prohibited.

2. Personal cellular phones and/or personal pagers may be used during designated break and lunch

periods, but only in non-patient care areas. 3. All clinical staff should provide the hospital phone number for emergency contact information.

Phone calls made to the hospital from families/significant others will be limited to emergency calls only.

4. Violation of this policy will result in progressive discipline up to and including termination of em-

ployment.

Please confine the use of all personal cellular telephones and accessories to your breaks and lunches as well as the use of such in appropriate areas.

Bryan C. Schneider, DHA, FACHE, FACMPE

Chief Executive Officer

Select Specialty Hospital – Memorial City

9430 Katy Freeway

Houston, Texas 77055

OFC: (713) 821-2840

BCSchneider@selectmedical.com

VOL. 1, ED. 3

An Important Message From Our C.E.O.