AMH Education Department introduces Super Chloe
It was almost fitting that for the last portion of the Adams Health Network Board of Trustees meeting Wednesday that is was the Education Department that appeared before board members to introduce them to Super Chloe.
About a year ago, the board adopted a tradition that the last part of their monthly meetings would be to hear from a different department of the network as to what was going on and it became quickly clear that Super Chloe made a super impact on the trustees.
With education director Mallorie Baker and education coordinator Chase Alexander on the agenda, trustees were surprised when they wheeled in Super Chloe on a gurney and discussed what an impact she has had on education and training programs at the hospital. Super Chloe is actually a mannequin but as her name indicates, she’s not just an everyday mannequin.
Super Chloe is designed so a student or staff member can feel a pulse on her, can come up with several forms of abnormal breath sounds (wheezing, rales, etc.) and other options that allow educators with a programing unit to come up with all sorts of simulations. Some types of the mannequins like Super Chloe can even deliver a baby!
Baker and Alexander offered the trustees the opportunity to check Super Chloe out for themselves and as one member, Larry D. Macklin, exclaimed as he felt for a radial pulse on her wrist “she’s alive!” The other trustees present at the meeting, Dr. Scott Lehman, Dave McIntire, and Candice Bauman, all participated in the “hands on” session as well.
The education team noted how much having Super Chloe makes learning more interesting for the staff. Like they did for the board meeting, Baker and Alexander can wheel Super Chloe all over the hospital for impromptu educational sessions and with what they can do with the simulator makes the experience much closer to “real time.”
It was noted that Super Chloe is actually on loan to the hospital from the company that created her but the hospital has the option to keep her as long as they feel the need.
The trustees agreed with the education team that Super Chloe will have a long, useful life at Adams Memorial Hospital and won’t be going anywhere else, anytime soon.
The education department has been busy in the hospital as in March alone they had 27 employees receive BLS certifications, 99 freshmen students at Adams Central High School were certified in CPR and first aid, 31 nonclinical AHN employees were trained in CPR and how to use an automatic external defibrillator, two employees became certified in Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS), programs for TB skills check offs, IV starts, and nasogastric tube insertion continue, and they have prepared for the annual May Race Day training sessions that includes 16 stations for the hospital, senior living, and medical office personnel.
Hospital Finances Stable
Assistant chief financial officer Kyle Sprunger reported to the trustees about the financial picture of the institution and noted “gross revenue across the network exceeded budget expectations for March and year-todate, gross revenue was eight percent higher than budgeted with the major portion of that being attributable to the outpatient departments of the hospital.”
While actual dollar figures were not revealed at the meeting, Sprunger pointed out some encouraging numbers with Radiology having its busiest month since October of 2018 (11 percent higher in March than in February) and therapy visits at their highest level since April of 2021.Some of those areas include pulmonary function testing, sleep studies, and EEG testing which were up 20 percent. All other outpatient areas of the hospital saw increased volumes as well over February and for the first quarter of this year, the hospital (in all areas) has served over 18,000 different patients with 73 percent of them being residents of Adams County.
Sprunger also addressed rising expenses for the network saying they were within one percent of the budgeted totals. Salaries, employee benefits, travel nursing, and supplies make up 82 percent of the total expenses for the first quarter. Salary costs are up eight percent from 2021 and yearto-date expenses have totaled $11.9 million. He said the hospital currently employs 919 workers, of which 65 percent are from Adams County.
One problem area for the hospital that remains is staffing as using temporary travel nurses or aides costs six times what AMH paid in 2021. “Supply costs for March continued trending up as inflation and supply chain disruptions continued,” Schwartz said.
Statcare and Corporate Medical Services saw a total of 1,120 patients in March which averaged out to 36 per day. Corporate Client Liaison Paul Knell said in a report that Corporate Medical staff have been going onsite to perform occupational medicine testing and that other on-site services offered included fit testing and drug screens.
The Adams Medical Group Practices showed a 4.6 percent increase in patient volume in March compared to March of 2021 while year-to-year the first quarter of this year revealed a 12 percent hike in visits compared to a similar period in 2021.