Synapse - Life Sciences News Digest of the Medical center of the americas

A year-long study in the Trauma Intensive Care Unit at University Medical Center of El Paso was published in the October/December 2011 issue of Journal of Trauma Nurses. The study is titled “Electronic Trauma Patient Outcomes Assessment Tool: Performance Improvement in the Trauma Intensive Care Unit.”  Recently, the Journal’s editorial staff named it the Best Specialty Article for all of 2011. UMC reports that since the study’s publication other U.S. trauma programs have been calling to find out more. The study’s authors are UMC’s Trauma Medical Director Alan H. Tyroch, MD, and nurses Alejandrina Salazar, BSN, RN, and David G. Smead, BSBA, RN, CNOR.

   Study abstract

An electronic dashboard can enhance compliance with a specific checklist of indicators with daily management of injured patients in a trauma intensive care unit effectively. A performance management electronic dashboard monitored 24 indicators in the trauma intensive care unit over a 3-year period. Over a... [more]

Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe

The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) will award Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe two grants totaling $4,789,395. These grants were made possible by the new health care law that will help build, expand and improve community health centers.  

“The impact of this grant funding is immeasurable. True quality of life begins and ends with our community’s right to health,” said Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe CEO Salvador Balcorta. “This funding paves the way for Centro de Salud Familiar La Fe to put our latest community-health programs into action.

La Fe will soon break ground in San Elizario to build a new, brick and mortar community-health center that will be four times larger than our current, 16-year-old modular facility. Patients at the La Fe Central Clinic in South El Paso will also soon have access... [more]

Reuters on May 9 reported on a new Moody's Investors Services report that says nonprofit hospitals in the United States face a future of rising costs and dwindling funds as the healthcare reform is implemented and the Congress battles over the budget.  University Medical Center of El Paso and El Paso Children’s Hospital are both nonprofit hospitals. To survive what the rating agency is calling a 'transition period,' the hospitals, which frequently provide free or discounted care for lower-income patients, will have to drastically cut spending.

Reuters article 

University Medical Center of El Paso (UMC) has received full accreditation as a designated Chest Pain Center with Percutaneous Coronary Intervention by the Society of Chest Pain Centers, an international organization.  The accreditation follows a rigorous on-site survey by representatives of the society.

To receive designation, a hospital must meet or exceed a wide set of stringent criteria and demonstrate their commitment to reducing the time it takes for patients experiencing symptoms of a possible heart attack to receive treatment.  They must also create an effective system to get patients into the catheterization lab so a blocked coronary artery can be opened in the shortest amount of time.  The American Heart Association recommends that angioplasty be done within 90 minutes of a patient’s arrival in the Emergency Department.  UMC’s “door to balloon time” averages less than 60 minutes.

Other El Paso hospitals with the designation of Chest Pain Center include: Sierra Medical... [more]

Memorial Medical Center’s Ikard Radiation Oncology has been awarded a three-year term of accreditation in radiation oncology American College of Radiology (ACR) and the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO). Ikard Radiation Oncology is the only accredited facility in southern New Mexico and one of only two in the state to be fully accredited.  According to the ACR, only 10 percent of radiation oncology facilities are accredited in the U.S.

“This confirms to cancer patients in Las Cruces, Southern New Mexico, and El Paso, that they can receive state of the art, high-quality radiation therapy treatment, right here, in their own community,” said Ikard’s chief radiation oncologist, Dr. Cherie Hayostek.

Memorial Ikard Cancer Treatment Center is located south of the MMC Medical Center Parking lot, 2450 S. Telshor Blvd., Suite E.  Phone number is (575) 556-5800.

American College of Radiology  

American Society for Radiation Oncology   ... [more]