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Rush Commemorates MLK With Day of Service

Rush's day of service includes collecting items for U.S. military personnel serving overseas.

Rush’s day of service includes collecting items for U.S. military personnel serving overseas.

Rush University students and staff will commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday through a day of service on Monday, Jan. 21. Students from each of Rush’s colleges — Rush Medical College, the  College of Nursing, the Graduate College and the College of Health Sciences — will participate in services throughout the day, including the following:

  • Collect toiletries and snack food at Rush for U.S. military personnel serving overseas.
  • Prepare breakfast for the people being helped at Franciscan House of Mary and Joseph at 2715 W. Harrison St., Chicago at 3 a.m.
  • Entertain patients and their families at the Ronald McDonald House at 5444 S. Drexel Ave. in Hyde Park, Chicago at 9:30 a.m. Continue reading →
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Minimally Invasive Spine Surgeries Increasing

Minimally invasive spine surgery at Rush using advanced imaging allows patients to recover more quickly.

Minimally invasive spine surgery at Rush allows patients to recover more quickly.

With demand for unresolved back pain relief growing as the U.S. population ages, Rush University Medical Center is doing more minimally invasive spine surgery procedures that allow patients to return to normal, day-to-day activities faster than if they undergo conventional surgery.

Demand for this type of surgery is rising. In 2012, 534 patients underwent minimally invasive lumbar spine surgery through Rush’s Spine and Back Center, nearly a 19 percent increase over the previous year.

Unlike traditional open spinal surgery, minimally invasive lumbar spinal surgery is performed by neurosurgeons and orthopedic surgeons using small incisions that don’t produce as much damage to healthy tissue. Less blood is lost, patients have faster recovery times and with fewer complications. The procedures can range from repairing herniated (bulging) disks to reconstructing bones in the spine that have become misaligned due to spinal deformity.

Read the entire news release.

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Marking the First Anniversary of Rush’s New Hospital

Nurses, physicians, respiratory therapists, chaplains and 7,000 other employees, faculty and staff at Rush University Medical Center on Chicago’s Near West Side will quietly mark the first anniversary of the opening of their distinctive hospital building, the Tower, on Wednesday. They are all too busy for a formal celebration, as they have been ever since moving into the new building one year ago on Jan. 9, 2012.

Compared with January through December 2011, hospital admissions have increased by 3.4 percent, patient days have increased 6.5 percent and emergency room visits have shot up 17.5 percent since Rush’s new hospital opened. To care for increased numbers of patients, Rush has recruited more than 150 new nursing staff and more than 40 additional physicians as well as over 85 support personnel.

In addition, Rush’s patient satisfaction scores have reached an all-time high since the Tower opened. From July 1 through Sept. 30,  2012, Rush  received a score of 78.3 percent on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS), the federal government’s survey of patients’ perspectives of hospital care. It was the highest patient quarterly rating Rush ever has achieved on the HCAHPS survey, and it put Rush in the 90th percentile of hospitals nationwide.

Scores in almost every aspect of care and service have improved. In particular, scores in the areas of cleanliness, the responsiveness of staff and how quiet the hospital is saw major improvements.

“Clearly, the new hospital has made an impact in the delivery of care and how patients perceive it,” said Dr. David Ansell, chief medical officer and senior vice president for clinical affairs. “Everyone who works at Rush, both in the Tower and throughout the rest of the medical center, has been working very hard since the Tower opened. They can be very proud of this significant improvement in how our patients evaluate their experience.”

Rush’s new hospital building contains 304 adult acute and intensive care beds (192 adult acute care beds, 112 adult intensive care beds). Later this year, the neonatal intensive care unit with 72 beds in individual rooms will open. Rush has a total of 673 beds in both new and existing facilities across its campus.

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Early Flu Season Hitting Hard

The flu season is off to a fast and distressing start.

The flu season is off to a fast and distressing start.

Mary Alice Lavin, RN, director of infection prevention and control at Rush University Medical Center, analyzes what has already been a miserable flu season:

  • Why is the flu hitting earlier and harder this year? The flu virus is rather unpredictable, so it is difficult to explain the changes from one year to another. We are seeing cases at Rush earlier than the last two years. In the 2010-11 season, the peak was the last week of February. Last year, the peak was the second week of March. We don’t know yet if we have seen the peak for the the current season, but it potentially will be the last two weeks of December. Last year was a milder flu season.
  • What are symptoms of flu for adults and kids? How do you know it’s not just a cold? Symptoms of the flu and a cold are similar. However, in general, the flu has a more abrupt onset.  Symptoms of the flu include a fever of 100 degrees or greater; a cough or sore throat, or both; a runny or stuffy nose; body aches or headaches, or both; chills and fatigue. Children have all the same symptoms and may also have nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
  • Is it too late to get a flu shot? No, it is not too late to receive the vaccine. Even if we have seen the peak of the flu season, cases will likely continue for several weeks. Remember that it takes two weeks for the vaccine to be fully effective, so the sooner you are vaccinated the sooner you will be protected.
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Rush Interpreters Setting the Bar Higher

Rush’s interpreter staff receives approximately 10,000 requests a month.

Rush’s interpreter staff receives approximately 10,000 requests a month.

Every staff interpreter at Rush University Medical Center has been awarded the highest available credential available to health care interpreters in the United States, making Rush, as of December, the only major medical center in Illinois, and one of a handful in the nation, to have all of its interpreters distinguished as such by the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI).

When interpreter services at Rush started in November 2002, there were three Spanish-speaking interpreters. Today, the office has a staff of 12 and receives approximately 10,000 requests a month. CCHI requires a board exam in two parts, written and oral.

“Studies have shown that positive health outcomes for patients who speak limited English are much more likely when those patients receive their medical infor­mation in their own languages,” according to Carlos Olvera, the first interpreter hired at Rush and manager of interpreter services.

Credentials from CCHI help ensure positive outcomes for patients. Roughly 45 million Americans do not speak English at home, and 19 percent of Americans don’t speak fluent English. When seeking health care, these individuals often have trouble communicating symptoms clearly and understanding what their physicians are saying, so it’s critical for interpreters to not just be fluent in the patient’s language but also knowledgeable about medical terms in that language, according to Olvera. Those who credentialed in health care interpretation are better prepared to clear up communication barriers in hospitals.

Read the entire news release.

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